Black Hollywood reacts to Donald Trump reclaiming the White House: ‘There is more work to do’
As the nation reels from the news that Donald Trump has reclaimed the White House after securing well over the 270 electoral votes needed to declare victory over Kamala Harris during last night’s Presidential election, many famous faces have fired off responses.
Whether through social media posts or during Wednesday appearances on talk shows, much of Black Hollywood has been making their feelings known.
According to Variety, during the Wednesday episode of “The View,” Whoopi Goldberg declared she would not be speaking Trump’s name. Meanwhile, her cohost Sunny Hostin said, “I’m profoundly disturbed.”
Hostin continued, “If you look at The New York Times this morning, the headline was ‘America Makes a Perilous Choice.’ I think in 2016 we didn’t know what we would get from a Trump administration. We know now.”
Hostin admitted she wasn’t worried about herself but rather the wide swath of Americans a second Trump presidency has the potential to impact.
“I worry about the working class. I worry about my mother, a retired teacher,” she said. “I worry about our elderly and their social security and Medicare. I worry about my children’s future, especially my daughter, who has less rights than I had.”
Echoing this sentiment, Franklin Leonard, founder and CEO of The Blacklist, recalled Trump’s first presidency.
“Too many of y’all appear to have forgotten how absolutely wild the Trump years were,” he wrote in a post on X.
Leonard followed up with, “I don’t have certainty about what just happened, and I’m reasonably certain no one else does either.”
TV personality Desus Nice (born Daniel Baker), wrote, “[A]merica having one of those gender reveals that starts a wildfire that burns for like 30 days.”
Comedian and writer Travon Free addressed his complaints more directly, pointing to the media phenomenon of “sane-washing” many took issue with during this election cycle.
“Let’s make sure the @nytimes gets all the credit they deserve for what happened tonight. They worked really hard to make Trump look like a normal viable alternative to Kamala and well,” he wrote in a post on X.
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In a post on X, actor Wendell Pierce congratulated Harris for running “a great campaign” while issuing a poignant warning about what is to come.
“Elections have consequences,” he wrote, adding, “The Supreme Court will be changed for a generation. I’ll never see a moderate court again in my lifetime. Alito and Thomas will step down and Trump will appoint 40-year-old partisans to the bench. The damage he is about to inflict on our institutions [over] the next 2 years will be irreparable.”
It isn’t just Americans reacting. Across the pond, British model and trans activist Munroe Bergdorf put out a call to action for people around the world on Instagram.
“NOW is the time to get politically engaged and stay politically engaged. Not when it’s time to vote again in four years… NOW,” she wrote. “Your voice, your rights, your life matters. The West isn’t ‘descending into fascism,’ it is here and it’s going to require ALL of us showing up for ALL of us. No matter how bleak this may feel… Do not disengage.”
Meanwhile, last night, before the race had been officially called, actress Yvette Nicole Brown spoke out about what was happening in her home state of Ohio.
“[U.S. Senator] Sherrod Brown losing in Ohio is a [loss] to Ohio and our nation,” she said on X, adding, “This is a disgrace at a level I can’t even quantify. My home state of Ohio chose a criminal. And it looks like this nation is choosing a criminal. AmeriKKKa is showing out tonight. Just showing out.”
Since the election results, a handful of some of Harris’ famous Black supporters have also shared reactions, including Kerry Washington, who had spent the past few months campaigning for the vice president, and Cardi B, who spoke at a Harris rally in Milwaukee.
“To Vice President Kamala Harris, no matter they’ve said to bring you down or belittle your run for presidency, they can never say you didn’t run your race with honesty and integrity,” Cardi B began in a lengthy post on Instagram.
“You really put up a fight against all the odds that were already stacked against you. You never accepted defeat as an option, which says so much about your strength and your heart,” the rapper continued, noting that Harris wanted better for “ALL of us.”
“This may not mean much, but I am so proud of you,” she added. “No one has ever made me change my mind, and you did.”
Cardi said before Harris she “never thought” she’d see a woman of color running for president in her lifetime.
“But you have shown me, showed my daughters and women across the country that anything is possible. Thank you for being an example. Thank you for being empowered, thank you for being a real example of what the American Dream should be,” she wrote.
In an Instagram post including uplifting messages, Washington wrote in the caption, “Be kind to yourself today.” However, she added, “There is more work to do.”