President Donald J. Trump And Small Business Is History In The Making.

(ThyBlackMan.com) Those who follow my writings know my singular focus is on creating opportunities for my entrepreneurs  to participate in policy discussions in a manner that will lead to more business opportunities for them to grow their revenues.

Because my focus is on economic opportunities, most of the political meetings for my clients will be with Republicans; not because I am proselytizing, but because Democrats are anathema to entrepreneurship.

I cut my political teeth working for President George Herbert Walker Bush in my twenties and was particularly close to his Secretary of Commerce, Robert Mosbacher.

For someone who grew up in the hood of St. Louis, I have had a good life and have become friends with some very influential people.

There is no way anyone could have predicted that I would have a sitting Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, as a personal friend who will do anything to help small businesses grow.

Secretary Bessent asked me to join his family during his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate last year.

Upon confirmation, one of his first meetings as newly minted Treasury Secretary was to meet with twenty of my entrepreneurs to let them know that they have a friend in him.

I have known Acting Secretary of Labor, Keith Sonderling for many years and similarly to Secretary Bessent, he is a friend of small business.

A few weeks ago I was sharing with Sonderling the frustration many of my entrepreneurs were expressing to me about their voices not being heard on policy issues within the Trump administration.

His immediate response was, “how can I help.”

He then asked if I would be willing to organize a group of small businesses to meet with him to discuss their concerns with an eye towards connecting them to the appropriate people so that their voices are heard when it comes to policy discussions.

Last week I organized a roundtable with the acting secretary and fifteen small business owners from manufacturing, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, educators, labor lawyers, etc.

Acting secretary Sonderling made it perfectly clear to me and his senior staff that he was not interested in having a “courtesy” meeting or a photo-op.  He wanted to hear our concerns and address each concern with a specific solution.

That was music to my ears!

Not only did the acting secretary meet with us, but he had the head of every agency within Labor participate in the roundtable.

One of the highlights of the meeting was to see the interaction between Sonderling and the president of Hampton University, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Darrell K. Williams.

Hampton University is one of the preeminent Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the country.

Even though they are a university, they also have a vocational education component within the university that peaked the acting secretary’s interest.

Gen. Williams invited Sonderling to visit the campus and without missing a beat, the acting secretary accepted.

The date is being worked out.

There is no record of a sitting Labor Secretary ever visiting the campus of a HBCU.  When I texted the acting secretary this message, his response was, “I’ll be the first!”

The historic nature of the planned visit is nice, but the most important thing is it is the right thing to do!!!

Would it not be the irony of all ironies that the first sitting Labor Secretary to visit an HBCU will be part of the Trump administration?

This is why when extreme radical Black liberal Democrats call President Trump a racist it does not stick.

How am I able to navigate MAGA at the highest levels and produce results for my entrepreneurs if the administration is racist?

The bigger problem I am discovering is how many of the media appointed leaders or “he-ders” of the Black community do not know how to properly navigate within the world of power.

I have always had access, but did not always understand how to use my access.

If a Black person is in a position of power and authority and does not understand how to use that power and authority, how can that be racist or white supremacy?

There are currently sixty-two members of the Congressional Black Caucus between the House and the Senate.  There is only one person who definitely has made a lasting legislative mark during their term in Congress.

That would be former Congressman from Baltimore, Parren Mitchell.  He is considered the Godfather of Black business.  He was and is legendary as chairman of the Committee on Small Business in the eighties.  His impact is still being felt today.

You have more Black elected officials today than at any time in our nation’s history, but all the economic indices are negative for the Black community.

As of 2025, there are 66 Black voting members in the U.S. Congress, including four Black senators, one Black governor, and about 10% of state legislators are Black.

Sixty-two are Democrats and five are Republicans.

At the state level, about 10% of state legislators are Black as of 2021.

There are over six hundred and forty-one Black mayors across the U.S.

During the 117^th Congress (January 3, 2021–January 3, 2023), the Democrats controlled the House with a majority, while the Senate was evenly split 50–50. Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris held the tiebreaking vote in the Senate, giving the party effective control of both chambers along with the House majority, where Nancy Pelosi was elected Speaker.

During the 117^th Congress, Blacks chaired several major committees:

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) – Chair of the Financial Services Committee, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) – Chair of the Education and Labor Committee, Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) – Chair of the House Budget Committee, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-MO) – Chair of the House Select Committee on HHS Oversight, Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) – Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. David Scott (D-GA)—Chairman of Agriculture.

Blacks also chaired twenty-five subcommittees.

Name me one specific benefit to the Black community that was received as a direct result of having these people in positions of power and authority.

 

Finish story here; President Donald J. Trump And Small Business Is History In The Making.