The Real Reason Why Some African Americans Voted for Trump

In honor of Black History Month, I interviewed several of my friends who serve as leaders in the black community. One of them was my good friend Bishop George Bloomer, who is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. Until 2019, Bloomer hosted the Spiritual Authority television show on the Word Network, which serves a predominately black audience. His boldness and unique insights into what’s going on in our culture offer a fresh perspective that every American needs to hear.

On my Strang Report podcast, he told me one of the major issues he sees in America right now is the stereotype that all black people are Democrats. This is entirely untrue. In fact, newly freed slaves who got their constitutional rights through the 13th and 14th amendments unanimously registered Republican.

And there’s no denying that, even today, Donald Trump has a significant following of black voters—despite what the media would lead you to believe. So why have black people historically voted for Republican presidents? And why did many black voters help elect Trump in 2016?

“Although I’m a Republican, I don’t consider myself as a Republican or Democrat,” says Bloomer. “I call myself a conservative. I wrote a book titled Elephants in the Church, and it’s amazing that what is going on now fits what we wrote about back then. Under George Bush, the face of the conservative African American movement was Condoleezza Rice, who speaks three languages and plays classical piano; [and also] J.C. Watts …

“I mean, those were the faces that we saw. Under Trump, we have very, very good guys and friends of mine; for example, we have Darrell Scott. …