What role does misogyny play among Black MAGA men?

Get the Point!

A little over a week before Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris in last year's presidential race, when I stopped by a tire store to purchase a pair of new tires for my truck, I was attended by an affable young Black salesman who looked to be about 25 years of age that Saturday morning.

Now, while I excel at small talk with strangers when I choose to engage (the older that I get, the less I do), this young Brother, clearly gregarious, simply was not going to let me sit on that bar stool and lose myself in my cell phone (and thoughts).

Unprompted, the young Brother asked who did I think would win the election and without hesitation, I told him that I believed that Harris would win. He then asked was I intending to vote for Harris and after I replied that I already had voted for her during the early voting period, I asked him who "he" was supporting; he proudly noted that he planned to vote for Donald Trump!

Curious as to his reasons, and without a hint of condescension in my tone, I asked him what was drawing him to Trump? Over the course of the next 45 minutes or so as my tires were being replaced, he must've uttered the comment "do your research" at least 10 times while praising Trump for pardoning "Brothas" who were locked into the justice system and issuing stimulus checks! The smile on his face about that last point, the stimuli, reminded me of the " drop out of school and get a GED, get on welfare cuz that's cash for free" quip from the Poison Clan circa ‘90. Last, the young man reiterated the popular social media argument that (Kamala) Harris, a former prosecutor and state attorney general, "was the police" and "against the Brothas."

So fixed were his opinions that morning that I chose not to get into a point-counterpoint debate, rather, I uttered a number of "ok" replies after being admonished to "do my research," and a few "I hear you" replies as I really did hear him, even as I disagreed with ALL of his reasoning. You see, I had seen comments similar to his on social media and in the comments of traditional media sites, but I had not been able to converse with a living, breathing, young Black Trump supporter up until that moment, thus my choosing to listen and truly try to understand.

But predictably, my understanding was zero—for numerous reasons that I've outlined for years in this blog space. But what I couldn't predict that Fall morning was that a week or so later, not only would Donald Trump win—but that he would win record numbers of young Black male voters in the process.

The Pew Research Center noted not long after the election that nearly three out of every 10 Black males under the age of 45 who voted last November cast their ballots for Donald Trump! Be clear: those numbers were NOT enough to prove decisive by any means—Trump won because white voters between 46 and 60, Generation X, voted for him in massive numbers last Fall!

But the Black male numbers are significantly high enough to wonder "why," and to give serious thoughts beyond the typical argument that rappers like Snoop Dogg, Nelly, Lil' Wayne, Kodak Black, and Rod Wave held major sway among this demographic.

Now, I do believe that celebrity and social media influencers, along with Russian misinformation BOTS surely have confused many young Black Trump supporters, the "do your research" declarants who, judging from their comments and posts, haven't done much research beyond the misinformation they have ingested.

But I think that for many Black males within this demographic, particularly those who have not attended any levels of college, is that they share a sense of resentment with their white MAGA ideological kinsmen who believe that the cards are stacked against men—and that federal and state governments are a major part of why they cannot seem to get ahead.

Now, I fully comprehend this perception, however false and foolish, among undereducated and uneducated white males who believe that affirmative action, DEI programs, and the like have favored racial minorities and women over white males. While anecdotal, I've long concluded that some of the most rabid white male Trump supporters that I know personally (or through social media) see a champion who has been called a racist but never held accountable for his racism; has been accused of sexual assault and never paid a dime of his civil judgment for the same; been charged and even convicted of felonies and never served time; has fathered five children with three different women and was sleeping with porn stars while the third wife was pregnant—and still was never held accountable for his boorish ways. Their fascination with these basic truths about Trump provide a comfort, I suppose, in believing that he is untouchable, and that his words should trump all others on each and every political issue under the sun—including his push to dismantle the federal government as we know it.

But it's hard to figure what Black males under 45, particularly those struggling in the lower economic classes, see in aligning themselves with Trumpism? How can you cheer the dismantling of a federal government whose laws and agencies enforced citizenship rights, voting rights, and fair housing rights that were usurped by Jim Crow state laws until the early 1970’s? A federal government, I remind, whose District Courts will provide your Black family a greater chance at financial redress if you happen to be beaten, tasered, or shot to death while in law enforcement custody than your state court systems!

How can you be a Black man in the lower economic classes and see that six weeks into Trump’s second administration, there has yet to be one executive order or Bill seeking to grant relief from the high prices of food, gas, and rent across America? Seriously, Brothers, those PPP loans not only won't be coming back, Hell, they aren't even under consideration at this time by Trump or the Republican controlled Congress!

But the shared resentment of which I speak also spills into what I STRONGLY perceive to be a disdain for women—regardless of their color!

Thinking back, I distinctly remember during my first year of law school at the University of Florida in the spring of '96 that for the first time in school's history, UF, originally an all male school, was roughly 50:50 male to female among the overall student body.

The ratio in the preceding paragraph is huge when considering that in most colleges across America, during the 1950's, there were two male college students to every one female and now, in 2025, women comprise 60 percent of all college students across the country!

To this point, while Trump infamously stated years ago that he "loves the poorly educated," part of the modern misinformation campaigns include myriad "studies" and articles which mendaciously suggest that a college degree is a bad investment despite the FACT that the Social Security Administration routinely reports that college graduates earn millions more over a lifetime than non-college graduates!

And yet, there are millions of male voters, mostly white but a large number of Black males and other minorities, who listen to podcasts by conservative firebrands like Joe Rogan, pundits who conclude that college educated women provide little or no value as far as innovation and industry—while adding that women should be in the home and not the halls of power in politics, the pulpit, business, and academia.

Podcasters like Rogan also proffer the sophistry that women have dominated the collegiate ranks over the past three decades not because of their intellectual abilities and hard work, but because the federal government favors them (and racial minorities) over white males! This so-called favor includes federal agencies that they believe favor women and minorities in contracting, the military, and in employment—all of which is easily proven false!

Sadly, this same disdain for women is found among a vocal minority of Black men, many of whom hold very strong opinions about a "woman's role" and worth. Show me a Black man who believes that they are being wronged because of the bare minimums the court system demands that they pay in child support, or the ones who embody the words of Memphis rap legend MJG "ain't no way in Hell a B*tch can get me to obey her," and such are easy marks for Trump and Trumpism to seep into their minds and suggest that their struggles are a direct result of women being favored by the system!

I do not mean to suggest that some men aren't screwed over by the system—some most certainly have been wronged. But I remember way back when the #MeToo movement began that I opined often and loudly that my experience in the justice system informed that there are far more women that have been raped than ever reported to law enforcement—and that there are far more women being screwed over by lazy men, the justice system, and glass ceilings than most male misogynists will ever concede.

I still stand by the above position, even if I admit that I do not quite know how to best engage men of all races who have bought into Trump's male grievance agenda and refuse to listen to the logic of their being played as they reap little to no tangible benefits from their MAGA support. To this end, anyone with suggestions about how to make these realities plainer to the Trump male masses, please feel free to drop a comment or an email and give me your thoughts!