‘Black Men For Bernie’ Founder Now Mobilizing Black Voters for Trump

By Sameer Rao Sep 15, 2016

We reported during the Democratical National Convention on an action held by "Black Men For Bernie," a group who supported and celebrated Bernie Sanders‘ Democratic presidential campaign. That group’s founder announced this week that he’ll channel his disdain for the Democratic Party and nominee Hillary Clinton into a new venture: mobilizing Black voters for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

"What we’ve gotten from the Democrat Party, it’s been zero," said Bruce Carter in a Buzzfeed interview published Tuesday (September 13). "So now it’s like you have no option but to do something different if you want a different result."

That "something different" is "Trump for Urban Communities," which Carter described as a partnership with the Trump campaign centered around a platform that highlights small businesses and community investment. He aims to place 2,000 staffers in North Carolina, Florida and Pennsylvania who will do direct voter outreach in Black communities. Neither Carter nor the Trump campaign (who didn’t comment to Buzzfeed) disclosed the specific amount the campaign will spend on this effort.

Carter also said that he thinks Trump’s penchant for racist dog-whistles doesn’t matter as much to him as the possibility of positive change. "For me, [if Trump] is racist or not racist, it’s irrelevant—we don’t have to be the best of friends," he said. "I don’t know where it’s going to go but there’s going to be a chance for people’s lives to get better. Under Democrats, it’s shown that it won’t happen."