Nykea Aldridge, the cousin of NBA star Dwyane Wade, was pushing a baby stroller in Chicago’s Parkway Gardens neighborhood on Friday when she was shot and killed. Aldridge, 32, was on her way to register her children at a nearby school when she was hit by stray bullets from a nearby gunfight. The baby was not injured. Wade took to Twitter on Friday night to tell the world about the tragedy, describing it as “another act of senseless gun violence.” A day earlier, Wade had participated in a town hall meeting in Chicago on gun violence that was hosted by ESPN.
For Donald Trump, the killing of a mother of four seemed like just the right way to pitch black voters on why they should elect him in November. Without even offering condolences to Wade or anyone in his family (Update at 2:50 p.m.: A few hours later, Trump did write a condolences tweet), he wrote on Twitter: “Dwayne Wade’s cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago. Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will VOTE TRUMP!” (Yes, Trump misspelled Dwyane’s first name in the tweet. Update at 1:35 p.m.: Trump later deleted that tweet and posted a new one with the correct spelling.)
And that was it. Trump did not offer any explanation as to why the shooting illustrates just what he had “been saying” or why it shows why he will get the support of black voters. Presumably though he was referring to a speech he gave earlier this week in which he used a law-and-order argument as part of his latest push to try to win over minority voters. “I say this to the African-American community. Give Donald Trump a chance! We will turn it around!” he said. “We will make your streets safe so when you walk down the street, you don’t get shot, which is happening now. That’s what’s happening now.” Earlier, he had said black voters had nothing to lose by voting for him. “You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed—what the hell do you have to lose?”
While trying to win over black voters, Trump has attempted to turn the tables and portray Clinton as a “bigot who sees people of color only as votes.” On Friday, Clinton released a campaign ad criticizing Trump’s effort to appeal to black voters.
