Barack Obama has blamed the glamorised culture of rap music for the rise in Black males voting for Donald Trump.
Former President Barack Obama has stated that the increased support for Donald Trump from Black male voters in the US 2020 election is due to “the bling, the women, the money” in rap music.
The number of Black Americans voting for Trump in this month’s election rose from his 2016, despite his poor handling of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“It’s interesting: people are writing about the fact that Trump increased his support among Black men, and the occasional rapper who supported Trump,” said Obama in his interview with The Atlantic.
“A lot of rap videos are using the same measures of what it means to be successful as Donald Trump is. Everything is gold-plated.
“That insinuates itself and seeps into the culture.”
The phrase "this is peak 2020" gets thrown around a lot, but white people getting performaitively angry that Barack Obama has somewhat conservative views on hip-hop really is peak 2020
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) November 16, 2020
Hilary Clinton received a count of 82 per cent of Black male votes in 2016, a number which has fallen to 80 per cent for Joe Biden this year. Yet both of those percentages represent a significant downturn from Obama’s election numbers which saw 95 per cent and 87 per cent in 2008 and 2012 respectively.
The former president’s comments come after Black rappers Lil Wayne and Lil Pump recently threw their support behind Donald Trump by endorsing him at election rallies.
Obama blamed Black men voting Trump on rap music….wow
— Read ‘Island Futures’ by Mimi Sheller (@ComradeKimDawn) November 16, 2020
“America has always had a caste system — rich and poor, not just racially but economically — but it wasn’t in your face most of the time when I was growing up”, the former president continued.
“Then you start seeing Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, that sense that either you’ve got it or you’re a loser. And Donald Trump epitomises that cultural movement that is deeply ingrained now in American culture.”
booooohttps://t.co/ukFdia5cgN pic.twitter.com/AimEPWG8l1
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) November 16, 2020
Obama’s views proved to be quite divisive, with some people taking his side whilst others criticised him for being conservative.
"Everything is gold plated"
Obama talk about rap music like a 90s Republican. https://t.co/vdrPhUaUNl
— Richie Buz (@RichieBuz1) November 16, 2020
Donald Trump is still yet to concede defeat in the 2020 election, and if he doesn’t transition soon, he might just start to lose some of the following he has amassed.
