The more Donald Trump presses his supposed effort to appeal to black voters, the more bizarre it gets.

Just this week, the Republican nominee for president said the answer to inner-city violence was to revive New York’s stop-and-frisk program, abandoned after federal courts ruled that the results were racist.

He suggested that his decision to recant his insidious “birther” claims against President Obama was an insincere attempt to change the subject. He declared that his “movement” already embraces “everybody.” And one of his county campaign chairs announced that there was no racism before Obama was elected.

Not convinced that this is going to make black Americans vote for Trump?

That’s probably because Trump isn’t actually speaking to minority voters. He is offering excuses for white Americans who might otherwise hesitate to support a racist candidate.