A Trump-loving African-American conservative appeared on Fox News Wednesday—apparently to fuel a Black stereotype—and disparaged white food stamp recipients as sitting at home “watching porn” instead of job hunting.
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“Fox & Friends” hosts asked Star Parker to explain why the food stamp rolls decreased under the Trump administration compared to when President Barack Obama was in the White House.
Parker, the founder and president of a conservative think tank named the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, pointed to the economy doing well. She added that Trump wants to require more recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) benefits to work.
But she didn’t stop there.
“What the Trump administration is saying is, ‘come on guys, the economy’s doing good. Why are you still sitting around?’ People here in Washington … what they’re calling them now are watchers,” she said. “These guys are not working. They’re watching. They’re watching porn, they’re watching TV, they’re watching women, they’re watching everything, but they’re not working.”
Twitter users dragged Parker for her comments (see below).
It’s not unusual for “Fox & Friends” to recruit Black people to fuel racist stereotypes about African-Americans to promote a Trump policy to white viewers.
But the reality, when it comes to food stamps, is that white people are the main recipients, according to a Huffington Post analysis of 2013 data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program.
White people accounted for 40.2 percent of the people who received food stamps, compared to 25.7 percent of African-Americans. No doubt, many of those white folks are among Trump’s core supporters.
Parker’s comments came after Trump revealed plans in December to push scores more people to find jobs to stay on the food stamp rolls—eyeing the possibility of achieving his policy through an executive order now that the Democrats control the House of Representative.
Under current rules, most adults who don’t have dependent children must work to receive food stamps for more than three months in a three-year period. Although many of them already work, they still struggle to stay afloat.
Slashing welfare programs was a primary Republican objective when Trump won the White House in 2016. Fresh off passing tax reform legislation in December 2017, which mostly benefitted corporations and wealthy individuals, former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan spoke with Fox News about his plans to cut welfare programs.
Parker made Trump’s policy aims more palatable for the white people who would be harmed the most.
Here’s what folks are saying about Parker’s “porn” comments on social media.
