During His Campaign, Trump Asked Black Americans: “What Do You Have to Lose?”

When Donald Trump first ran for president, he addressed Black voters with a provocative question: “What do you have to lose by trying something new like Trump?” What followed caused an especially strong reaction: “You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed—what the hell do you have to lose?”

In 2016, that rhetoric brought him little support among Black Americans. Though Hillary Clinton lost the election, she won comfortably within this demographic, while Trump received only 8 percent of the vote. In 2020, his share rose slightly—to 12 percent. Neither the “Platinum Plan” nor the pardons of famous rappers changed the overall picture: Trump remained a politician whose outreach to Black voters felt superficial and steeped in stereotypes.

By 2024, however, the landscape began to shift. More Black Americans decided to give Trump a chance, frustrated by Democratic economic policies and disillusioned by unfulfilled promises of support. Fears that his presidency would spell disaster for Black communities proved unfounded. On the contrary, unemployment among African Americans fell to historic lows, and poverty reached record lows as well. But after the COVID-19 pandemic, public frustration hardened—not because of the crisis itself, but because of the lingering inflation that followed.

Black Americans—who even in “good times” face lower incomes and higher unemployment—felt the impact especially sharply. Many began looking for a leader who could fix the situation and came to believe Trump might be that person. As it turned out, they were wrong.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has not eased economic hardship—he has deepened it. His tariff policies and broader turn toward protectionism have once again pushed unemployment higher—especially among Black workers, who are often the first to face layoffs. In Michigan, Black unemployment has reached 10 percent—a level that would be considered a national crisis if applied across the country.

As the cost of living continues to rise, Black families are bearing a disproportionately heavy burden. According to data from the organization where the authors of this article work, 61 percent of Americans say their financial situation has worsened because of Trump’s economic policies. To cover daily expenses, 41 percent of Americans are now dipping into their savings, while among Black households that figure rises to 48 percent. Another 37 percent of Americans are paying their bills with credit cards—41 percent within the Black community.

Major corporations are capitalizing on consumers’ growing reliance on short-term fixes. Buy Now, Pay Later services have doubled their user base in just a year—and Black Americans are among the most frequent users. “About 60 percent of Buy Now, Pay Later customers already have low credit scores—and they often carry this debt alongside credit card balances,” explained the organization’s president, Julie Marghitta Morgan, on Bloomberg’s *Odd Lots* podcast.

All these figures point to a hidden financial crisis unfolding at the household level. For a group already burdened with low credit scores and high interest rates, Trump’s economy represents a risk they can no longer afford.

His fiscal policy only deepens that threat. A new law will raise the cost of health insurance and cut Medicaid funding by more than $900 million. Nearly 20 percent of Medicaid recipients are Black Americans, as are 16 percent of those insured through the Health Insurance Marketplace. Combined with cuts to food assistance, school funding, and student aid, these measures will have lasting effects: worsening health outcomes, declining educational quality, shrinking savings, and mounting debt.

And that is only what can be measured today. It is harder to predict how Trump’s other initiatives will affect the employment prospects of Black Americans. His campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs is eroding anti-discrimination practices across both the public and private sectors. The administration has repealed guidelines aimed at combating racial and disability discrimination in schools, while private companies are increasingly rolling back similar initiatives—depriving Black workers of potential career opportunities.

Black Americans are already feeling the consequences of these policies, and the latest data on labor and inflation offer little reason for optimism.

So when Trump once again asks Black America, “What do you have to lose?”, the answer now sounds very different: everything we have left.