Trump surrogate blames media for Black community voting against Republicans

Bruce LeVell, senior surrogate for Donald Trump and Trump’s former executive director of the National Diversity Coalition, was among those in attendance at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week.

I spoke with LeVell at the convention about Black voter engagement by the Trump campaign, and what those outreach efforts look like.

Listen: Trump surrogate blames media for Black community voting against Republicans

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Bruce LeVell: The black outreach is pretty much the policies that the President started in 2015, you know, like he said, the historic, you know, comment, ‘what the hell you have to lose?’ That’s very simple. You look at other cities historically that voted Democrat, mostly, a lot of the urban cities for 40-50, years. Like, look, are you happy with what’s going on? Would you like to change your balance sheet? — As a business person would say. And so I think that’s a fair call, it’s resonated. And the reason why is because you have to look at the tenure of when he was in office for four years, and you run the contrast what we have now. So I think a lot of Black Americans, especially can see the contrast of the higher food prices, the higher gas prices, the mass invasion —quote — it is an invasion of our borders, who people are coming across the border who have not paid into our social security system, etc., and then that Black culture that’s been around 400 years feel snided, and they feel like they’ve been pushed to the side, especially in urban cities like Chicago, Oakland, and many other places…And so listen, it’s not even so much as a Republican, Democrat thing in some aspects. It’s a freaking common sense thing, and that’s what’s gravitating, and that’s that’s essentially your outreach is when you’re coming up with positive policies, first of all, that are win-win for all, but especially things in Black culture that affect them.

Russ McNamara: Why do you think that conservative policies haven’t necessarily permeated in the minds of Black voters within Black culture?

LeVell: Well one of the reasons is because of all the fake news…And the reason is, is because when you put out there, for example, I’ll just take President Trump, when they push the Russian hoax collusion — everybody knows it was — and you get 51 heads of states that co-sign on that and say that’s Russian disinformation, and the media takes that and runs with that, and they know it’s not, like, that’s fake news. But it’s a travesty when the American people, when they see that and it’s not being true. I’m 60 years old, man. I come from the Walter Cronkite era. When the man said the news, you never knew which side he leaned for, he said, ‘that’s the way it is. I am Walter Cronkite.’ That’s what the country needs, not how many clicks you can get, how many emotional situations you can push on people to get some kind of reaction, and that’s the travesty on both sides of the aisle.

I think Black culture in itself, historically and Black communities have been inundated with large mainstream media outlets that control the narrative. Most of the Black urban radios aren’t owned by Black people. Most of the gas stations aren’t owned by Black people or anything. So the lack of the infrastructure, the retail commodity base, is pushed mainly on a base that can control the narrative. President Trump comes along and pierces through it. So that’s where it’s applicable to people who print falsehoods on both sides. That’s who it applies for. But God bless the journalists that come out and print the truth.

Read more: Are Black voters in Detroit embracing Trump?

McNamara: On the local level, is that what you’re hoping for? Because if you’re going door-to-door in a city like Detroit, how are you reaching out to those voters specifically?

LeVell: Well you look around and say, ‘are you better off now than you were four years ago?’ Look at your roads. Look at just, you know, if you don’t like that, try something different. Listen, Black folk are tired of always being taken for granted. Well, you’re Black, you must be a Democrat, and the demonization when Black folks want to vote Republican, get snided or persecuted or called all types of names, hell, that’s voter suppression right there when you’re intimidating…you’re talking to a man of a son of a civil rights pioneer from Atlanta, Georgia. My family marched with Martin Luther King and Alveda King’s dad, who was A.D. King, who was my uncle who marched with them.

That’s what we fought for to get to the poll to vote for who we wanted to. Not [to face persecution] as Black culture, ‘don’t you dare vote Republican’ and get the persecution from the left. That’s the problem right there. Leave it alone. Let the process go through. Agree to disagree, and may the best man or woman win.

Use the media player above to listen to the interview with LeVell.