Grove Park resident Andre Dennis — a self-described pro-life, religious conservative — is no fan of Barack Obama. But even he doesn’t think it was wise for President Donald Trump or Trump’s staff to share an AI video depicting the nation’s first Black president and first lady as apes.
“Do I think that it was a poor judgment call on the president’s behalf to post it? Yes, I do, but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it,” Dennis told Capital B Atlanta on Monday. “It’s not something that’s consequential to my life, and I believe that it’s just a lot of typical fake outrage on the left.”
Dennis was one of roughly 30 Georgia Black Republican Council members who on Monday participated in a press event celebrating a Georgia General Assembly Black History Month proclamation recognized by GOP Gov. Brian Kemp and signed by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is running to replace Kemp as governor.
The legislation honored Black History Month and the “rich heritage, resilience, and achievements of Black Americans” during the 100th anniversary of Negro History Week. Jones posed for pictures with GRBC members inside the Gold Dome after the proclamation was presented. His security team declined a press request for an interview.
Camilla Moore, president of the GBRC, said the proclamation shows the Republican Party’s respect for the role Black people, including conservatives like Booker T. Washington and Clarence Thomas, have played in building America.
“It’s important that the nation has an opportunity to sit back and reflect on the historical contributions that Black Americans have made, more so than any other ethnic group to the founding, the strengthening, and the production of this country as a people,” she said.
Dennis’ views on Trump’s widely condemned Truth Social post, which was deleted after receiving bipartisan outrage from Democrats and some prominent Republicans, echoed remarks made by several Black GOP supporters who spoke with Capital B Atlanta on Monday.
U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, the only Black Republican in the U.S. Senate, was among those to condemn the video as “racist.”
Trump has said he “didn’t see” the short clip included at the end of a video that made fraud claims about voting machines used during the 2020 presidential election. He also has refused to apologize for sharing the video, which he claimed was shared by a White House staffer.
The controversy comes amid a midterm election cycle in which Republicans seek to maintain the electoral gains Trump has made with Black voters since his first White House run in 2016.
Moore said she’s only seen the full version of the video, which appeared to be a parody of The Lion King depicting many prominent Democrats as animal characters, including a baboon version of Joe Biden.
She said the video may make some “cringe,” but she doesn’t think it will turn Black voters away from the Republican Party.
“I think people that [have] tunnel vision are not going to like Republicans regardless if they don’t take the time to research and become policy hawks,” Moore said.
Joyce Drayton, the GBRC’s policy engagement chair, echoed Moore’s sentiments that Trump’s signature use of memes, crude language, and images on and off social media may be offensive to many, but it doesn’t bother Black Republicans who are more concerned about the president’s policies than his rhetoric.
For Drayton, that includes Trump’s stance on illegal immigration, which she said became a major concern in her native New York City beginning in 2022, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bussed more than 100,000 undocumented immigrants into sanctuary cities across the nation via Operation Lone Star.
“I felt some kind of way about that,” Drayton said. “I vote [based on] policy, not personality. … That means I don’t have to like you to vote for you.”
Several people pointed out that Black liberals don’t bail on the Democratic Party when its members make racist statements or do racist things. Dennis noted Biden still received huge support from Black Democrats in 2020 even after saying African Americans who refuse to vote for him aren’t truly Black.
Biden later apologized for his remarks.
“There have been moments on both sides of the aisle where political figures have done things that were insulting to Black people,” Dennis said.
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