My guest this week is Shermichael Singleton, a political consultant, writer, and SiriusXM host who is that still-rare thing: a young black conservative. Since his college days at Morehouse, Shermichael has thrown himself into politics, working his way up from campus activist to volunteer positions for Republican candidates to eventually become a high-ranking aide to Dr. Ben Carson during his presidential campaign and his foray into Trump’s White House.
After a brief cameo from my lovely wife, Shermichael tells me how he first became aware of the Republican Party and its history while researching a class project in elementary school. By the time he reached Morehouse, Shermichael had become a conservative. Conservatives are rare at historically black colleges, but Shermichael says that Morehouse’s culture of debate allowed him to argue his case without being ostracized. After college, he went to work for Carson and followed him to Washington after Trump appointed him HUD secretary. Then Shermichael was fired when it was discovered that he had criticized Trump in print before the election. We wrap up with a discussion of some of Shermichael’s mentors at Morehouse, and with a discussion of some of my own major influences.
It was great getting to know someone who will surely be a part of the next generation of black conservative leaders. If they’re all as intelligent, hard-working, and poised as Shermichael, we’ll be in good hands.
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0:00 How an elementary school project turned Shermichael on to politics
7:16 Black and Republican at Morehouse in the Obama era
9:05 Why Shermichael is a conservative
12:48 The two sides of black “progress”
17:24 Shermichael: Identity matters, even for conservatives
21:54 How Shermichael got booted from the Trump administration
28:26 Shermichael’s relatively positive assessment of Trump’s presidency
32:29 Was Trump’s post-election behavior good for conservatism?
37:43 The counterintuitive Evangelical support for Trump
40:41 Shermichael’s mentors at Morehouse
50:17 Encountering Thomas Sowell and Glenn
56:19 What Ben Carson is up to these days
58:51 The major intellectual influences on Glenn
Recorded January 4, 2024
Links and Readings
Shermichael’s Ebony piece, “Young, Gifted (Conservative, Republican) and Black” (scroll down)
Shermichael’s the Hill piece, “A Republican asks: Aren’t we morally obliged to stand up to Trump,” that got him fired
Rev. Dr. Robert Michael Franklin on Morehouse
American Cornerstone Institute
The Shermichael Singleton Show on Apple Podcasts
Shermichael Singleton – The Shaping of a Young Black Conservative [Bonus Episode]