Did Donald Trump Just Do the Unexpected Once Again?

Donald Trump, WH portrait

President Donald Trump's foremost strategy is to keep his opponents off-balance. His brief White House speech yesterday afternoon supporting historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) was a case in point. So, let us look at the unexpected praise that Mr. Trump offered to HBCUs.

Perhaps surprising to Mr. Trump's liberal critics, yesterday's brief remarks, delivered in a quiet, dignified style, were full of support and praise for HBCUs:

"Since I signed the executive order establishing this initiative in my administration, we have made great strides in strengthening HBCUs, a cherished and vital institution in our country.  Very important."

Mr. Trump followed up with financial help. He explained that his budget request included "more than half a billion dollars for HBCU-focused programs." He called for loan forgiveness in connection with the HBCU Hurricane Supplement Loan program. He announced continued Pell Grants eligibility and funding increases. This would, he said, "greatly help the many students attending our wonderful HBCUs." He introduced his new Chairman of the President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Johnny Taylor, Jr., who he called a "great guy." All in all, this sounded very liberal, very conciliatory, very supportive: not at all consistent with Mr. Trump's overall image. During the event, Mr. Trump sought to greet personally all of the participants, most of whom were African-American education leaders.

Graphic retweeted by Trump

This minority outreach was just a bit unexpected. Let's recall the racial and ethnic animus that propelled Mr. Trump's successful 2016 election campaign. He retweeted a racist graphic falsely claiming that 81% of murdered Whites were killed by Blacks. He has appointed very few minority individuals to public office. His campaign theme, which was to reject political correctness and stir racial animosity, was pointed and successful. Hillary Clinton held an advantage of about 80 points over Trump in the 2016 voting, which means that Mr. Trump owed little to African American voters. Furthermore, conservatives often oppose preferential treatment or funding for minority educational institutions. In fact, some months ago, Mr. Trump questioned whether such treatment is even constitutional. The HBCU initiative had been in the works for some time, and was no secret, but it was distinctly not racist, not aggressive, and not hostile.

No one can expect either this initiative or this brief speech to change race relations in the United States, nor does it undo Mr. Trump's long history of racially-tinged rhetoric. Nor is it reasonable to think that he is proposing anywhere near the amount of funding that these colleges and universities really need. The entire project could be largely symbolic. Still, even symbolic gestures mean something. Sometimes they mean a lot.

The question again comes up: are there two Donald Trumps, one who is outrageous and one who is presidential? The answer is no. The outrageous Donald Trump who offends people left and right, and the conciliatory Donald Trump who reaches out with compassion and understanding, are one and the same person. Mr. Trump is acutely aware that he needs to appeal to different audiences, and even more acutely aware that he wants to define his own image and won't let others define his image for him. On the coattails of his aggressive CPAC speech, yesterday's brief talk created a contrast by being calm, presidential, and helpful. This was not a speech for his conservative true believers.

Once again, Mr. Trump's public speaking has taken an unexpected twist. This brief event got little press attention, as the President's even more unprecedented comments about gun control took precedence. I'll write about that issue in an upcoming post.