President Donald Trump stood by awkwardly grinning Friday as hundreds of African-American conservatives sang his praises as they gathered for the annual Young Black Leadership Summit late last week.
Trump, who once asked the Black community “what the hell do you have to lose?” by casting a vote for him, hosted nearly 300 students and young Black professionals at the White House for what was glaringly reminiscent of a raucous, campaign-style rally.
The president was met with deafening cheers and chants from his audience of Black supporters who took aim at the news media, Democrats and other Trump adversaries who’ve openly criticized the POTUS.
“The media is attacking him, but when they attack him, they are attacking us,” right-wing provocateur Terrence K. Williams said, riling up the crowd. “Because he’s out here fighting for us!”
The pro-Trump comedian further criticized the “do-nothing Democrats” for failing to show up on behalf of African-Americans and suggested there is a lot at stake if Trump fails to win the presidential election.
The “2020 [election] is right around the corner,” Williams added, “And we have a lot to lose now because the President Donald J. Trump has done so much for the Black community. Thank you President Trump!”
The comedian, who failed to give any examples of how Black folks have benefited from the president’s policies, came under intense scrutiny last month after he tweeted a video of Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) dancing to Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts,” falsely claiming the clip was taken on the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. The now-deleted tweet was later shared by the president himself.
Video of the summit drew a flurry of reactions on social media, most of them angry.
“All they doing is buck dancing and shucking and jiving for trump knowing he really could care less about our people, unless he gets something out of it in return,” one Twitter user opined.
“They done cut that negro a nice lil check,” another joked, referring to Williams.
Another agreed, writing: “This *clown emoji* does not speak for the Black Community.”
One user simply described it as “COONERY.”
Still, there were those who couldn’t help but acknowledge what they saw as a bit of truth uttered by the Black Trump supporters.
“Now I’m not with this dude praising Donald Trump on some sambo shit, cuz both parties are the same,” one man wrote. “… But I have to give it to Donald Trump; atleast he’s bringing up black issues unlike the Democrats play like they can’t even say black or African American on that benign neglect.”
Watch more in the video below.