Former CNN host Don Lemon told MSNBC host Jen Psaki that black voters he had spoken to were planning to vote for former President Donald Trump, and they did not know who Vice President Kamala Harris was.
During an appearance on s Inside With Jen Psaki, Lemon explained how his interviews with black voters across several key swing states were “eye-opening.”
“I don’t know if it was surprising, but it was certainly eye-opening to hear so many people, even people of color and women, saying they are going to support Donald Trump. I am not quite sure that the polls are accurate as it relates to the tightening of the polls and who will support whom,” Lemon said.
“Right-wing media, when I released my content, they said Don Lemon was shocked or surprised at the answers he got. But there were a lot of black men, Jen, who said they were supporting Donald Trump simply because he gave them a stimulus check.”
“He gave them $1200 back when he was president. They did not somehow remember that the current president also gave them a stimulus check, except his name wasn’t on it,” he added.
“So, I had to remind them time after time that the check did not come from Donald Trump, that it came from a Democratic Congress and he had to slow it up to have his name on it.”
“So, when they got the check, and his name was on it, they automatically thought it came directly from Donald Trump which I think is good marketing. Which is the same as he does for buildings around the country, especially in New York. He doesn’t actually own them, but he puts his name on them, and it makes people think he owns them and it makes them think that he is richer and bigger and more benevolent than he is.
Psaki asked Lemon what people had to say about the Democratic nominee.
Lemon replied:
“It depends on where you are. We went to a number of different battleground states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois on our way to Chicago. It depended on where you were. Pennsylvania, I should say Philadelphia, is a bit more liberal in the answers to questions about her and him were quite different.”
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“But for the most part, in Pittsburgh or at the Jersey Shore and Atlantic City, in Ohio especially, many people did not know who she was. They were not familiar with her. So, I think she has to reintroduce herself to the public. But for him, I think they thought he is better for the economy. Again, that he brought money into the community or that he was on black people’s side.”
“Listen, I wasn’t surprised by that. I have been doing this long enough that you never know where people are going to fall and how they will vote. That’s their personal prerogative. But I think it’s important for them to understand and to the voting booth with some knowledge, that they are informed as an electorate. And for other reasons they were telling me, the information was all false. They didn’t understand the correct reasons why they might vote for him.”
The host then recalled Lemon has called Trump “a racist on television” before asking if people he was talking to felt that way too.
“Of course I think he is racist. Look at his rhetoric and his track record, and anyone can see that,” he replied.
He continued:
“Is it surprising that so many African Americans are supporting him? A bit. But I also think people tend to romanticize the past and even though by most metrics, the economy is doing better and it’s on fire, what people do is they vote with prices.”
“They vote with their wallets. Maybe the economy is better both can be true: the economy can be better but prices are higher and people have less money and less resources to put towards high prices and to feed their families.
“We talk about low information voters. I like to call them low partisan information voters because many of the people I spoke to were not sitting in front of the television every single day and every single night following every micro breaking news development about Donald Trump and what’s happening in politics.”
“But, they were quite aware of what they were doing for their families. How much or how little money they had in their pockets, and I think that they vote on that and not necessarily what they see on television.”
