Rep. James Clyburn dismisses Black support for Trump: ‘That’s not going to happen’

Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said that he doesn’t “believe for one moment” that Trump will be able to win even 15% of the Black vote in the election, especially with Vice President Harris as his opponent.

CNN host Jake Tapper spoke to Clyburn about a panel where MSNBC legal analyst Charles Coleman led a discussion with four Black male voters ranging in age about the upcoming election. “How many of you know a Black man who has expressed to you that they’re committed to voting for Donald Trump?” Coleman asked in the MSNBC special, “Black Men in America: The Road to 2024.”

All four men raised their hands and Coleman asked a follow-up question, “For the brothers who have told that to you, has the emergence of Kamala Harris changed that?” He received a unanimous response that this was not the case.

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“I don‘t believe for one moment that Donald Trump will get 15% of the African American vote. That‘s not going to happen,” Rep. Clyburn told CNN’s Jake Tapper.  (Screenshot/CNN)

When asked about the panel conducted by MSNBC, Clyburn rejected the statements, saying they were not representative of the Black community.

“I don’t think that’s true at all. The fact of the matter is, I don‘t believe for one moment that Donald Trump will get 15% of the African American vote. That‘s not going to happen,” Clyburn said, going on to question whether he would even earn 13% of the Black vote. “I don‘t think for one moment that her entrance into the race did not change anything with Black people.”

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Clyburn then targeted the credibility of the four Black men on the panel who were speaking on behalf of other Black men they knew.

“I don’t know who those four people were, I could not see them, but I would hope that they do not reflect what‘s going on in this country,” he said.

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He went on to cite his involvement with various Black organizations, arguing the men on the panel, “do not reflect the Black people that I talked to, and I‘m in AME, African Methodist Episcopal, I‘m a 33rd-degree prince hall mason, I‘m a member of the Divine Nine, and I interact with all of these people and I do not see 15%, among them voting for Donald Trump, and every one of them has been energized by the entrance of Kamala Harris in this race.”