Former President Trump claims the four criminal indictments against him boosted his support among black Americans because they view him as a victim of discrimination, comparing the legal jeopardy he faces to the historical legacy of anti-black bias in the American legal system.
Trump says he is the victim of political persecution, although there is no evidence that President Biden or White House officials influenced the 91 criminal charges against him. Trump also recently compared himself to Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin's biggest domestic rival, who died in a remote Arctic prison after being imprisoned by the Kremlin leader.
“I've been accused of nothing, of nothing,” Trump said at a black conservative event in South Carolina on Friday night, ahead of the state's Republican primary. “And a lot of people said that's why black people liked me, because they were so hurt and discriminated against, and they saw me as being discriminated against. It was very cool, but maybe, maybe there's something there.”
Trump, the Republican front-runner, has focused his third campaign for the White House on his grievances against Biden and what he claims is the “deep state” targeting him, even as he faces charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He kept secret documents at his home in Florida and allegedly arranged payments to an actress. pornography.
Trump referred to the photo taken by Georgia authorities after he was charged with statewide racketeering during the 2020 elections.
“When I took the picture in Atlanta, that was No. 1,” he said, adding: “Do you know who embraced it more than anyone else? The black population.”
Trump's campaign predicted he could do better with black voters in November than he did four years ago, citing Biden's faltering poll numbers with black adults and what Trump sees as advantages on issues like the economy and the record number of people crossing the United States. borders Mexico, often ending up in cities with large black populations.
He was flanked on stage at the Black Conservative Union gala in Columbia, South Carolina, by black elected officials, including Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Wesley Hunt of Texas. Many attendees cheered throughout the speech.
In a free speech, Trump mixed his usual campaign statements with appeals to the black community and jokes that touched on race.
“The lights are so bright in my eyes that I can't see a lot of people out there. But I can only see black. I can't see any white. That's how far I've come,” Trump said to laughter from the audience.
He also said he knew many black people because his property was built by black construction workers.
In telling a story about how he renegotiated the cost of redesigning Air Force One, Trump criticized his predecessor, former President Obama, the first black person elected to the White House.
“I gotta tell you, Black President, but I got less than $1.7 billion,” Trump said. “Do you prefer the black president or the white president who got $1.7 billion off the price?”
As the crowd cheered, he added, “I think they want the white man.”
Republicans face an uphill battle in courting black voters, who overwhelmingly support the Democratic Party. Although black voters' enthusiasm for Biden has declined over the past year, only 25% of black Americans said they had a favorable view of Trump in an AP-NORC poll conducted in December.
Democrats criticized the speech as racist and insulting to black voters. Sarafina Chitica, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, pointed to Trump's appearance earlier this month at a sneaker conference where he raised $399 titled “Never Give Up High Sneakers.”
“This may be news to Trump, but using tired metaphors, wannabe Jordans and selfie T-shirts is not going to win over black voters who have experienced record high unemployment and soaring uninsured rates under his leadership,” Chitica said. “Trump is showing black voters exactly what he thinks about them — and his ideas to win them over are as vulgar and racist as his own.”
Black voters who spoke to The Associated Press before the ceremony expressed doubts that Republicans, and Trump in particular, would be able to convince them to switch parties.
“There's a lot of controversy,” said Ebony McBeth, a Columbia resident and transportation worker. “I will choose Biden simply because Trump has his own agenda.”
Isaac Williams Sr., a retired cook from Columbia and lifelong Democrat, said he hates both parties but finds Trump “has demagogic tendencies.” He's just out for himself.”
Many conservatives interviewed said the Democratic Party's appeal to black voters was built on “emotional politics” by stirring up racism.
“For the Republican Party to win more support from the African-American community, we're going to have to invest a lot more time and a lot more money into letting people know about our platform, because the truth of the matter is that a lot of them are,” said Samuel Rivers Jr., a former Republican state senator from Carolina. Southern: “They agree with our program, but they do not link it to the Republican Party.”
Rivers, who is black, said black voters view Republicans “in a negative way based on emotional triggers of racism that no longer exist.”
Trump has a long history of stoking racial tensions. Since his early days as a New York real estate developer, Trump has faced accusations of racist business practices. In 1989, he took out full-page newspaper ads calling for New York state to reinstate the death penalty as five black and Latino teenagers were scheduled to stand trial for the beating and rape of a white woman in Central Park. The five men were eventually exonerated in 2002 after another man confessed to the crime and it was determined that their confessions were coerced.
Trump spent years spreading the lie that Obama was not qualified to hold office. When he was president, Trump mocked “shithole countries” in Africa and said four congresswomen of color should go back to the “broken, crime-ridden” countries they came from, ignoring the fact that all of the women are American citizens and three of them are American citizens. Born in the United States
