Category: US Politics

Support for President Trump has surged in the black community, according to three recent polls.

If the polls are correct, the percentage of black voters who will cast ballots for Trump in 2020 could more than double from the eight percent he received in 2016.

An Emerson poll released on Monday found that 19 percent of black voters will vote for the president this November, while a Democracy Institute/Sunday Express poll released on Sunday also found the level of black support for the president at 19 percent, and a Zogby poll released on Monday showed 20 percent of black voters intend to vote for Trump instead of Biden.

All three polls found the head-to-head match up between Trump and Biden tightening. The Democracy Institute/Sunday Express poll shows the president with a three-point lead, 48 percent to 45 percent, while the Emerson poll shows Biden with a two-point lead, 49 percent to 47 percent, and the Zogby Poll shows Biden with a six-point lead, 48 percent to 42 percent.

“Biden should be pleased with his support among Democrats, women, and Hispanics but a lead of 75%-20% among Blacks can spell real trouble,” pollster John Zogby said of the Zogby poll results.

“A Democrat needs 90%+ and a high turnout among Blacks. Could it be that Trump’s law and order message is hitting home among Blacks who are worried about demonstrations getting out of control?” Zogby added.

“The Republican convention gave Trump his most positive week of news coverage which likely attributes to his bounce in this month’s poll and increasing job approval,” Director of Emerson College Polling Spencer Kimball said in the statement accompanying the release of the Emerson poll results Monday, which showed Trump’s surge among black voters:

Biden leads with all minority groups, albeit by different ranges. Biden leads with Asians 76% to 11%, Blacks/African Americans 77% to 19%, and Hispanic voters break for Biden 60% to 37%. White voters break for President Trump 56% to 41%. [emphasis added]

The Democracy Institute/Sunday Express poll also confirmed Trump’s surge among black voters, as well as greater strength among Hispanic voters than in 2016, as Breitbart News reported:

The Democracy Institute/Sunday Express poll shows that Trump leads Biden among white voters by a 53 percent to 45 percent margin. The president’s support among black and Hispanic voters has increased.

Nineteen percent of black voters support President Trump, while 77 percent support former Vice President Biden. This represents an 11 point increase of support among black voters for the president, compared to the 8 percent support he received in the 2016 presidential election.

Thirty nine percent of Hispanic voters support President Trump, while only 50 percent support former Vice President Biden, a ten point increase in support among Hispanic voters for the president, compared to the 28 percent he received in the 2016 presidential election.

With the Libertarian Party nominee and Green Party nominee added to the presidential contest, Biden’s lead over Trump in the Zogby Poll drops to just three points, 45 percent to 42 percent.

“Historically, support for minor party candidates dwindles as the race between major party candidates gets fierce and tight – but both candidates need to be looking over their shoulder, particularly Biden at Hawkins who may be picking up disaffected Sander’s supporters,” Zogby said.

The Emerson poll of 1,567 likely voters was conducted August 30 to August 31 and has a margin of error of 2.4 percent.

The Zogby poll of 1,007 likely voters was conducted on August 29 and has a 3.2 percent margin of error.

The Democracy Institute/Sunday Express poll of 1,500 likely voters was conducted between Wednesday August 26 and Friday August 28 and has a 2.5 percent margin of error.

CLAIM: President Donald Trump wants “a militaristic response” to riots, and Joe Biden resists calls to “defund the police.”

VERDICT: FALSE. Trump wants to assist local law enforcement, and Biden’s position is no different from defunding police.

The Reuters news agency published an astonishing video Tuesday, riddled with errors and left-wing propaganda about racism, the current unrest, and the positions of the two presidential candidates about what should be done about these issues.

Reuters tweeted: “President Trump has responded to the nationwide protests over George Floyd’s death by focusing on ‘law and order’ and urging a militaristic response. On the other hand, Joe Biden has resisted activists [sic] calls to defund the police #USElection2020”. The accompanying video is titled “Trump vs. Biden on race in America.”

The video starts by playing a selectively edited clip of Trump’s 2015 campaign announcement in Trump Tower. It quotes him as saying: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. … They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

The video leaves out Trump saying he is not talking about all Mexican immigrants: “And some, I assume, are good people.”

It then goes on to quote Biden saying: “This guy’s more George Wallace the George Washington.” It does not show any of Biden’s numerous racist remarks — arguably, far more racist than anything Trump has said — including “you ain’t black.”

The narrator then accuses Trump of downplaying racism “while simultaneously making racist and xenophobic comments.” She claims that “Biden has positioned himself as a crusader for racial justice,” a claim evidently to be taken at face value.

The video then addresses the question of what each candidate proposes to do about unrest. It notes, correctly, that Trump wants a “law and order” approach, but then describes that as “a militaristic response.”

Reuters never explains what that is supposed to mean, but Trump said as recently as Monday that he was reluctant to use the military — the “tougher route” — and would prefer to be asked by struggling state and local authorities to provide federal law enforcement resources. (Notably, President Barack Obama sent the national guard to restore order in Baltimore in 2015; he was not accused of “militarism.”)

Reuters claims that Biden has “resisted activists’ calls to ‘defund the police’.” This is false, as Breitbart News has noted: “Biden formally opposes demands to ‘defund the police,’ but backs ‘re-directing’ funding from police to other priorities, which is the same thing.”

A Reuters journalist is brought on to question Trump’s claims to have helped the black community. He argues that Trump is playing “both sides of the issue,” and goes on to repeat claims that Trump uses racial language.

Again, the video does not discuss any of Biden’s past racial language, nor his controversial record on black incarceration.

This is not the work of a news agency; it is the agitprop of partisan political propaganda, but it bears the Reuters imprimatur.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

The Department of Public Health released a report on Monday that showed deaths from drug overdoses increased 70 percent last year in San Francisco, a staggering statistic that represents more than one death a day in that city.

The report said 441 people died of an overdose in 2019 compared to 259 in 2018. And more than half — 54 precent — were related to fentanyl, a drug that can be 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the federal government.

“This doesn’t surprise any of us,” Kristen Marshall, who manages the Drug Overdose Prevention and Education (DOPE) project at the National Harm Reduction Coalition, a city-funded program that coordinates San Francisco’s response to overdoses, said in a San Francisco Chronicle report. “We had been sounding the alarm bells for the last three, four, even five years. We said fentanyl is coming.”

The Chronicle noted that the majority of overdoses occurred among black people, men, and those in their 50s, and it reported on how experts believe things might get worse before they get better:

Dr. Phillip Coffin, the department’s director of substance use research and lead author of the report, says he expects the 2020 numbers to be even more dire as the pandemic isolates more people and increases the barriers to help.

“We are advising people to remain more isolated, which could parodoxically increase the risk of an overdose being more fatal,” Coffin said. “A lot of the things that we want to do and support are in conflict with our infectious disease prevention strategies.”

He said the increase in 2020 could be even higher than the 70 percent increase between 2018 and 2019.

The Chronicle reported that in 2019 2,610 overdose deaths were prevented using Narcan, a nasal spray to fight an opioid overdose, according to the Harm Reduction Coalition. 

That number is up dramatically from 2015, when 609 overdose deaths were prevented.

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A coalition of black leaders wrote to the CEO of Planned Parenthood to urge her “to confront the systemic racism of America’s abortion practices” and to “renounce the racist legacy” of her organization’s founder, Margaret Sanger.

According to Rev. Dean Nelson, executive director of Human Coalition Action, which organized the letter, at least 120 black leaders joined together Monday in calling upon Planned Parenthood to end its “ongoing systemic targeting of Black people.”

The leaders wrote to Alexis McGill Johnson:

We are a diverse coalition of Black leaders fighting for the dignity of all human life. Like you, we feel called to action by America’s collective reckoning with its history of racism and unjust violence against Black lives. We affirm, with you, that Black lives matter and that every human being, regardless of race or ethnicity, deserves equal respect, equal rights, and equal dignity.

That’s why we’re writing to you today. We are asking you to use your position at Planned Parenthood to confront the systemic racism of America’s abortion practices and to publicly renounce the racist legacy of your founder, Margaret Sanger.

The black leaders continued to Johnson that Planned Parenthood has provided vocal support for the Black Lives Matter movement and has acknowledged the existence of racism experienced by employees within its own organization.

“But Ms. Johnson, will you confront the iniquity that your abortion practices perpetrated against Black lives?” the signers asked. “Will you fight the racism that targets Black lives in the womb?”

The leaders observed the racial disparities that exist in abortions performed, and that black women represent 36 percent of all abortions.

“Black women are five times more likely than white women to receive an abortion,” they added. “In some cities, like New York, more Black children are aborted every year than are born alive.”

“This is no accident,” they told Johnson, as they observed her organization’s surgical clinics “target minority communities for abortion” throughout the country.

“In fact, 79 percent of Planned Parenthood’s surgical abortion facilities are located in or near communities of color,” they challenged. “Can Planned Parenthood really claim to care for Black lives while remaining complicit in the targeting of Black pregnant women?”

Referring to these statistics as a “massive iniquity,” the black leaders also asserted to Johnson that they are in keeping with “the racist, eugenicist vision” of Margaret Sanger, the founder of her organization.

The letter challenged Johnson to take note that, as employees of Planned Parenthood have recently accused her organization of racist practices and a toxic culture, the black leaders are not surprised by this unrest, “considering the organization’s founding beliefs about minority and vulnerable populations.”

“Ms. Johnson, your words about the Black Lives Matter movement ring hollow while your organization perpetuates this racist legacy,” the coalition asserted. “While Planned Parenthood of Greater New York and North Central States has disavowed Sanger’s eugenic views, Planned Parenthood National has remained silent.”

However, Planned Parenthood denies it is targeting black communities for abortions. Instead, the organization, which profits from abortion, continues its “reproductive justice” narrative that states low-income black women deserve free abortions, and to deny them taxpayer-funded abortions is “racist.”

Among the letter’s signers are Dr. Alveda King, former NFL star Ben Watson, Texas State Rep. James White (R), Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill (R), Georgia State Rep. Mack Jackson (D), Louisiana State Sen. Katrina Jackson (D), Rev. Bill and Deborah Owens of the Coalition of African American Pastors, former Professor Dr. Carol Swain, Family Research Council Senior Fellow Kenneth Blackwell, and political strategist Justin Giboney.

The office of the district attorney for Bronx County, New York, recommended Tuesday that charges be dropped against more than 300 Black Lives Matter protesters who were recently arrested.

In a statement, Democrat District Attorney Darcel Clark said her office would dismiss the “more than 300 summonses” that were issued for curfew violations during the June 4 protest, adding that she sees “no purpose” in prosecuting those minor violations.

A statement from Clark notes that the dismissal of the charges is due to health concerns as courts are trying to limit in-person appearances:

I believe in and encourage our Bronx residents to raise their voices to protest social and racial injustice in a peaceful way. I said back in June that I would not prosecute protestors simply for violating the curfew. While my Office does not prosecute summonses, I will file a motion with the court to dismiss theses summonses, which were issued June 4 in the Mott Haven section, in the interest of justice. The people who received these summonses are due back in court on them on October 2, 2020.

As the COVID-19 virus is still very much with us, and the courts are trying to limit inperson appearances, I believe it serves no purpose to summon hundreds of people to the courthouse for low-level violations. These unprecedented times require prosecutors to be flexible as well as compassionate

The city-wide curfew was implemented by local and state leaders for one night on June 1. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio extended that for several days in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

Thousands have flocked to New York City to protest in favor of Black Lives Matter, including de Blasio’s daughter, Chiara de Blasio, who was arrested during a protest at the time.

Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Tyler Eifert will wear the name of murdered St. Louis police Captain David Dorn on his helmet, according to a report.

The announcement was made by Alex Triantafilou, the chairman of the Hamilton County, Ohio, Republican Party.

The NFL announced in July that players would be allowed to wear slogans, or names of victims on their helmets as the NFL’s 2020 season kicks off.

Eifert is one of the small handful of NFL players who has dared express patriotic feelings about the United States. Back in 2016, when protesting the country during the national anthem swept the NFL, Eifert boldly announced that he would not be taking a knee.

“I stand because I want to honor the people putting their lives on the line for me on a daily basis in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard,” Eifert, who was then with the Cincinnati Bengals, wrote at the time. “I stand because my cousin is a pilot in the United States Air Force, risking his life flying F-15s in active war zones. He takes pride in his job protecting Americans, a sacrifice that all members of every branch of the United States military willfully take.

“I stand because I love my country,” he added.

That same year, Eifert wore the name of fallen Army Ranger and former NFL star, Pat Tillman, on his cleats.

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