From 1865 to 1932, African-Americans were Republicans.  Franklin Roosevelt, though, started the Democrats' Devil's bargain with blacks: government benefits for votes.  This was a disaster for blacks, making them unhealthily dependent on the government.  Trump, however, is moving aggressively to convince blacks that they've got nothing to lose by giving Republicans a try.

Despite Democrat efforts to claim Abraham Lincoln for their own, the reality is that abolitionism created the Republican Party, and Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president.  Once blacks were enfranchised, and for decades afterward, they voted a straight Republican ticket.  For them, Democrats were the party of Jim Crow, segregation within the federal workforce, and the KKK.

The Depression changed this.  Because they were already economically fragile, it hit blacks especially hard.  Although Roosevelt was comfortable discriminating against blacks, his strong voting base in the Jim Crow South meant he sent a lot of New Deal programs that way.  Inevitably, blacks benefited from these programs, so they switched their allegiance to the Democrat Party.

This switch reached its apex with Johnson's Great Society legislation.  Whether or not Johnson ever said, "We'll have those n‑‑‑‑‑‑ voting Democratic for 200 years," it's certain that Johnson understood that he could anchor blacks to the Democrat Party through perpetual government largesse:

These Negroes, they're getting pretty uppity these days and that's a problem for us since they've got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we've got to do something about this, we've got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference.

Once the legislation passed, scores of well meaning college students went to black neighborhoods, telling residents that the welfare provisions under new legislation were essentially reparations.  The result was disastrous, as black economic gains collapsed and nuclear families disappeared.  Husbands and fathers became superfluous because the system gave single mothers more money than husbands could earn.

Once having started mainlining government welfare, the majority of the black community was hooked — and that was true even in households that were not direct recipients of that welfare.  Blacks developed an unbreakable attachment to their Democrat dealers.

The bond between blacks and Democrats eventually was so strong that Republican candidates considered wasted every campaign dollar spent on outreach to the black community — that is, until Donald Trump came along.  He's changed the paradigm.

At Tuesday's debate in South Carolina, the Democrats did the usual thing, promising African-Americans everything.  It was blatant vote-buying with taxpayer money.  Sen. Tim Scott understood what was happening and found it an "embarrassing performance," "patronizing," and "a hot mess."  He had more to say about the blatant pandering:

"What you saw on the stage yesterday was as if there were no white folks watching seven white candidates talk about black people," said Scott. "Listen to Amy Klobuchar's praising of the First Step Act (passed by Trump) and then watch how they denigrated each other," said Scott. "(Tom) Steyer owned personal prisons, private prisons. They talked about (Joe) Biden passing the 1990s crime bill. They talked about (Mike) Bloomberg. They bombed Bloomberg on the stop and frisk policies."

Unlike the Democrats, in 2016, Trump appealed to all voters, not to skin-color blocs.  He made only one specific pitch to blacks: "What the hell do you have to lose?"  Then Trump set about implementing economic policies that helped all Americans, especially blacks — and, with Blexit, blacks increasingly have responded.

Now Trump is doubling down on outreach to the black community:

The Trump campaign is opening field offices in swing states targeted directly at attracting black voters, a demographic the president has been aggressively courting in his re-election efforts.

The offices are planned for 15 cities with large African American communities and will be used for campaign events and activities, as well as meet-and-greets with surrogates.

"We see the numbers coming up in the polls and the demand on the ground when we do these types of events, so it's really important that we take this next step and really bring those voters into the party," said Katrina Pierson, a senior Trump campaign adviser.

Campaign officials say the goal is get their message directly to African Americans, getting around what they can the "filter" of the media. Offices will feature promotional videos and pamphlets touting President Trump's record on issues such as African American employment and addressing disparities in the criminal justice system.

It's soul-destroying for people to be perpetually dependent on government largesse.  Trump promises more than just economic well-being.  He promises to help heal damaged black communities.