The wrong way to do minority outreach? To do it in the National Review!

Mona Charon has a nice piece–“Not the way to do minority outreach”–gently chiding Donald Trump for making a speech ostensibly intended to persuade blacks to vote for him by giving a speech before a virtually all-white audience in West Bend, Wisconsin, a virtually all-white suburb of Milwaukee, 40 percent black and the scene of rioting and looting following the shooting of a black man by a black police officer a few days before Trump’s speech in West Bend.

Charon praised Trump’s speech, rather inexplicably, to me, for saying that Democratic policies have led to “more crime, more broken homes, and more poverty,” despite the fact that none of these “facts” are true. Charon also praised Trump for throwing in this whopper, claiming that those advancing the “narrative of cops as a racist force in our society — a narrative supported with a nod by my opponent — share directly in the responsibility for the unrest in Milwaukee, and many other places within our country.” In other words, Trump is saying that if you believe that blacks are treated unfairly by the police, 1) you’re wrong, and 2) you are responsible for racial unrest in the U.S. Well, that may have gotten a hand in West Bend, but I’m betting the folks, particularly the black folks, in Milwaukee had a different reaction.

But Charon’s larger point is that even though Trump said some good things about race (even though I think he didn’t say good things about race), in the past he’s said a lot of bad things about race, and that Trump has a long way to go before he can expect blacks to take him seriously.¹

Well, that’s certainly true, but I’d like to give Charon my own advice on giving Republicans advice on how to do minority outreach: Don’t do it in the National Review!

In the first place, more black people write for the National Review than read it. In the second place, of the people who do read it, a large percentage are screaming racists! Who will fill your comments section with rants on Anglo-Saxonism, the superiority of White Christianity, Kenyan socialism, and some “fascinating” prejudices that I never would have guessed were a “thing”, like the notion that Cambodians are excessively given to insurance fraud. And who will also say that you look like you have Down’s syndrome. So, Mona, points for trying, if not for content, but in the future, look for another venue.