So Trump is skipping the NAACP Convention. I thought we were past this shit!!!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

[MrWendel]

1. Not all...

black lives matter. Just the ones working for him. Shout out to Ben "I ate at a Popeyes organization"Carson.

[rbrnmw]

2. lol true

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. Trump is a horrible human being...

I don't think he's inherently racist, at least no more or no less racist than anybody else. I doubt someone in his milieu thinks much about race. His world is so different than the rest of us. He is a racist out of expedience which is arguably worse. He plays on people's hatreds, grievances, and fear of the other.

He is a monster.

[MrWendel]

4. When he was serious about running...

he had minions sit in a room and listen to Right Wing talk radio all day and take notes. He's Basically the Right wing talk radio candidate. And if some of those votes are racist and the KKK endorses you, then he'll take what he can get.

[Orsino]

5. Past Trump never delivering on anything? Never daring to leave his bubble?

No, we're not past that.

[whatthehey]

6. In his place I would too

Now I would never be in his place for a start, so don't take this to imply any ill will to the NAACP on my part, as there is none. But they're asking Trump to speak not me.

Trump, who has been constantly mired in single digit supports among blacks for months with no indication he can build any momentum.

Trump who has dismissed and insulted BLM and their concerns consistently.

Trump who has put his foot in his mouth many times with insensitive racial messages even when he didn't, apparently, intend to.

Trump who is running against a candidate with decades of goodwill from the black community and with several black surrogates

Trump whose key unwavering bloc of supporters coalesce around white supremacists at various levels of overt racism from the KKK and neonazis to dog-whistling implicit nativists

What, exactly, does he stand to gain from talking to an audience that will never, rightly and thankfully, seriously consider supporting him and who his most fervent followers wish to see spurned and marginalized?

It would be like Clinton taking time to speak to the AFA.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. It isn't for POC. Trump has to convince moderate whites he isn't racist.

Outside of being a murderer or pedophile that is the last thing a person wants to think he or she is.

[whatthehey]

8. I'm not sure he wants to

I mean sure he'll stop short, probably, of a San Antonio Church's style diatribe, but he's made precious little effort to persuade anyone he's not bigoted beyond perfunctory rejections of any outright accusation. What he seems to be trying to do is let the Declining Angry White Male who is the key Trump demographic hear loud and clear that he is a racist brother in arms/white robes while not making it quite provably crystal clear to sensible folks, but it's the first part that's more important to him, and he knows simply not speaking to the NAACP, with a ready built in excuse no less, is not going to tip too many of the sensible group either way. He'd lose more current fans making nice with minorities than he'd gain new ones from delivering some lackluster pablum anyone could see straight through.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. I see your point.

My point is there isn't a plurality or majority of Americans who will pull the lever for someone they believe to be a racist because it would reveal something awful about themselves.