It appears like Candace Owens is again at it once more, however this time, her goal isn’t Black America. It’s her former political daddy, Donald J. Trump.
In a viral clip making the rounds on TikTok, Owens—who has spent the higher a part of the final seven years licking the MAGA boots clear—now claims she’s disenchanted within the Trump administration; particularly, Trump’s assault on free speech, calling out his strikes in opposition to Harvard College as “unhappy” and “un-American.”
“We can’t enable our rights to be infringed upon,” Owens says within the video. “And in case you suppose it’s gonna cease with school campuses, you’re out of your thoughts.”
Now, let’s be clear. This sudden “awakening” isn’t about precept—it’s about positioning. Owens is pivoting not as a result of her ethical compass kicked in, however as a result of her grift hit a glass ceiling. After leaving The Day by day Wire (the place calling out sure teams apparently comes with actual penalties), she’s now scrambling to rebrand, hoping we’ll overlook the years she spent defending the indefensible.
However we keep in mind.
This is identical Candace Owens who blamed George Floyd for his personal dying. This is identical Candace Owens who labeled Black Lives Matter a “terrorist group,” defended Harvey Weinstein, and proudly cosigned Trump’s racist birther conspiracies and his assault on Kamala Harris’ Blackness. She constructed her model being the Black face for white supremacy, weaponizing anti-Black rhetoric to maintain the checks rolling in.
The irony is, Owens wasn’t at all times this model of herself.
Again in 2016, earlier than she came upon how profitable being the conservative “Black pal” could possibly be, she ran a web site known as Degree180 that mocked Trump, questioned his mind (and anatomy), and spoke overtly concerning the actuality of systemic racism in America. However by 2017, Turning Level USA got here calling with a job provide as their “city engagement” director, which, let’s be trustworthy, is code for we’d like a Black face to promote white nonsense to Black audiences.
From there, she grew to become the CPAC darling who famously denied the existence of racism altogether. Think about the audacity of a lady who as soon as received a lawsuit in opposition to her highschool for—you guessed it—racism, now standing on stage telling Black people racism isn’t actual.
However in case you actually need to perceive Candace Owens, you must perceive the trauma play at work right here.
Within the phrases of Monique Choose, Owens remains to be that teenage lady who as soon as felt unsafe in her personal neighborhood, sidelined by racist assaults from her white classmates, and now she’s spent her grownup life looking for acceptance within the very areas that after weaponized that hatred in opposition to her.
And right here we’re, watching her newest act: Owens “breaking free” from the MAGA plantation, telling us this wasn’t what she “signed up for.” However make no mistake; this isn’t a stand for reality, it’s survival. As a result of her white viewers might love a tap-dancing Sambo, however the second you critique any faction of white energy, they remind you precisely the place you stand.
However Owens’ identification disaster is just half the story right here. The true headline is what her pivot reveals concerning the state of MAGA itself.
Trump’s approval score is now the bottom of any presidential candidate at this level in an election cycle, and Owens’ very public fallout with Crew Trump is simply the most recent crack within the basis. From inner GOP infighting to mounting authorized troubles and a rising variety of conservatives questioning the authoritarian techniques of their very own chief, MAGA is displaying indicators of fracture.
Candace Owens didn’t develop a conscience—she learn the room. The Trump practice is shedding steam, and she or he’s on the lookout for the subsequent experience. However Black people? We’ve seen this grift earlier than.
And we ain’t shopping for it.
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