MILWAUKEE, Wis. – During the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, there has been a major push to attract minority voters, along with other groups that often don’t vote Republican.
The face of that movement this week has become model and celebrity influencer Amber Rose, who said in her controversial five-minute speech that she used to believe that former President Donald Trump was racist.
“I’m here tonight to tell you, no matter your political background, the best chance we have to give our babies a better life is to elect Donald Trump president of the United States,” Rose said Monday night, adding Trump doesn’t care “if you’re Black, white, gay or straight.”
Rose’s endorsement of Trump left some wondering how she went from a supporter of Hillary Clinton in 2016 who protested against gender inequality to endorsing the former president, but many agreed her comments were impactful.
Florida Republican Congressman Byron Donalds of Southwest Florida brought up Rose’s speech at a Florida GOP Breakfast on Thursday. He also pointed to former President Barack Obama official Van Jones and his take on the speech on CNN.
“That was probably the most dangerous speech for the Democratic coalition,” Jones said. “That is a young woman of color, she’s describing the experience a lot of people have feeling that maybe if you’re around too many liberals you might get criticized too much and you might not be able to speak your mind and spoke to it really well, and she’s way more famous than any of us up here.”
Congressman Donalds said the GOP is targeting minority voters hard, particularly Black men, where Trump has been polling higher than other GOP candidates have in the past. Trump has been hoping to build upon his 2020 success with Black voters, when he gained about 12 percent of their support, The Hill reported.
“There are definitely votes in these communities and we’ve just not done the job as a party to go after them,” he said. “We’re doing that job this election cycle. I’m very happy about that and you’re going to see more of it.”