December 9, 2016

Trump's chief strategist would like to limit voting to property owners

Independent, UK - Donald Trump’s new chief strategist once suggested only property owners should be allowed to vote in US elections, according to reports.

Steve Bannon, who was appointed the President-elect’s senior adviser and chief strategist last month, also told former colleagues he believed some people were genetically superior, according to an interview in the New York Times.

A change to allow only homeowners to vote would mean millions of African-Americans and other ethnic minorities would lose the right to cast their ballot – something Mr Bannon allegedly said was not a bad thing.

Julia Jones, a screenwriter who worked with Mr Bannon on a documentary about former US President Ronald Reagan, told the New York Times the senior Trump aide had discussed his beliefs on voting reform with her.

When challenged about the impact restricting the vote would have on racial minorities, Mr Bannon is said to have been relaxed.

“I said, ‘That would exclude a lot of African-Americans’”, Ms Jones recalled.

"He said, ‘Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.'

"I said, ‘But what about Wendy?’” - a reference to Mr. Bannon’s black executive assistant. "He said, ‘She’s different. She’s family.’”

According to US Census Bureau data, only 41 per cent of black Americans own their home compared to 72 per cent of whites.

Young people would also lose out if the vote was restricted to homeowners; only 35 per cent of Americans under the age of 25 own a property compared with 79 per cent of over-65s.

3 comments:

Greg Gerritt said...

Trump is setting himself up for some serious resistance. He has not figured out that you catch more with honey than vinegar

Anonymous said...

greg garret,

But Trump understands you catch even more flies with turds.

Anonymous said...

Class Warfare 101: Homeownership as a voting requirement could be amusing, considering that very few people own a home, but rather have some equity in a bank-held property. The superrich could float the idea as a ploy, then include a debt limit or net worth requirement.