When Donald Trump first ran for president, he asked Black voters a simple question: “What do you have to lose by trying something new like Trump?”
Many on the left clutched their pearls at the provocative premise, especially considering the words that followed: “You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed — what the hell do you have to lose?”
In 2016, this rhetorical question didn’t get Trump very far with Black voters. Although Hilary Clinton ultimately lost the election, she won the Black vote handily, with Trump only managing to woo 8 percent.
In 2020, Trump did only slightly better with this demographic, appealing to 12 percent of the Black electorate. Despite his stereotypical appeals to Black voters, from the Platinum Plan to pardoning rappers, Trump was not making much progress.
But then, in 2024, an increasing percentage of Black voters took a chance on Trump, faced with rising economic costs that some felt the Democratic party was not taking seriously enough. Moreover, the sky did not fall on top of Black America during Trump’s first presidency as some claimed it would.
In fact, Black unemployment hit a record low during Trump’s first term, and the poverty rate for African Americans reached its lowest level in history at the time. While many Americans were dissatisfied with Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it was the subsequent inflation that lingered with voters.
Black Americans — who already have less income, less wealth, and higher unemployment even during the best of times — were hit especially hard, and more went looking for someone who they hoped could solve it, and well, here we are.
So, what do we have to lose? Unfortunately, not only did Trump not address the pain Black Americans were feeling once he took office, he made the problem immeasurably worse.
Thanks to Trump’s tariffs and broader economic policies, unemployment is on the rise again, particularly among Black workers who are often last hired, first fired, and are thus more vulnerable to economic shocks like the one Trump is causing.
In states like Michigan, the Black unemployment rate is an astounding 10 percent. To put that in perspective, this would be considered a full blown crisis if these numbers represented the overall unemployment rate.
As the country confronts a cost-of-living crisis, Black Americans are suffering disproportionately. Our organization recently found that 61 percent of all Americans feel worse off financially as a result of Trump’s economic policies, and the crunch is already pushing us into debt.
Forty-one percent of the country has dipped into savings to make ends meet — in Black America, that number is 48 percent. Thirty-seven percent of Americans have had to pay bills with their credit cards — for Black Americans, 41 percent.
Corporations have few qualms about taking advantage of the growing demand for short-term solutions. For example, Buy Now, Pay Later usage has doubled in the last year alone, and Black people are its most frequent users.
“About 60 percent of people using Buy Now, Pay Later already have subprime credit scores — and they’re mostly stacking this debt on top of credit cards,” was how our organization’s president, Julie Margetta Morgan, put it on the Bloomberg Odd Lots podcast.
This data taken together suggest a quiet household financial crisis, simmering beneath the surface. For a population already more likely to have lower credit scores and higher interest rates, the Trump economy is a risk we simply cannot afford to take.
As Trump’s budget law prepares to raise health care premiums while simultaneously slashing Medicaid by over $900 million, Black lives and livelihoods disproportionately are on the line — nearly 20 percent of Medicaid enrollees are Black, as are 16 percent of the Health Insurance Marketplace’s customers.
Coupled with cuts to food assistance programs, school funding and student loan programs, the Trump agenda will have generational ripple effects on the Black community in the form of worse health outcomes, worse educational outcomes, less wealth and more debt.
These are just the numbers that we can see right now. It’s harder to imagine the long term consequences other Trump policies will have on our future job prospects and on the Black community overall.
Trump’s war on diversity, equity and inclusion is already eroding antidiscrimination practices and policies in both the private and public sector. For example, the administration recently rescinded guidance meant to address race- and disability-based discrimination regarding school discipline, and in the private sector we are seeing companies fall in line, erasing potential opportunities for Black workers.
Black Americans are suffering as a result of this administration’s actions, and based on recent jobs reports and inflation data, the trend does not seem to be our friend.
So when Trump again asks Black America, “What do you have to lose?” the answer is clear.
Everything we have left.
Angela Hanks is chief of policy programs at The Century Foundation, a former associate director of external affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and former acting assistant secretary of the Employment and Training Administration for the U.S. Department of Labor. Jeremy Edwards is a senior communications advisor at The Century Foundation and a former White House spokesperson and spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Commerce.
