Yeah, the ethanol is a pander, but not IMO this.
He’s essentially saying, “too bad, no representation these past two years, but there’s certainly been a number of times when blacks have won recently.”
That’s just his gentle version of “I feel your pain, but that’s the way it is. We have evidence from past awards that discrimination isn’t the issue, so I imagine your turn will come around again.”
You're hired. Trump Spinmeister. You will be very, very busy in days to come.