Despite riding a wave of increased Black male voter support to victory, President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet selections tell a familiar story of exploitation without representation, critics say.
“Why is every Black person given HUD?” one Black Southern Republican asked ABC News, calling it “the literal Black job of the administration.” The unnamed source’s remarkable frustration stems from Trump’s appointment of Scott Turner as Housing and Urban Development Secretary—the only Black person selected for a Cabinet position. However, the selection is clearly color-coded and assigned.
This continues a troubling pattern. During Trump’s first term, Dr. Ben Carson at HUD represented the administration’s sole Black Cabinet member. While Trump has made history with other appointments—Marco Rubio as the first Hispanic Secretary of State and Scott Bessent as the first openly gay Treasury Secretary—his administration appears set to maintain its stark lack of Black representation.
The irony, if it could be called that, cuts deeper once you take a nice, long gander at Trump’s improved performance among Black voters in 2024 and the reasons for it. Per CNN and Newsweek, exit polls show about 3 in 10 Black men under 45 supported Trump, roughly double his 2020 numbers. Overall, 21% of Black men voted for Trump, a 2-point increase from the last election. Most Black voters punched their cards for Vice President Kamala Harris, so it doesn’t suggest any sort of coalition whatsoever. But that’s not what Trump desires; he just wanted to hypnotize people long enough to capture their vote, and he was successful.
These gains came primarily through economic messaging. Black voters who supported Trump consistently cited the economy and jobs as their primary concerns. Those who rated their financial situation as “worse” showed significantly reduced Democratic support compared to 2020.
Yet this electoral success hasn’t translated into meaningful representation. While Rep. Byron Donalds, a Black Republican from Florida, defended Trump’s picks on CNN by emphasizing “competency” over diversity, the administration’s pattern suggests a cynical political calculation: court Black votes during campaigns while maintaining nearly all-white leadership structures.
“Being a part of Trumpworld isn’t easy. It is almost a personal blacklist thing in the outside world,” one Black Republican strategist told ABC News. “So it is risky, in my opinion, to be a part of this organization for Black people that may want to be a part of the cause.”
This dynamic exposes a painful, if obvious, reality for Black Republicans—their party appears willing to showcase them to whatever extent necessary during campaigns but rarely elevates them to true positions of power. If anything, they will be spat on immediately upon exit from the voting booth. Rather than breaking this pattern, the HUD appointment seems to reinforce it.
As one person tweeted, “Republicans only use Black People for their influence, and they discard us once we are no longer any use to them.”
Six African Americans have served as HUD secretaries—more than any other Cabinet position, which is also telling of Democratic presidents. This concentration in a single department suggests not progress but pigeonholing, a way to claim diversity without truly sharing power across the federal government.
Trump’s transition team declined ABC News’ request for comment on the racial makeup of his Cabinet picks, leaving unanswered questions about whether additional Black appointments might be forthcoming. However, as the administration takes shape, the evidence suggests that Black Republican voters’ increased support has earned them little more than symbolic gestures from party leadership still dominated by white conservatives.
For a movement that garnered unprecedented Black male support through promises of economic empowerment, the Cabinet’s composition reads less like reform and more like the same old story—Black votes welcome, Black voices less so.
Published: Dec 7, 2024 05:42 am