Watch Killer Mike Analyze How Race, Anger Factored Into Trump Win
During an insightful interview Wednesday with talk show The Real, Killer Mike theorized that the anger of America’s poor paved the path toward a Donald Trump presidency. “I think poor white people are mad because the system that promises you something based on that isn’t going to ever give you that,” he said. “I think it’s a lie … I think poor people got angry. And I think there just happened to be in this country more poor, angry white people.”
The Run the Jewels rapper, a vocal Bernie Sanders supporter throughout his presidential run, emphasized that while he never endorsed Hillary Clinton, he thought she would ultimately win the election. “I had always said publicly, ‘I think she’s going to win’ or if she says something directly to my community, I jump on [her side],” he said. “I never thought we came to a place of balance with that. I never thought it would be this close, but I knew people were mad. And I knew that people were mad enough to do things I wouldn’t expect them to do.
“I saw people who looked like me … say they were voting Trump, and that scared me,” he added. “That scared me a lot.”
The rapper elaborated on how poor whites and poor people of color have been manipulated and used as political pawns. “I think [poor white people] work for a party and have voted for a party that used the illusion of patriotism, that used the illusion of military, that used the illusion of … skin color and class, to oppress them,” he said. “And on the other side, the people who look like all the people on this panel – black, brown and all types of hues in-between – I think we have been used by a party to the liberal side that, once in office, has not enacted policy reflective of stuff that will bring our communities up.”
Last month, Killer Mike unveiled merchandise emblazoned with text from a leaked email involving Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta. “I guess Killer Mike didn’t get the message,” the email read.
Run the Jewels, Mike’s acclaimed rap project with El-P, will kick off a massive North American tour January 11th in Philadelphia. According to a recent El-P tweet, the duo’s third LP is due out “1st week of next year at the LATEST.”