PITTSBURGH (Newsradio 1020 KDKA) - I first caught a Diamond & Silk Facebook video about three years ago as I sat in the waiting room at my sons' pediatrician's office. I didn't know who was Diamond and who was Silk, or even what they were all about, for that matter. But I knew that I liked them. They were flashy and funny and SMART, two outspoken women (sisters, I'd later learn) who made a fundamental, cataclysmic paradigm shift in 2015: They switched political parties to vote Republican in favor of Donald J. Trump.
It wasn't often back then that black women spoke out in favor of then-candidate Trump. But Diamond & Silk did more than speak out. They spoke UP, starting the Ditch and Switch Now Movement urging other Democrats to join the Republican party to vote for Donald Trump in the primaries and general election. Did their voices and videos make a difference? WHOA. You know it! Their Ditch and Switch movement caught the attention of the mainstream media when it was reported that 46,000 Pennsylvania voters alone switched their political affiliations from Democrat to Republican. Diamond & Silk had made their mark on the social media/influencer map.
To speak with these powerful voices of reason on my show this afternoon was a total thrill. They talk common sense and reason, encouraging other women and people in the black community to reconsider their support of Democratic candidates and policies that, for too long, have failed their communities.
The two sisters - who hail from Fayetteville, NC, and now have a Facebook following of more than two million - underscore a common theme, particularly among the black community. "We have conservative values," Diamond told me, "and now we have a leader who stands up for us. We love President Trump!"
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