Rolling Stone senior writer Jamil Smith said Monday that Democratic Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren can’t take black voters for granted — but then suggested that she could if she were to win the Democratic primary.
Smith made the comments during a segment of “CNN Newsroom” with guest host Ana Cabrera. (RELATED: Another Day, Another MSNBC Panel PMS’ing Over The Daily Caller’s White House Coverage)
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Smith began with a more general comment about the Democratic primary, saying that Warren’s main job was to convince voters that she could handle a head-to-head matchup with President Donald Trump.
“I think she needs to present a plan that’s going to make sure that people understand that she’s going to be able to defeat his reality show nonsense,” Smith explained. “I think she’s going to make Democrats believe that she is going to be able to, essentially, you know, be able to, you know, defeat his reality show machine, I think, that’s probably the best way to put it.”
Cabrera pointed out that one of Warren’s weaknesses thus far has been her support from black voters, saying, “Recent polls show that she has just single-digit support among black voters, which we know is a key Democratic voting bloc. How big of a hurdle is that for her and what do you think she needs to do about that?”
Smith responded first by saying that Warren didn’t really need to worry about “black support” once she got through the primary.
“I think she’s going to — definitely, that black support is going to consolidate around whoever becomes the nominee. I think that we need to be realistic about that,” Smith laughed. “The black support is not going to consolidate — the black folks are not going to simply come down to the Democratic nominee in Donald Trump and say, hmm, I think we have a choice to make here. They’re going to consolidate around the Democratic nominee. They’re not going to pick the white nationalist president.”
But then he added that, in order to win the Democratic primary, Warren may need to up her game with regard to making sure that black voters knew she would be working for them.
“So we need to understand that Elizabeth Warren also needs to say, I’m not — I can’t afford to take these people for granted,” he concluded. “They are going to, you know, you know, really have a choice to make in the primary. So I think what she’s got to help them understand is she has their priorities in mind as a constituency, and really start pitching them policies that are going to address their needs specifically.”