Don King Likens Donald Trump To A ‘Dancing And Sliding And Gliding N****r’ (TWEETS/VIDEO)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is having a hard time with African-Americans. Perhaps it’s because he’s surrounded himself by white supremacists such as former head of the Breitbart News network Steve Bannon.

Maybe they object to the fact that he was twice sued for refusing to rent apartments to black people. It might even have nothing to do with race. Some might object to his mafia ties or they simply lost control of their lunch while listening to him brag about how much he would like to have had sex with Princess Diana.

Who knows, really?

One thing is clear though; race relations in U.S. politics is a delicate matter. It requires finesse, it requires a thorough understanding of the issues, the sensitivities of the demographic, and above all, it demands a little empathy.

Trump possesses none of these qualities. Which might be why African-Americans as a rule, cannot stand him.

Pretty Shy For A White Guy

Like a surgeon trying to remove a tumor with a pickax, he has attempted to bludgeon his way to a solution. Each swing brings fresh trauma; condemnation from community leaders, poll numbers flatter than a Texas road kill, news of yet more racist gaffes. You could say that he has boxed himself into a corner.

Enter Don King, stage right.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure, King is a boxing promoter, best known for his obsession with iambic phrases that he seems to think rhyme, such as Rumble in the Jungle.

That, and the fact that almost everyone he ever worked with has attempted to sue him for fraud.

Trump’s logic is often impeccable. African-Americans make up around 53.3 percent of the population in Cleveland, so who better to introduce Trump onto stage then than King?

An ageing C-list celebrity with a bizarre hair-style who spent most of the past two decades settling lawsuits out of court. Sound familiar? A thousand gold doubloons to anyone who can think of a better African-American analog of Trump.

So it must have been with a certain confidence that Trump stood at the sidelines, waiting for King to do what he does best. Waiting for him to forge an emotional connection between the audience and the slugging match he was promoting.

To King, the 2016 election is just another Thrilla’ in Manila, or to emulate his own unique lexical style, a Psycho in Ohio.

Orange Is Not The New Black

Speaking at the Midwest Vision and Values Pastors Leadership Conference, hosted by longtime Trump ally Dr. Darrell Scott, King said:

“I told Michael Jackson, I said, ‘If you are poor, you are a poor negro,’ I would use the N-word. But if you are rich, you are a rich negro. If you are intelligent, intellectual, you’re an intellectual negro. If you are a dancing and sliding and gliding n****r – I meant negro – you’re a dancing and sliding and gliding negro. So dare not alienate because you cannot assimilate.”

Sorry, what?

It’s hard to know where to start sometimes.

To begin with, the world negro might be less offensive than the other n-word, but it’s hardly a word one would use in an attempt to ingratiate themselves to the African-American community.

Secondly, it is unclear whether or not 70-year-old Donald Trump is capable of dancing, let alone gliding, or sliding. Thirdly, the n-word is not something that you want a man who is potentially going to be the next president smirking at, and smirk at it he did.

And lastly, that’s not even the worst of it. It never is with Trump.

King, convicted of killing two men in separate incidents in the 1950s and 60s, took the usual line of lamenting the media’s treatment of Trump, saying:

“They vet him like he’s a politician.”

Those bastards! It’s almost like he’s running for office or something.

King continued:

When the system was created, they did not give her, the white woman did not have her rights and she still does not have her rights. Donald … when I see them try to ridiculize him, or when they try to ostracize … I want you to understand that every white woman should vote for Donald Trump … to knock out the system.”

The largely white audience erupted into spontaneous applause.

The Bleedin’ In Cleaveland

King gets points for rhyming ridiculize with ostracize, (even though he had to make up one of those words in order to make it work,) but the diatribe about the white woman was hard to fathom.

Luckily Trump took to the stage to clear things up:

“I would do stop-and-frisk. I think you have to. We did it in New York, it worked incredibly well and you have to be proactive and, you know, you really help people sort of change their mind automatically, you understand, you have to have, in my opinion, I see what’s going on here, I see what’s going on in Chicago, I think stop-and-frisk.”

Sorry, what?

Seriously what the holy fuck?

Ticking Off All The Boxers

Presumably Trump is referring to the policy of New York police officers to stop passersby, question them, and then check for weapons. You know, the one that in 2013 was deemed unconstitutional on the grounds of racial profiling?

We have to ask.

Are we absolutely certain Trump isn’t perpetrating the greatest prank in political history? Because the checklist, is truly beguiling when you consider that this was an attempt to bolster his ratings with a key demographic.

Use of the n-word? Check. Semi-coherent African-American who in no way legitimizes Trump’s race relation credentials? Check.

An address to an all white audience advocating increased use of an illegal, and racist law?

Check.

Watch Don King set race relations back a few decades:

Featured Image: Screenshot Via YouTube Video.

I'm a full- time, somewhat unwilling resident of the planet Earth. I studied journalism at Murdoch University in West Australia and moved back to the UK where I taught politics and studied for a PhD. I've written a number of books on political philosophy that are mostly of interest to scholars. I'm also a seasoned travel writer so I get to stay in fancy hotels for free. I have a pet Lizard called Rousseau. We have only the most cursory of respect for one another.