How Team Trump is ‘bravely’ going where Republicans have never gone before — into the black community — with swing-state cigar nights
Two prominent Donald Trump supporters in Congress are going “to bravely go where no conservative and a Republican has gone in the last 30 years” — the black community — as new polls show the former president tripling his support among African-American voters.
A sportscaster-turned-political-commentator will join the pair next week, The Post can exclusively reveal, for a swing-state event the black congressmen hope will galvanize support for Trump against a Democratic incumbent they characterize as old, racist and uniquely unsuited to the presidency.
Get-out-the-vote events take many forms, but the alliteratively titled “Cigars, Cognac, and Congress,” to be held in the Atlanta market on the eve of Trump and President Biden’s first debate, is intended to spotlight differences between the former and current presidents and ultimately motivate black voters in a swing state that’s been a GOP challenge in recent cycles.
“I’m honored to be joining two men who prioritize having open, genuine conversations during this tumultuous time in our country — Congressman Wesley Hunt and Congressman Byron Donalds,” said Sage Steele, a former ESPN “SportsCenter” anchor who left her role so she could express herself politically.
“With the 2024 election right around the corner, the three of us are coming together to discuss issues important to all Americans, especially those in the black community,” Steele added. “I can’t wait to hear everyone’s ideas and welcome all opinions on June 26th!”
Studio Cigar Lounge will host the shindig, the second in a series, at 6 p.m. in Fairburn, a suburb of Atlanta.
Texas Rep. Hunt, who is leading Team Trump’s black-voter efforts, outlines the strategy.
“We were in Philadelphia for Pennsylvania. Now we’re in Atlanta, we’re gonna go to Milwaukee next before the [Republican convention]. So what we’re trying to do is focus on areas where we know we can peel off between 25% and 30% of the black vote and then mathematically Democrats can’t win. My team and I are spearheading this outreach to actually go to the belly of the beast, to bravely go where no conservative and a Republican has gone in the last 30 years,” Hunt said.
“And that’s to go to the black community, who has been pummeled by these poor policies by the Biden administration, and explain to them why a vote for President Trump in November is going to be a vote for prosperity and it’s going to be not good for just black Americans, but it’s going to be good for all Americans.”
Donalds, rumored to be on Trump’s short list for running mate, explains further: “Just being able to have these meetings to hear directly from black Americans is really important. You get a window into what’s happening in their world and their lives. And I think President Trump wants to have that ability to hear from them and then just share his thoughts and why his policies can really help them achieve the next level of success.”
“We’re going to be talking with a lot of black men, but that doesn’t mean to the exclusion of black women,” the Florida congressman added. “That’s just the nature of this event.”
While black men are the primary demographic target for the cigar night, Hunt believes women are movable voters too — though to a lesser extent.
“We are going to get some more black women,” he declared. “I talked to some black women in Philly, and I was actually elated when I was told, ‘Wesley, I see that you’re focusing a lot on black men, and I understand why because you could do math, but don’t forget about us too.’ But if we get them as well, it is incremental numbers.”
Peeling off black voters from the Democrats is a recurrent Republican challenge, but it’s one Hunt believes is doable given recent trends.
“It’s a math conversation,” Hunt explained. “We’ve been looking at polling and trends for the past two years. President Trump in 2020 got 18.7% of the black male vote. If we get that number to 25% to 30%, then mathematically Democrats can’t win.”
The Texas congressman’s read jibes with the optimism of the Trump press shop, which notes even CNN reports, based on an analysis of polls, the former president is at 21% with black voters, while Biden is down 9 points with black voters over 50 years old and down 43 points with those under 50 from this point in 2020.
In battleground states, Biden takes an anemic 63% of black voters in a one-on-one race with Trump. When third-party candidates such as Robert Kennedy Jr., Jill Stein and Cornel West are factored in, Biden is under 50%.
These are horrible numbers for Democrats, the worst since Republicans embraced the Southern strategy in 1968, driving a political repolarization that’s on the wane based on this data.
Hunt believes Biden’s “history and record of being a racist,” evidenced by the 1994 Crime Bill he helped draft and his eulogy for West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, a former Klansman, offers narrative grist. He notes Biden’s 2020 assertion that “if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black” offers insight into the singularly flawed president.
“This is a guy that has a history of being a racist, his own vice president, Kamala Harris, called him a racist on a debate stage and then turned around and accepted the vice presidency,” Hunt said, before noting that “age” and “mental state” concerns are real.
“This man is 81 years old, and I know you’ve been watching his behavior lately. It’s been depressing. It’s elder abuse. It’s sad. People have to understand he is not going to make it to 85 years old,” Hunt said. “If he gets re-elected, a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for Kamala Harris.”
Donalds, who believes it’s very unlikely Biden will be replaced as the nominee despite documented infirmities, also argues the president’s record should be a deal breaker for black voters, saying the contrast between the 45th and 46th presidents is instructive.
“In this election, you’re making a decision between two men, two presidents, and they both have records. And I think that’s gonna be important for black people to be able to look at objectively and weigh whose decisions and whose policies have actually been better for their lives,” the Floridian said.
Donalds thinks the administration’s worst policies have been its “massive overspending,” “massive illegal immigration” that has “overwhelmed cities” and special-interest-driven “politicization” of federal agencies, including the Department of Justice that has been “weaponized” against the former president.
The conversation turned to cognac and cigars, and the congressmen have classic tastes in both.
Hunt rates Hennessy and Rémy Martin over other offerings, and in terms of smoke, he favors Diploma cigars — Cuban style, fashioned in the Dominican Republic.
Donalds is also a Hennessy man, with an especial enthusiasm for White Hennessy — a limited-quantity product known for its floral bouquet that he describes as a “beautiful, beautiful thing.”
He has ecumenical tastes in cigars.
“I love so many different kinds,” he says, but two particularly stand out.
“I love the Rocky Patel White Label series. An amazing cigar. And then I have the Drew Estate Liga Privada No. 9. Also an amazing cigar.”
