Trump’s Real Plan to Get Rid of ‘Black Jobs’

Everyone from President Biden to African American golfers are clapping back on Donald Trump’s “black jobs” comments. But while Trump boasts about his administration’s success in creating jobs for Black Americans, he and his inner circle are actually fine-tuning plans to eliminate them as part of his desire to dismantle the federal government.

That means tens of thousands of so-called “good government jobs” with benefits would be gone or shipped out of the Chocolate City, with Republican appointees replacing Black civil servants. This is not only alarming, but also indicates Trump’s deep disregard for the very communities he claims to support.

At the recent presidential debate, Trump claimed that migrants were responsible for “taking Black jobs,” perpetuating xenophobic sentiments.

“They’re taking Black jobs now,” he said. “They’re taking Black jobs and they’re taking Hispanic jobs. And you haven’t seen it yet, but you’re going to see something that’s going to be the worst in our history.”

What’s worse? Trump didn’t say. He also didn’t explain what a “Black job” means to him. For Black men on a golf course, it means a CEO, a lawyer or an entrepreneur, for starters.

Trump also asserted that his policies led to record-low unemployment rates among Black workers. Black unemployment did drop to 5.3% in August 2019 during his presidency, but he always fails to mention that it fell to a record low of 4.8% in April 2023 under President Biden, according to a Federal Reserve Bank analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But his campaign speeches and website reveal a starkly different agenda. And no matter how much he tries to deny it, they mirror the Project 2025 playbook written by members of his team and released by the Heritage Foundation. Trump’s plan is to drastically gut the government and federal workforce, a sector where Black Americans are significantly represented. This move threatens the stability and economic security of Black families who rely on these positions.

In addition to reclassifying 50,000 jobs, Trump says in a campaign video that “as many as 100,000 government positions could be moved out, and I mean immediately out of Washington, to places filled with patriots who love America.”

This contradictory approach not only undermines Trump’s previous claims, but also raises questions about his inconsistent attempts to galvanize the Black community, which often involves harmful rhetoric and superficial gestures.

Whether making baseless statements alleging immigrants are taking “Black jobs” or enlisting rappers and entertainment figures like Amber Rose to endorse his campaign, his approach to Black voters has been disingenuous and predicated on a narrow and stereotypical view of Black culture — not the real needs and contributions of the Black community.

Joy Rice is a junior in political science at Howard University.