Geoff Duncan did his best on Wednesday to persuade his fellow Republicans to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in November instead of casting ballots for former President Donald Trump.
The former Georgia lieutenant governor, who has spent the past three years denouncing Trump, directed his Democratic National Convention speech at any GOP supporters tuned in who may also be fed up with Trump’s cult of personality taking over their party.
Duncan reminded viewers of Trump’s actions leading up to, during, and after the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill, when supporters of the former president tried to prevent certification of the 2020 presidential election after Trump riled them up during a “Stop The Steal” rally.
Since then, Trump has alarmed government watchdogs groups with remarks about becoming a dictator, weaponizing the U.S. Justice Department to target his political enemies, subverting the U.S. Constitution, and having no need for future elections if he’s reelected.
“My journey started to this podium years ago when I realized Donald Trump was willing to lie, cheat, and steal to try to overturn the 2020 election,” Duncan told the crowd last night inside Chicago’s United Center. “I realized Trump was a direct threat to democracy and his actions disqualified him from ever stepping foot into the Oval Office again.”
Concerns about Trump becoming a dictator and putting the controversial conservative playbook Project 2025 into action if he’s reelected have motivated many Black Georgians to support the Harris campaign this year — even if they’re not thrilled about the state of the economy or the war in Gaza.
But those concerns don’t resonate with local Black Trump supporters, who either don’t believe Trump’s comments or don’t take them seriously.
“America will never allow a dictatorship”
Duncan’s argument failed to sway Smyrna resident Jonah Joseph, 29, a devout Christian and self-described Trump supporter, who admits to not always liking the former president’s provocative comments and actions.
“I don’t truly believe that is the heart posture of Donald Trump,” Joseph said in reference to concerns raised by Duncan about Trump becoming an autocrat. “Yes, there are some other things he mentioned that definitely do raise some red flags, but … I don’t believe that Trump is looking to bring us back to the ’50s in the United States. I think that he’s trying to push us to a new generation.”
Fellow Black Trump supporter Dorian Griffin, 32, a former active-duty Marine, referred to Jan. 6 as “one of the worst days” in U.S. history. He said Duncan’s remarks “might come from a good place,” but that worries about Trump becoming an autocrat are overblown.
“They said that the last time he ran for office,” Griffin said of Trump. “They said he’s the Antichrist. Trump would be a dictator. Trump would drag us to war. None of those things happened.”
Political consultant Michaelah Montgomery of the Atlanta-based firm Conserve the Culture helped arrange for Atlanta University Center Consortium students to meet with Trump at a Chick-fil-A restaurant in the West End earlier this year. Conserve the Culture works to connect conservative elected leaders with members of the Black community.
Montgomery said Black Trump supporters she talks to aren’t swayed by “propaganda” about Trump ending democracy as we know it.
“Nobody with a brain wholeheartedly believes that America will fall into a dictatorship,” Montgomery said. “The fact that people do believe that Black people are ignorant enough to not know about systems of checks and balances … it’s offensive at this point.”
Montgomery and Griffin said the Constitution won’t allow Trump to become an autocrat.
“America will never allow a dictatorship to happen,” she continued. “The argument is baseless. The argument is invalid. And [people] need to stop playing in Black people’s faces like they don’t know history, like they don’t understand the Constitution.”
“Differences with Democrats”
For some, support for Trump is rooted not in personality, but in policy differences they have with Democrats. Joseph and Griffin are small-business owners. Joseph sells real estate; Griffin owns a local restaurant.
Both men said their businesses have suffered as a result of inflation surging under President Joe Biden. The rate of minority businesses starting new companies may have surged to record highs under Biden, but Griffin said his restaurant traffic has been hurt by consumers having less to spend on eating out.
“It’s about the people that come and spend money at the businesses that matter,” Griffin said. “[Elected leaders] can give us low interest loans that we have to pay back, but we can never pay it back if the people don’t come. And people don’t have the means to come and support us.”
Joseph, a single father of two, also expressed concerns about progressive policies regarding LGBTQ+ rights, an issue that resonates with other Black Trump supporters.
“I have kids, and when it comes down to the teachings and education with gender, those are something that really scares me,” he said. “We lost our way a long time ago, but I think now it’s time for us to start heading back.”
After the DNC kicked off with moving speeches by U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, former first lady Michelle Obama, and former President Barack Obama, Harris is set to close out the Chicago convention by formally accepting the Democratic nomination tonight with an address of her own.
Watch a clip of Duncan’s DNC speech below.
