Days after President Donald Trump failed to denounce a violent hate group at a debate, he announced that he tested positive for COVID-19.
POTUS Peeved Initiatives Did Not Improve Standing with African-American Community
A former White House employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that President Donald Trump got upset that initiatives like criminal justice reform did not improve his poll numbers with African-American voters.
The person claimed that President Trump had a dramatic reaction to his low poll numbers amongst African-Americans, questioning, “Why the hell did I do that?”
Yelling at his aides, the White House employee said that Trump “went s—house crazy.”
The Grio.com reported, “The legislation that Trump had hoped to use to sway Black voters is the First Step Act, an initiative empowered by Jared Kushner, his son-in-law. According to the report, the president initially did not want to support the act until he was informed of the potential positive effect the move could have on Black voters. The bill was signed by the commander-in-chief in December 2018. His rant came only a few months after the former official told the (Washington) Post.”
Additionally, Trump’s effort to help fund Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) did not move the needle much either when it comes to African-American support.
The Washington Post reported that Trump told Omarosa Manigault Newman, “You’ve been at this four months, Omarosa. But the numbers haven’t budged.”
The aide told the Washington Post, “I don’t think Donald Trump is in any way a White supremacist, a neo Nazi or anything of that sort, but I think he has a general awareness that one component of his base includes actions that trend in that direction.”
CNN reported that Trump received eight percent of the African-American vote in 2016.
In general, 21 percent of his votes in 2016 came from non-White Americans.
Going into the 2020 presidential election, 83 percent of African-American voters say that they favor former Vice President Joe Biden.
Ten percent of African-American voters said that they support Trump.
Eight percent of African-American voters have not decided which candidate to support.
In another effort to gain more support from the African-American community, Trump unveiled his Platinum Plan for the African-American community last week.
The plan would prosecute the Ku Klux Klan and Antifa as terrorist organizations.
Furthermore, via the Platinum Plan, Juneteenth would become a national holiday.
Juneteenth, or Emancipation Day, started off as an unofficial Texas holiday, commemorating the day when slaves in Galveston, Texas learned that they were free citizens on June 19, 1865.
The last slaves to learn about their freedom found out two years after former President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
Lastly, the Platinum Plan would build up “peaceful” urban neighborhoods with the “highest standards” of policing.
Trump wants to bring fairness to the justice system.
He wants to expand school choice and increase African-American home ownership.
Trump also wants to create a “national clemency project to right wrongful prosecution and to pardon individuals who have reformed their (lives).”
Trump has said that Biden’s policies over 47 years in Washington, D.C. have hurt the African-American community.
Furthermore, the president said that Biden’s actions have “inflicted” damage on the African-American community.
“They only care about power for themselves, whatever that means,” Trump said. “My opponent is offering Black Americans nothing but the same old, tired, empty slogans.”
Despite Biden’s checkered past on race relations, Trump has turned off many African-Americans because of his past actions.
Trump kept the Birther controversy going, attempting to persuade his followers that former President Barack Obama could not serve has commander-in-chief by falsely saying that he was born outside of the country.
Obama was born in Hawaii.
Additionally, Trump has tried to destroy many of the accomplishments made by the first African-American president like the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Trump called the Black Lives Matter movement a “symbol of hate.”
He retweeted a video of one of his supporters chanting, “White Power.”
During the 2016 presidential election, Trump would not disavow David Duke’s support until he received much criticism.
Formerly, Duke served as the grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan before running for governor of Louisiana in the early 1990s.
Trump has vigorously supported keeping Confederate monuments and statues.
The president vehemently criticized former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick for protesting systemic racism and police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem during NFL games.
Trump has slammed LeBron James for speaking out against systemic racism and police brutality.
Furthermore, the 45th President of the United States has criticized diversity training.
He has demanded “law and order” in response the Black Lives Matter movement.
Former President Richard M. Nixon championed law and order as a code phrase to crush African-American militancy from the Black Panther Party to leaders like Stokely Carmichael.
Trump did not support removing former President Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill and replacing him with abolitionist, Harriet Tubman.
Many consider President Jackson a racist.
Trump caused more controversy during a presidential debate with Biden on Sept. 29.
When Fox News journalist and debate moderator Chris Wallace asked Trump to denounce White supremacist groups, the president initially hesitated.
After Biden suggested that Trump denounce the far-right wing hate group Proud Boys, the president responded by telling the violent group to “stand down and stand by.”
Many watching the debate believed that telling a hate group to “stand by” was akin to telling them to prepare for violence.
Following the debate, Trump has tried to walk back those comments.
Nevertheless, the hate group has already adopted Trump’s statement as a rallying cry of sorts.
Many people believe that Trump will not totally distance himself from White supremacist groups because many of them support his presidency.
That reality might make it more difficult to attract significant African-American support.
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