Image via Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.

A lot of articles I’ve read over the last year or so since the 2020 presidential race kicked into high gear scoffed at the idea that President Trump would try to appeal to black voters. The general consensus from those pieces and the political pundits who offered commentary on the idea at the time was that it was ridiculous and a waste of time for Republicans and Trump to try and make inroads because Orange Man Bad and “racism” and all that.

Considering how Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media have perpetuated a number of whoppers about Trump’s record on race (with the Charlottesville lie arguably being the most egregious example), it’s perhaps understandable that Never Trumpers, left wing commentators and journalists (but I repeat myself) would continuously promote the myth that all hope is lost with the GOP and Trump when it comes to the black community.

But few political analysts are laughing over the possibility anymore.

As my RedState colleague Nick Arama wrote last week after Trump’s State of the Union address, CNN political commentator and former Obama adviser Van Jones was sounding alarm bells bells on how much of Trump’s speech focused on appealing to black voters, saying Trump’s address was “a huge warning for Democrats” and noting “it only takes small margins to shatter the Democratic winning coalition.”

Democratic political analyst Jamal Simmons appeared on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” program Sunday and sounded even more ominous in his warnings for Democrats than Jones did when it comes to Trump’s strategy to win black voters:

“I’m going to send this flag up to the Democratic Party. People need to understand this. We talked to Terrance Woodbury, a young African-American pollster. He has been saying for months that he thinks Trump is going very hard at African-American men, particularly younger African-American men, Kim and Kanye West, ASAP Rocky getting out of Sweden, HBCU Money. He’s got a whole list of things the President has been doing.

I think they’re not going to let up. And he doesn’t have to win it. He just have to tick it up a couple of points in some key places to have it count. And Democrats need to have a candidate who really has a strategy about how to deal with that. And if Bernie Sanders is not the nominee, I will tell you, a lot of those– a lot of Bernie Sanders’ voters are anti-establishment voters more than their Democrats. And they might get wooed by Donald Trump.”

Watch Simmons issue the Code Red below:

DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST WARNS OF TRUMP POPULARITY WITH BLACK VOTERS: "President Trump has been going very hard at African American men." pic.twitter.com/rKIQqPUASU

— Matt Margolis 🇺🇸 (@mattmargolis) February 9, 2020

Considering how close presidential elections can be, Jones and Simmons are both correct. If Trump could win just a few percentage points more of the overall black vote than he did in 2016 (8%), Democrats would have a major uphill battle in trying to win the White House. And they likely wouldn’t fare much better in down-ballot races.

Time to stock up on the popcorn, folks. Things are getting mighty, mighty interesting.

(Hat tip: Matt Margolis at PJ Media)