‘The Grift’ Started Long Before Trump

Clay Cane‘s book on ‘Black Republicans from the Party of Lincoln to the Cult of Trump’

Detail from the book cover of ‘The Grift’ from Bookshop

Clay Cane has hosted a SiriusXM radio show since the first year of Trump’s presidency. His book The Grift: The Downward Spiral of Black Republicans from the Party of Lincoln to the Cult of Trump is available for preorder. It’s a thorough examination of a complex topic, connecting Black American history since the mid-19th-century to today’s Trumpism. Whether you’re learning this history for the first time or you want a refresher, you’ll take away something from The Grift.

‘Grifting Is a Betrayal’

“Today, a pernicious strain of Black Republicans,” Cane says, “has seized influence by disregarding the interests of Black voters for their advancement.”

“Grifting is a betrayal,” he says; it means lying “to sell one’s soul” and “to dishonor your community.” This is his assessment.

He points to many examples of those who, in his judgment, are grifters.

One is Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), who, “by insisting that Black people stay poor, uneducated, and docile,” became “a wealthy man, pointedly disregarding his own advice.” He emboldened white supremacists, as they could then point to a Black man who…