A stuffy ballroom in a mid-tier hotel in an economically depressed Southern city must feel like a comedown after sampling the majesty of the United States Capitol building. But Diamond and Silk, the YouTube performers who skyrocketed to fame during the 2016 election as prominent black Trump supporters, nonetheless seemed pleased to be here on a recent May evening. They beamed as they took the stage (in true rock-star style, they arrived several minutes late) and were greeted with rapturous applause from the assembled crowd of several hundred fans. Even though most of the audience appeared to be middle-aged, they hooted, hollered, and cheered like enthusiastic teenagers.
Lynette Hardaway (“Diamond”) and Rochelle Richardson (“Silk”), who are, in fact, sisters, were in Greensboro as part of their “Chit Chat Live Tour,” a traveling roadshow that will take them to New Orleans, Cleveland, and Richmond, among other cities. Tickets start at $50 a pop—and for $150, you can also have your photo taken with the charismatic pair. Diamond and Silk have been on the road a lot lately, addressing the National Rifle Association at its convention in Dallas two days earlier and before that, testifying at a congressional hearing ostensibly devoted to examining censorship on social media sites. (Diamond and Silk claim that Facebook and YouTube have tried to suppress their content.)
The hearing before the House Judiciary Committee devolved into a spectacle in which Republican congressmen pledged their fealty to the social media stars while Democratic members attacked them for dishonesty—not an unfair charge, as it turns out. Diamond testified under oath that she had never received money from the Trump campaign, despite the fact that Federal Election Commission records show that the Trump campaign paid the duo more than $1,000 for “field consulting.”
In other words, it’s been something of a whirlwind for the heretofore-unknown North Carolina natives, who claim they were loyal Democrats until Trump came along. Their rise to fame began with a viral YouTube video in August 2015, in which they berated then-Fox News host Megyn Kelly for asking a tough question of Donald Trump during a primary debate. Their weekly videos soon began attracting wider attention, and eventually they were sucked into the Fox News ecosystem, appearing frequently on the network to support Trump. “I’m not big on Facebook or computers,” one woman in the Greensboro ballroom says, “but I do watch them on Fox!”
Diamond and Silk have a particular style of performance: Like a southern-fried version of Penn and Teller, there’s a loud one and a silent one. Diamond does most of the talking, while Silk is reduced to making jerky head gestures, exaggerated facial expressions, and the occasional statement of agreement (“That’s right.”). Despite its title, their show is less “chit chat” than it is a predictable recitation of Diamond and Silk stock phrases. “Trump is not a racist. He’s a realist. And the only color he sees is green,” Diamond says. One middle-aged woman, a devout viewer of Diamond and Silk videos, slipped out midway through the show for a cigarette break. “I feel like I know what they’re going to say, even before they say it,” she said with a shrug.
The 90-minute performance, which was broken into a 60-minute monologue followed by 30 minutes of pre-screened questions that included “How has the left treated you because you are a Trump supporter?” and “When will you appear on The View?” was remarkably light on political content. There were many pledges of loyalty to President Trump—“We support him”—but almost nothing about why they support him or even which of his policies they endorse. The contrast with, say, pundit Ann Coulter or radio host Michael Savage, who are both generally supportive of Trump yet critical of him on certain issues, is striking. Then again, Coulter and Savage were never paid agents of the Trump campaign. Nor do they sell “bling pins”—jewelry with the word “TRUMP” rendered in glittery fake diamonds—or “Trump’s Yo President” coffee mugs, as Diamond and Silk do on their website.
Diamond and Silk did channel Trump during the portion of the performance devoted to lambasting the Democrats who questioned them during last month’s congressional hearing. Diamond was dismissive of the suggestion that she had violated FEC rules, calling the Trump campaign payment “a reimbursement, not compensation,” a line that garnered enthusiastic applause. A little later, she angrily criticized Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, at which point a middle-aged woman in the back row of the ballroom screamed in agreement, “She’s a piece of s—!”
The racial element of Diamond and Silk’s shtick is impossible to ignore. The duo played to an audience that was approximately 95 percent white, and each time Diamond said something about the “Democrat plantation,” the crowd went wild. At one point, Diamond asked whether there were any former Democrats in the house. Three black women raised their hands; the crowd then gave them a standing ovation, presumably for leaving the “plantation.” Diamond and Silk count themselves among a growing number of black “heretics” who are enthusiastically embraced by white conservatives: David Clarke, Candace Owens, and Kanye West have all received similar receptions in recent months. That they are women is particularly appealing and unusual: Exit polls show that Donald Trump won only 4 percent of the votes of black women in 2016.
In the end, an evening with Diamond and Silk amounts to little more than a tedious recounting of the 2016 campaign, suggesting that Hillary Clinton (or “Crooked Hillary,” as they frequently referred to her) isn’t the only person unable to move on after the last election. “Chit Chat Live” is in that sense a nostalgia tour—like Billy Joel, who hasn’t released an album since 2001 yet still trots out “Piano Man” for a fan base that gets older every year, Diamond and Silk relive the highlights of the Trump election for their fans. But Diamond and Silk have a shorter shelf life than Billy Joel and far less talent, so they need to harvest those $150 ticket fees and push their branded merchandise while the getting is good. The Trump presidency will one day end and the cameras will move on. As they are no doubt keenly aware, Diamond and Silk aren’t forever.
