The Daily Signal - Obama or Trump: Who Has Done More for Blacks in America?

Episode Date: November 2, 2020

Clarence McKee has worked in public policy and media for decades, including service with the Reagan administration. McKee, author of the book “How Obama Failed Black America and How Trump Is Helping It: The Dirty Little Secret That the Media Won’t Tell You,” says he closely observed actions taken by President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump to help the black community. The results speak for themselves, he says. McKee joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to break down the ways in which he says Trump’s policies serve the best interests of African Americans.  Also on today’s show, we read your letters to the editor and we share a good news story about a 10-year-old boy who started an initiative to spread more kindness in our world. Now he is on a mission to provide 100,000 people with a free meal this fall.  “The Daily Signal Podcast” is available on Ricochet, Apple Podcasts, Pippa, Google Play, and Stitcher. All of our podcasts may be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You also may leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at [e-mail].  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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On today's show, we talk with Clarence McKee, author of the book How Obama Failed Black America and How Trump is Helping It. McKee explains how President Trump's policies have helped the African-American community over the past four years. We also read your letters to the editor and share a good news story about a 10-year-old boy who has started an initiative to spread more kindness in our world. and is currently on a mission to make sure families do not go hungry this fall. Before we get to today's show, Rob and I want to take just a moment to encourage you to exercise your right to vote tomorrow. The right to vote is among the most sacred rights we have as Americans. It's fundamental to our democracy that every single eligible citizen exercise their duty and make their voice heard. The Heritage Foundation is encouraging everyone to make sure your voice is heard.

that your ballot is cast in person this election day. Protecting the integrity of our election should matter to everyone, and there is no better way to ensure that your vote counts than by going to your polling place to vote. Your right to vote is sacred, as Virginia said, so don't give it up. Now stay tuned for today's show. Coming up next. I am joined by Clarence McKee, president and founder of McKee Communications Inc. and author of the book How Obama Failed Black America and How how Trump is helping it. Clarence, welcome to the show. My pleasure of Virginia, thank you for inviting me. It's a real honor. Well, it's great to have you here and discuss your book, which I was looking at the endorsements on the book.

And they are quite impressive. Alveda King has endorsed the book, as well as Lieutenant Colonel Alan West, the former lieutenant governor of Florida, Jennifer Carroll, the chairman of Blackpack, George Farrell. really impressive to see all the individuals that have spoken so highly of this book. And, you know, it really came from many of, I know, the blogs that you've written as Newsmax on the silent minority. So if you could, just talk a little bit about what prompted you to begin writing about both President Trump and President Obama and what they have and haven't done for the black community. Well, it started. Thank you for the mention of my Newsmax blog. As I went back over those, and as I was writing them as well in real time, they're all real time, about situations going on at that time regarding Obama on various issues, you know, immigration, the economy, race baiting, school choice, things of that sort. And I looked back and I said, what did the president, the first black president of the United States, who everybody was very in the black community, pleased and honored. We had a black president. I disagreed with his philosophy, but I was glad he was an honor to have a black president because it says a lot about the United States. But then I said, well, what did he do and what did that mean? I compared it then to some issues of importance to the black community. And I said, well, he didn't do much. And then came across a Gallup study in 2016 saying that 52% of the black population, those surveyed,

didn't think he had done enough. So that's why I said, I better write this down and get a lot of things off on my chest. And I looked at what Trump was doing and said, wow, he's doing a lot more, but he's not getting any credit for it at all. Because Obama's held up on this pedestal by the black civil rights leadership and the press. You know, it's that little dirty little secret. The media won't tell anybody that what did he do for blacks? Not much. We are talking with Clarence McKee, author of the book, How Obama Failed,

Black America and how Trump is helping it. So Clarence, you've worked in the field of public policy for a very long time. You served in the Reagan Bush administration. You've also worked in the news industry for many, many years. So you've really followed many, many presidential administrations very closely. So when President Obama was elected, what were your expectations for his presidency? Well, I thought, first of all, being from the city of Chicago, that he would immediately have his department to start looking into the mass, I call it mass murders going on to that city. I think, gosh, since 2000, there been more people killed there than in Afghanistan. I thought that would be an issue. I thought that schools would be an issue.

And then it turns out that he never addressed that. He went right to helping groups of people. You know, blacks were his main constituency. However, he helped, supported the gay rights movement, which is fine. He helped on same-sex marriage in terms he came out supporting that. He helped on big time on the abortion front, Planned Parenthood, and he were all in the same big pocket. Those groups got attention.

Illegal aliens, he helped them too. But blacks didn't get any attention. It kind of took us for granted and only came up to help black people and get into race. when it was beneficial to him. So when you look back on Obama's eight years in office and what are some of those things that, you know, as you went back and kind of reviewed those years and said, wait a second, you know, what did President Obama do for the black community? What were some of those things that maybe stood out to you or surprised you?

It's more, the surprise. It's more of what he did not do. And it's more of the positions he took. took. And that's why there was such a striking comparison between him and what I was seeing the beginnings of the Trump administration. Just take one. Let's take school choice. I mean, it's great program homes. A lot of kids trapped in inner city schools. The first thing Obama did when he got into Washington, other than put his kids in a private school, So you see, zeroed out of the budget money for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program,

which was a program started by George W. Bush to help poor kids go to private schools. Well, he got rid of it. Why? Because of the teachers' unions. It was put back, thanks to the Republican Congress. But he was against that, which to me, as I said, in one article, was throwing blacks under the bus. That was the first thing. And there are several others, if you want me to get into it. But school choice was the big one. That means more. a lot of blacks in this country and a lot of other issues. It meant a lot in Florida. Yeah, school choice is an issue that here at the Heritage Foundation, we are so passionate about and is such a critical topic. Yes. I do want to ask you that same question, though, of

expectations for President Trump. What were you expecting to see from him when he took office four years ago? Trump had a vision. He said, I want to help the blind community. plus his economic policies, you know, on jobs and turning things around. It was the height of the Obama administration. You had, were 12 million people, black people on food stamps. And so Trump was wanted to turn the country around, get America moving again. That's what I was expecting, and that's exactly what we got. Let's get in a little bit more to that economic policy and how specifically his economic policies

have been so beneficial to the African-American community. You know the old expression in Virginia, a rising tide lifts all boats? Yes. We spend a chapter in this, in the book on this, that the rising economic tide, pre-pandemic, lifted a lot of black boats with the rest of the country. You got 5.4% black unemployment back in last August. And if you take the last four, three quarters of the last year, up through February, it was about 5.6%. That's phenomenal.

Economically, lower wage, low-income people, lower-skilled persons. They got wage increases greater than their supervisors in terms of percentages. 1.6 million blocks getting off of food stamps. All of those things were important. And you said, what else in the economy? If you have a barbershop, let me put it down to a community level, cutting back regulations.

If you have a barbershop and your self-employed person, regulations can kill you. Same thing at the national level. When the president cut regulations and energy and all these other companies, it freed up opportunities for companies to give jobs and get jobs. That's why things got so good for everybody. The tax cuts. I think the Council of Economic Advisers said two or three trillion dollars came back into this country. And companies could hire people. that was very, very important. The economy was the basis for the whole recovery. It looks like it's going to be going back to that now after the pandemic.

Yeah, it's been encouraging to see some of that movement already, like you say, going in the right direction. You know, as you look back on on these past four years, what maybe is to you the most significant impact Trump has had on the black community? caring and actually moving on his promises. You know, if you take a look at eight years of Obama, the only thing that they did, the Democrats, they bring up racism every single time in the election because they haven't offered the black community anything else. So they fall back on this racism thing. It's been consistent. But if you look back on it, you can see school choice. I mentioned.

I mean, it's phenomenal that he's got this going. and he wants it's a basic civil right now for cam families urban revitalization what did obama do and the democrats for urban revitalization in the last eight years 10 years 12 years whatever nothing we have opportunity zones 75 billion dollars i think is expended so far just on that program alone help thanks heavens for he worked very closely with senator scott uh prison reform that's big i mean if you look at the The cover of my book, it's got three beautiful little black kids on it. And they represent those families who lost their fathers who had to go arrested under the draconian prison bill and drug bill of 1994. They're under Trump and the program, prison before him.

A lot of those people who were convicted of nonviolent drug offenses are out. They're getting out. And 93% of those, according to the Bureau of. prisons that have been released under that have been black men. Very, very important. Illegal immigration was another biggie that was going that didn't help black people at all under the Obama policies. You had basically open immigration, catch and release, open borders. The president's cracking down on that. That's good. And as you know, who gets hurt by illegal immigration, low-skilled workers and no skilled workers? So those three things are very, very important

in addition to the jobs, I'll get into abortion in a second. But those are the basic things that have really helped the community that Trump has done, that they are seeing it. Well, and you mentioned abortion. And we know, looking at the statistics that, you know, the group of people that have suffered the most under Roe v. Wade are African-American babies. Approximately, the black pro-life movement estimates 15 to 20 million have been killed. I make this point in the book on a chapter on abortion.

Dr. Elvedic King, who's endorsed a book. She's a great friend and a great person. She said that quotes the statistic that one third of all abortions, one third are black. And we're only 12% of the population in the country. And we're one third of the abortions. She is called a genocide. It's horrible. And the right to life is very important.

And Donald Trump is probably one of the most pro-life presidents we've ever had in the White House ever. I mean, he got up in the State of the Union address and talks about it, even though Nancy Pelosi tears up the address. She's also tearing up his ideas when she did that. He spoke out against very strongly what the governor of New Virginia stated about, well, if there's a botched abortion and the baby's alive, will let it be making it comfortable. Are you kidding me? And then in New York State, when those legislators applauded after they passed a draconian pro-abortion bill, almost right up to the point of birth, it was disgusting. And the president has spoken out against that very vividly.

First president to attend the thing, right to life rally, wasn't it? So he's been very strong on that issue, and it's very, very important. And black people are very sensitive to that, notwithstanding the civil rights movement, And it's also in the pocket of the abortion movement, freight plant, clarin-head. So speaking broadly, why do you argue that conservative policies serve the African-American community better than policies from the far left do? Well, take a look at the policies. Is it better to have 12 million blacks on food stamps? Or is it better to have two million less than you had during the Democratic years of Obama? Is it better for blacks to get welfare and not have a job?

The left says, let me help you. I'm from the government. I want to help you. Let us give you this. Let us give you that. Then we are your masters if you do that. But blacks being independent as we were, you know, if you go before the 1960s, when blacks owned a lot of their own businesses and didn't count on the government,

there was not a whole lot. The black families were stronger than they were now. You had situations where very few single parent households. The divorce rate was down. The illegitimacy rate was low. Things changed after the federal government got into the game. The man in the house rule, if you were probably too young, remember that, where you can't get your welfare check if there's a man in the house, things of that sort.

Government dependency is the left likes that? Just look at what they're proposing now coming up. And the right side and the conservative side, it's you are an individual, you're not a member of a group. Based on an individual merit, an individual talent, just make sure everybody has an equal chance to start the race. You had a great story in a couple of weeks ago, read article on women in athletics in Title IX and whether they're getting discriminated against because of the transgender movement, et cetera. But the whole thing was over there. Equal starting gate. Everyone starts out with nothing, no hands tied behind them.

Equality. An equal opportunity, not equal results. The left says, and that's scaring you sometimes, scaring us, equal results. It's going to be based on your identity and not your merit. That's a very dangerous thing in politics, government, and that's where we're headed with the far left. And not so much the far left. It's just a Democratic Party.

Yeah. And the way the country's going, it's the shame. So what would you, what would you say to those on the left who argue, well, but there aren't equal opportunities that, you know, if you're born into, you know, maybe a low income area as an African American individual, your opportunities, you know, put you far, far behind, maybe a Caucasian individual that's born. in Suburbia, America. Well, what about a white boy who's born in Appalachia who's very, very poor? What are there is chances compared to a black born in... Look at the Obama kids versus a white boy or girl in Appalachia, you know? So, of course, there's going to be...

This has been the story of history. Blacks who grew up, some of the greatest... Frederick Douglass, my God, a slave. If you let people say, well, because you're black, you're not going to get anywhere. Because you're born here, you're not going to get anywhere. What does that tell a 12-year-old kid or a 7-year-old kid with a critical race theory? That's what they call it. The 1619 project, which is basically racism in reverse.

Why, you can't make it if you're black in this country because it's all racist. You don't tell people that you can do anything you want to. That's why I believe one of the days of segregated schools, how some of these black kids excelled, some of the greatest, highest grade marks coming out of the schools in D.C. then compared to now. So I would tell them, I don't want to hear it. You'd go tell somebody else that tell your own kids,

they can't make it, but don't be telling black people, you can't make it because you're born poor. It's like the little liberal elite white kids who are spitting in the faces of policemen at these rallies in these demonstrations who never had to worry about a thing in their life. and just spitting in the face of a black cop, it works way up the hard way, which is totally disgusting.

Yeah. That's Antifa. It is. It is disgusting. I agree. There are few things that get me as wild offices that does. So really what you're saying is it's shifting the narrative from you are a victim to know you can overcome even the hardest of challenges. We're not, black people are not victims.

My gosh, you know, here's the bottom line here. If we were such victims, how do you get it, and we were such a racist country and there's racial problems, we know that. How do you begin a country that elects a black man president of the United States twice for two terms? Yeah. Is that a racist country? South Africa. Now, if you were in old South Africa, probably in many ways, same today. If you were in an apartheid South Africa, you could say, oh, gosh, you don't have a chance because they're not going to let you go far, schools or anything else.

But that's not the case in the United States. We had apartheid here under segregation, but those days are over. And even then, black kids were doing well in school because you had to. Now education is not the number one, it seems, unfortunately. But it should be. Jefferson is right. Our Constitution is correct. Those are the ideals.

Frederick Douglass said those are the ideals. He had criticizing, remember the time he criticized that statute, the Lincoln statue? He said, you know, I like the goals of our Constitution. They're great. We have to live up to the words. We still, it's the greatest document in the world. And it's 1776, not 16, 19. It's the goals of this country.

That's why people are trying to get in. I don't see many of these Antifa people trying to leave the country to you. It's a good point. Or Black Lives Matter. They aren't running to Haiti. And they're not running to Ghana, which Ghana is a good country. They're not running to the Congo. But they're all staying here.

They're not trying to rush out if it's so bad leave. if you asked me. Clarence, thank you. The book, How Obama Fail Black America and How Trump is Helping It, is available on Amazon. So we'll be sure to put a link in the show notes today so you all can order your own copy. That's great.

Thank you, Ed. Of course. But before we let you go, tell us a little bit about how we can follow your work at Newsmax and your work in general. Yes, newsmax.com slash McKee. Newsmax.com slash McKee, and you'll see all of my articles and columns. You get a lot off my chest writing, Virginia.

That's why I vent my frustrations. That's why one reason I did the book. And it's also, you can see it on ClarenceMckey.com, ClarenceMcKee.com, you get a lot of the background. But that's where they can follow me. And then I have, I'm new to Twitter. I'm learning your social media. It's at Clarence underscore McKee.

at Clarence underscore McKee. That's the Twitter. Okay, perfect. Well, thank you. Thank you, Clarence. We just really appreciate you coming on this show and we appreciate you laying out this issue for us and really breaking it down today.

Very much, very, very helpful. So thank you. Thank you, and the Heritage Foundation. Conservative women. Conservative feminist. It's true. We do exist. I'm Virginia Allen

and every Thursday morning on problematic women Lauren Evans and I sort through the news to bring you stories in interviews that are particular interest to conservative leaning or problematic women. That is women whose views and opinions are often excluded or mocked by those on the so-called feminist left. We talk about everything from pop culture to policy and politics. Search for problematic women wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for sending us your letters to the editor. Each Monday we feature our on this show. Virginia, who do you have first? In response to the recent Daily Signal story and video about the Kenosha car lot that was torched by rioters, Kenosha auto dealers says insurance won't cover

riot damage. Rockney Hughes writes, the city should be responsible for cleaning up the mess. They allowed it to happen. When a business establishes itself in a community, the community becomes responsible for its protection via a policing force. In this case, as in the other city, being ransacked by rioters, policing was not enforced and the damage was allowed to happen. And in response to my recent conversation with Brent Bozell regarding

how tech companies have the power to decide who will and who won't be president, Randy Leidecker writes, I can understand that tech companies should be immune from liability for what other people write on their websites, but they should be liable for what they refuse to publish. Let them defend their censorship

of certain points of view in court. Your letter could be featured on next week's show, so send us an email at letters at dailysignal.com. Hey, you. Yeah, I'm talking to you, the one who isn't planning to vote. Nobody wants to be on the bench when the game is on the line. So why would you stay home this election day? We're in the fourth quarter and the clock is ticking. It's the bottom of the ninth with the winning run on base.

You get the picture. Your country is counting on you. There's too much at stake to sit this one out. So get in the game and make sure you vote early or on Tuesday. The Heritage Foundation is responsible for the content of this ad. Virginia, you have a good news story to share with us today. Over to you. Thanks so much, Rob.

Well, we could always use a little bit more kindness in our world. And that's why 10-year-old Orion Gene founded Race to Kindness, an organized effort to execute acts of kindness in communities across America. This past summer, Orion won the National Kindness Speech Contest and was awarded $500 for coming in first place. Let's take a listen to a portion of his prize-winning speech. Kindness is like spreading huts around the world to those who need it and those who may not know they need it.

The act could be something small, but in the end make a big difference to the person receiving it. You could hold a drive-up bake sale and donate the proceeds to a local food bank. or leave flowers on a neighbor's store step with a nice note to let them know they are special, send a letter to an essential worker thanking them for their hard work, or even something as simple as asking your parents how you can help out around the house can go a long way. The thing is, kindness is a virtue we can all possess if we are willing to. So why not start today? Because right now, it's what we need more than ever, to keep hope, to show love. And that love might be the hug someone needs,

someone needs to brighten up their day. So what's stopping you? Join me in the race of kindness. The best part is everybody wins. So start now and I'll be the first one to cheer you on. With the money that he won from that wonderful speech, Orion started his own race to kindness with the goal to collect 500 toys for kids at the Children's Health Hospital in Dallas, Texas. By the end of August, he had successfully collected 619 toys to donate to the hospital. And now he's launched a new initiative called Race to 100,000 Meals. Orion is mobilizing communities all across Texas and the U.S. to donate money or food to help those experiencing food insecurity this fall.

If you want to get involved and pack the bags of food, you can visit racetkindness.com to learn more. Orion will be collecting the food donations through Thanksgiving. So if you and your family are looking for a good way to spread a little kindness this holiday season, be sure to check out, race to 100,000 meals. Virginia, it's so great to hear that story. And what about that young member of our society stepping up to help? So really encouraging, and for all Americans, what they can do this holiday season as we approach Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Thank you so much for bringing that to us. Oh, it's always a joy, Rob. Thanks so much. Well, we're going to leave it there for today. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on the Rurcashay Audio Network. All of our shows are available at dailysignal.com slash podcasts. You can also subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or your favorite podcast app. And be sure to listen every weekday by adding the Daily Signal podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Breathing. If you like what you hear, please leave us a review and a five-star rating.

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