by Diamond
Right. It wasn’t good at all.
Soon candidate Trump was going to be coming onstage. He came out of the skybox, through the door, and all of a sudden the crowd noticed him. They went nuts.
Yes. While Ted Cruz was talking, Donald Trump went ahead and stood there with his presence. All focus was now on Donald Trump. This literally cut Ted Cruz’s ass off because he was really throwing shade without the lemonade.
Right. So Trump walked down those stairs, and he saw Diamond and Silk.
Yes.
He turned to the left and saw us and said, “Oh, my God. You made it. My girls.” He leaned over and gave both of us the biggest hug and kiss.
And then he got back into his stance and kept on walking down the stairs.
Everybody around us wanted to know, “Who are you? How do you know him? Who are you girls?”
We were right where we were supposed to be. You know, he was about to come down the steps and everyone was looking at him, and he’s got his game face on. Then he steps down and looks to the left and sees us, and he didn’t care about the cameras; he didn’t care about security; he didn’t care about anyone else. He was like, “My girls. You made it.”
Mm-hmm.
And he rushed up to hug and kiss us both.
Yes, he did. And people around us were like, “Who are you?” We were no one but Diamond and Silk, two black girls from North Carolina that this man happened to admire.
You could say, “Two black chicks that were down with politics.”
That’s right.
So, y’all, the convention ended up being a phenomenal experience, even though we were disappointed.
Yes.
People asked us what happened, why we didn’t speak. We still aren’t sure. You’d have to ask whoever was the head of the Republican National Convention at the time.
That’d be your answer. You have to also understand, y’all, that there were a lot of what we called “Deep State snakes” around candidate Donald J. Trump.
Mm-hmm.
They wanted things done their way. So when he became the nominee, the RNC took over a lot of aspects, and the campaign didn’t have control over them.
That’s exactly right. But when candidate Donald J. Trump separated himself to come and greet us, that was our moment.
Yes, it was.
In the end, when Donald Trump became president, the person who we believe kept us from speaking at the convention was fired shortly into the administration.
Yes. It felt like people were trying to be seen, and they were trying to keep us from being seen. They were riding on Donald Trump’s coattails. It was like they wanted to dim our light in order for their light to shine brighter. What they failed to realize is that we were just being our true selves.
Mm-hmm. And all of the ones who have tried to dim our light for their lights to shine have either been fired, or the media has bashed them mercilessly, or they’re nowhere in the spotlight. And guess what? Diamond and Silk are still here because we only had one agenda, and that was to stump for our candidate, Donald J. Trump.
Yes. We wanted to make sure he got elected.
Yes. But don’t worry about us; others’ rejection is always God’s protection.
Trump-Pence Women’s Empowerment Tour, Trump National Golf Club Charlotte, 2016
So then, about a week or two later, Earl called us. They were putting an event together in Charlotte, North Carolina. There was a group of women that he wanted to be part of this event, and it was called the Trump-Pence Women’s Empowerment Tour.
Well, it just so happened that we had other things scheduled right at that same time, but those things fell through, and we were able to attend the Charlotte, North Carolina, event.
Yes, we were. The featured speakers were going to be Diamond and Silk, Omarosa, Katrina Pierson, and Lara Trump.
Mm-hmm.
So we’re at this particular event, and they had us go onstage first. Well, you know, Diamond and Silk do what Diamond and Silk do.
That’s right.
We went ahead and shut that whole place down.
Yes. In a good way.
Mm-hmm. We gave them a lot of laughter, a lot of energy, a lot of “Yes, we’re on the Trump train.” We gave them that style.
That’s right, baby.
Everybody else had to go behind us. It was good; it just wasn’t good for them.
That’s right. The audience was able to ask some questions. Everybody was giving their answers, and everybody was able to talk. Well, I remember answering one of the questions with, “Our president is strategic.”
Mm-hmm.
He is strategic whenever he does things. And I said, “It’s not about ovaries in the Oval Office, it’s about who has the balls to build a wall.”
That’s right.
That whole room went ballistic.
They went ballistic because you were speaking truth.
It was straight truth.
The thing I loved about the crowd is this: they were excited about us saying what they were thinking, even though they were afraid to say it.
It was to the point that when it was time to end, Katrina Pierson brought us back up to close it out.
After that, they changed the program so that Diamond and Silk were the last speakers, hahaha.
Hahaha. We can be energizing. It’s this type of connection that generates throughout the audience when we’re speaking. It’s a particular energy that we’ve been infused with, and it all goes back to God.
Right. Not everybody has that.
Not everybody has it, but we’ve been blessed with it, and we are humbly grateful for it. We don’t use it to take advantage of people, and we don’t take advantage of that gift.
Right.
We use it, really, for what we were put here to use it for, and that’s to educate.
Republican Luncheon, Trump National Golf Club Charlotte, 2016
That summer we attended a luncheon with the Black Republicans. There were about eight of us, including Earl, who chatted with us for a moment before lunch.
The food was outstanding, y’all: shrimp and grits, fresh veggies, fresh fruit, desserts. They had anything that your heart desired to eat. Even the person serving us was a Diamond and Silk fan.
Yes, she was.
After lunch, we went to the other side of the room to talk about issues. Everyone in the room had an opportunity to introduce themselves. One woman, who was a leader within the Republican Party, was particularly disagreeable. She seemed a little perplexed, and I got the distinct feeling that she had a problem with us.
The one thing that bothered me about Earl was that he agreed with her to try to avoid confrontation. She had a problem with the way we delivered our message. Little did she know, we were Diamond and Silk, and we would deliver our message the way we wanted to deliver it.
Yes, we would.
The nerve of some people to tell us how to act, how to be, how to speak, how to think.
Mm-hmm.
So we are all in the same meeting, and we’re participating as we should, when she nods toward us and says, “If you think that telling people to get off the Democrat Plantation is going to get the black vote, that’s not going to happen.”
She said that.
Silk was so upset, I had to calm her down. I said, “Silk, you’ve got to respect your elders.”
Mm-hmm. I can respect my elders, but I can also tell her in a respectful manner that we know who we are and what we need to say. We’re not out here just to get the black votes, we’re out here to get all the votes.
That’s right.
And I said that—in a respectful manner.
She was probably thinking, “Who do they think they are? I’ve been in this party for years.”
What some Republicans still fail to understand is that you may have been in this party for years, but you’ve acted so timidly that the Democrats walked all over you.
Yes.
The one thing about Dia
mond and Silk, we opened up our mouths, and we spoke out.
Mm-hmm. That’s right.
We spoke out about how people were calling Republicans racist; we weren’t racist.
Mm-hmm.
We spoke out about how people were calling Republicans white supremacists; we weren’t white supremacists.
We had to get people straight.
That’s right.
And we did it openly.
We sure did. Now, at the time this woman made that remark, Omarosa was out of the room.
There was some good and some bad with Omarosa. This was good.
Yes. Omarosa was in the back, so she didn’t hear what this lady had just said about us.
We didn’t want to disrespect her, but when Omarosa came in that room…
She felt the tension, and she just knew something had been said that wasn’t right.
Mm-hmm.
Omarosa shut it down.
Yes, she did. She basically told them Diamond and Silk aren’t going anywhere. This is a movement, and this is because of Diamond and Silk. So if you’re expecting them to be replaced, that’s just not going to happen.
She basically broke it down just like that.
Yes. And that lady shut her mouth.
Yes, she sure did.
I don’t know what even happened to that lady…
We never saw her again.
I’ll tell you what, though, Diamond and Silk are still here, still stumping for Trump, and still speaking out, telling people to get off that Democrat Plantation.
Where is she at?
Never let anyone silence you because of their own envy or because they don’t think you’re good enough. As long as you think you’re good, it doesn’t matter what they think.
That’s right.
That lady was jealous of us because we had something that she didn’t.
She couldn’t get up there and hold the crowd’s attention because her delivery didn’t resonate.
She was too politically correct.
Mm-hmm.
People didn’t want that at that time. They wanted someone who was going to tell them the naked, nasty truth. Why do you think they loved candidate Trump?
That’s right.
The established leaders couldn’t understand that we were popular because we weren’t robotic talking heads; we were truth-tellers, and we still are. We’re like this every day, all day.
That’s right. Like you say, “We don’t have to get ready; we stay ready.”
Mm-hmm. So the tours were exciting, but what really sticks with me are the Americans that came up to us. They would cry on our shoulders because they were so afraid: They were paying astronomical premiums for healthcare and couldn’t even go to the doctor, but Democrats wanted to give free healthcare to illegal aliens. Their small businesses were so crippled by regulations that they could barely survive. Their kids were being taught foreign religions in school without the balance of Christianity or basic American values.
And we always comforted them and let them know, “He’s going to win.”
Yes. We would say, “Don’t worry. He’s going to win. What we need you to do is to make sure you get out and vote.”
That’s right. Get out and vote.
We were everywhere, and when we left the poll numbers were going up.
I remember there were some low numbers in one particular state, and they wanted us to go to that state.
Yes.
They wanted us to go to that state, but we weren’t able to go because of our schedule.
Women for Trump Tour 2016
So time continues on, we’re staying busy, doing our thing, when we receive a group email about a Women for Trump tour. Well, because it was a group email, we didn’t know if they were reaching out or if we had received the email by mistake. So we contacted Lara Trump to see if that email was intended for us.
And she said, “Of course. Yes.”
Mm-hmm.
So the Women for Trump tour was about to be born, and Diamond and Silk were about to go on tour with Women for Trump.
Yes.
Now, we were so excited about this. They had a wrapped bus; it was one of the buses that the late Aretha Franklin had toured on!
Yes. Aretha Franklin toured on that bus. I felt really honored to be able to use the same space as the late Aretha Franklin.
The tour included Diamond and Silk, Katrina Pierson, Lara Trump, Lynne Patton, and Omarosa.
Yes, that’s right.
Y’all, everywhere we went, Donald Trump’s poll numbers went up. We went to campaign stops and rallied up people; people were so motivated, people were energized.
Yes, they were.
People were ready to get out there, hit the streets running, and get this candidate elected.
People would actually stand to the side of the road clapping their hands when we were leaving an event. If we pulled the bus over for just a stop, people would gather around the bus.
That’s right. We would throw out hats and T-shirts to all of the voters that loved Donald Trump.
Yes.
Around that time, there was a hurricane in North Carolina. What many don’t know is that candidate Trump sent truckloads of supplies for us to pass out to people in need.
Yes, he sure did.
And people started having some hope again.
Remember that time candidate Trump was backstage, and he blew us a kiss?
Oh, my God, I believe that was just after we had passed out the hurricane relief because we still had our pink Women for Trump jackets and T-shirts on.
Mm-hmm.
Whenever Donald Trump was speaking at a rally and we were there, we always stood there and paid attention because we were so interested in it all. We’re still pinching ourselves because we can’t believe that all of this is happening to us.
Right.
So at this particular event, we went backstage and found a nice, quiet spot to wait for candidate Trump to come offstage.
Right. We weren’t trying to be seen.
That comes with maturity.
So, after this particular rally, we just stood off to the side. Finally, candidate Trump was coming through the doors, offstage. As he walked down, he looked over, and the first people he noticed were Diamond and Silk.
Out of all of the people that were there, y’all, he noticed Diamond and Silk first. He looked over at us, and he blew us a kiss.
I want y’all to understand something: There were some prestigious and high-profile people there who looked through us or passed us because of their own disdain. That was their issue, though, not ours.
Even Omarosa saw what was happening, and she said to us something like, “Out of all of these people, all of these prestigious people here, he wasn’t thinking about any of them, but he sure acknowledged you.”
Yes, that’s exactly what she said.
I think he acknowledged us because we weren’t trying to be seen. We fully, truly supported him, and that’s what it was about.
That’s exactly what it was about.
The tour was phenomenal. Even though Omarosa started her little spats here and there, we still had a good time on that tour.
Mm-hmm.
We went to some places in Pennsylvania that were terrible. At one place, there was a casket sitting in the middle of the road to remind people of how much death had happened in that community.
Yes. It was very disturbing.
So we actually talked to people, witnessed things, and faced reality head-on. We weren’t just riding around on a bus looking cute. What we heard over and over and over again was that people wanted things to change, and they saw the change with candidate Trump.
Also, the people who were attending these rallies were not just white people; they were white, black, there were all kinds of people.
Right.
We were out there, finding out what was going on in some of these communities.
Mm-hmm.
I remember, af
ter one event, the organizers brought everybody out. There were people who wanted to take pictures and hug us.
We were all outside.
Remember, back then the Black Lives Matter movement was very huge. They were going in and disrupting events. At this particular event, we were hugging people, and a black girl came up to me and whispered into my ear, “Black lives matter.”
I pushed her away, and I said, “All lives matter.”
So that was a little protest. They took out their signs and started yelling, “Black lives matter; black lives matter!”
And I was yelling back, “All lives matter!”
“All lives matter.” We had everybody else that was out there with us joining in, so we drowned them out.
It got so bad, though, that they had to grab us and get us back on the bus because they didn’t want us to get into a confrontation. For me, “Don’t start none, won’t be none.” Because I will stand my ground if I believe in something.
That’s right. And that day, we stood our ground.
After that, a handler by the name of Karen looked out for us. We didn’t always understand when the noise meant things were becoming dangerous, but Karen understood it. She would immediately grab our hands and put us back on the bus.
She sure would. She would come and grab us up like we were two little girls playing on the playground in a sandbox.
Lara Trump noticed our popularity. She looked at us one day and said something to the effect of, “Listen, girls, you are famous. You’re going to take one of my security, and I’ll take the other, so you can be safe out here.”
Mm-hmm.
And for the rest of the leg of that tour, we had security.
She even made sure we had security to fly with us.
That’s right. We were so popular, she did not want anyone with bad intentions to get to us. I’ll always be grateful to Lara Trump for seeing it. We were getting converged upon; people used to kiss me like I was a chocolate bar.
Yes, they sure did.
Raleigh, North Carolina, Rally: J. S. Dorton Arena, November 7, 2016
The last rally we participated in before the election was in Raleigh, North Carolina, where Lara Trump introduced us. I was so excited because I felt we were going to win this.