President Trump said Tuesday that he ranks No. 2 after Abraham Lincoln – the president who freed the slaves – in helping black America.
‘My Admin has done more for the Black Community than any President since Abraham Lincoln,’ the president tweeted. ‘Passed Opportunity Zones with Sen. Tim Scott, guaranteed funding for HBCU’s, School Choice, passed Criminal Justice Reform, lowest Black unemployment, poverty, and crime rates in history … …AND THE BEST IS YET TO COME!’
The president’s comments come as the country has seen days of protests and unrest after the Memorial Day death of George Floyd, a black Minneapolis man, at the hands of a white police officer.
Trump’s response to the chaos has swung between trying to appease his predominantly white base – while seemingly still aiming at the goal to win over more of the black vote in the November election.
The president’s re-election team has made a concerted effort to reach out to black voters, an untapped demographic for most Republican politicians.
Surrogate Katrina Pierson and Scott, a black Republican senator from South Carolina, recently jumped on presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s problematic ‘you ain’t black’ gaffe.
Biden had told popular radio show host Charlamagne tha God that he ‘ain’t black’ if you ‘have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump.’
The Democrat apologized several hours later on a call with black business leaders saying he shouldn’t have been ‘so cavalier.’
But while trying to take political advantage of Biden’s mistake, Trump on Twitter has dog-whistled using racist language, like calling protesters ‘THUGS’ and tweeting Friday, ‘when the looting starts, the shooting starts’ – a 1960s-era phrase used by a racist Miami police chief.
In person, several hours later, he told reporters he had called Floyd’s family members and they were ‘terrific,’ while saying he was unaware that the phrase ‘when the looting starts, the shooting starts,’ had racist origins.
‘But I don’t know where it came from, I don’t know where it originated,’ the president said Friday afternoon.
On Monday Trump said the ‘biggest victims’ of rioting ‘are peace-loving citizens in our poorest communities.’ ‘I will fight to protect you,’ he pledged.
He then used a phrase that would play well for his base: ‘I am your president of law an order.’
‘And an ally of all peaceful protesters,’ he said.
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Source: Daily Mail
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