Forbes deletes article suggesting Trump would use assassination attempt to try to gain black voters

Just one day after former president Donald Trump was shot at a Pennsylvania rally, Forbes published an article by contributor Shaun Harper in which the self-described diversity, equity, and inclusion expert suggested that Trump would use the shooting to try to gain more black voters. Trump was shot while delivering remarks at a campaign rally by would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks. Harper claimed that Trump would likely attempt to court black voters in a "racially problematic kinship narrative" which may gain him more support from the black community.

The piece, titled "Will Surviving Gunfire Be Donald Trump's Next Appeal to Black Voters," went up just hours after the shooting but was quickly deleted following backlash on social media. Many users questioned how it had gotten past editors in the first place.

Some pointed out that it was racist for Harper to suggest that gun violence was "inherent to black culture."

"Forbes put this out an hour ago," Ashley St. Clair wrote. "You do not hate the media enough."

"Apparently Forbes has now deleted this insanely offensive article from self-proclaimed 'DEI expert' Shaun Harper," another added. "Honestly can't believe it ever got past any editors."

In his article, Harper began by calling the shooting a "tragedy," adding it was "fortunate" that Trump has survived, however, he quickly went on to posit that Trump would use getting shot in order court black voters. “The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has repeatedly contended that the August 2023 release of his criminal mugshot deeply resonated with black voters because they know firsthand the unfairness of our nation's criminal justice system,” he wrote.

“Hopefully, being shot doesn't become a similarly problematic strategy to link Trump with an experience that far too many black people have. Another racially problematic kinship narrative is unlikely to make Black voters see Trump as one of them. And it most certainly won't fix the gun violence,” he added. 

Harper suggested that Trump could use "his powerful platform to advocate [for] fixing this through public policy and [allocating] significant financial investments into urban black communities is the opportunity that awaits Trump once he recovers from the tragedy that occurred at his rally" in order to increase his support in the black community.

Harper zeroed in on Trump's decision to raise his fist in defiance after being struck by the bullet, saying he hopes the former president "doesn't claim that [it] was an homage" to those protesting racial injustice in the past. He then claimed in conclusion, “There’s a chance that his raised fist at the Pennsylvania rally becomes erroneously connected to the black people who were marching with fists raised in rallies in summer 2020 and at other moments in American history. Let’s hope not.”