Ice Cube is still quite deep in his feelings over all of the backlash he’s received for aligning himself with Donald Trump‘s campaign to be re-elected. At least, that’s the image he projected Thursday morning when he suggested in a tweet that Black people should be thanking him — not vilifying him — for allegedly getting Trump to vow to inject hundreds of millions of dollars into the Black community.
The tweet prompted Roland Martin, the no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is journalist, to be the lone voice of truth who was also armed with receipts galore while explaining to Ice Cube in no uncertain terms why Trump has effectively “played” the rapper into believing in the president’s so-called Platinum Plan.
Martin hosted Cube last month on the journalist’s digital news show, “Roland Martin Unfiltered,” during which the two sparred over the merits of Trump’s Platinum Plan for Black people, which the rapper said includes portions of his own Contract With Black America. One of those portions is the 2-page Platinum Plan‘s promise to “increase access to capital in black communities by almost $500 billion.”
While that not only sounds amazing but also necessary, there was no accompanying information about how Trump’s administration would turn that theoretical “plan” into reality, something that didn’t escape Martin’s sharp eye. He reminded Ice Cube that was “a lie” that lacked “specifics.” He added: “Bruh, you got played.”
That led to a 10-tweet Twitter thread replete with receipts that revealed the reporting Martin has done on the topic, including claiming he spoke “to numerous Black Republicans who currently work with the administration and THEY said the $500 billion ‘commitment’ is a joke.”
Martin then reminded Cube that he never even talked directly to Trump and questioned how he can be so sure of the president having any righteous intentions for Black people. “Bruh, you talked to Jared Kushner,” Martin said, referencing Trump’s son-in-law who just last week suggested that “complaining” Black people don’t “want to be successful.”
Martin wasn’t done schooling Cube, though.
He said he also knew the Platinum Plan was “fraudulent” because “the Trump administration made NO effort to do ANY Black media to discuss the plan.”
Martin continued: “you at least gotta give Black folks enough credit to know that we know when we are getting played. All Jared and Trump wanted was to be able to say you co-signed the plan. They got exactly what they wanted. What did we get? A one sheet plan of nothing.”
Cube seems pretty resolute in his stance and has maintained that he did not endorse Trump. But working with the president’s campaign has been tantamount to an endorsement in the eyes of critics who see the rapper as being complicit in Trump’s anti-Black rhetoric regardless of what the president’s Platinum Plan says.
Trevor Baldwin addressed that phenomenon for NewsOne last week.
“I would normally breakdown the deep-seated psychology of patriarchal white male envy and validation but now is not the time for fancy erudite language,” Baldwin wrote in an op-ed. “This is a time for confrontational dialogue. This is Sam Jackson monologue time, mama saying what you ‘better not’ do while gritting her teeth time. This is ‘I wish you would’ say you voting for that [insert profanity here] time.”
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‘Bruh, You Got Played’: Roland Martin Reacts To Ice Cube Still Defending Trump’s Platinum Plan was originally published on newsone.com