On the Nov. 29 edition of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” BET founder and business mogul Bob Johnson pushed back against allegations that President-elect Donald Trump may be racist.
Johnson, who has been in talks with Trump over issues pertaining to the Black community, said Black people must look beyond political parties to address societal needs.
“To me, I never thought Donald Trump — and I still don’t believe it today — was a racist. I don’t believe that he’s anti-African-American,” Johnson says. “For too long, the African-American community has been ignored by the Republicans because they thought we were always locked with the Democrats.”
Johnson’s words come after a Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) report stated that there have been nearly 1000 hate crimes inspired by Trump’s Nov. 8 election night victory.
Johnson says that Trump operates outside of the traditional Washington D.C. political machine and that he will bring new insight as president.
“[He’s] certainly not an establishment Republican [and] he’s not a Democrat, he was open,” Johnson says. “And he’s a business guy. And business guys tend to look at where’s the opportunity for a benefit.”
Johnson assured that Trump’s business pedigree will ultimately benefit the nation overall.
