Former President Donald J. Trump is standing tens toes down that he is the Black community’s political savior while continuing his pursuit of the Oval Office.
Trump announced his second bid for reelection in November 2022 in spite of being the subject of multiple indictments, including two accusing him of attempting to interfere with the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to former Vice President Joe Biden.
The embattled Republican has championed “make America great again,” and part of his campaign propaganda to win minority votes has been to position himself as a politician committed to improving the lives of Black people. At times, he has attracted support from hip-hop figures like Wacka Flocka.
In a June 6 expansive hour-long interview for “Dr. Phil Primetime,” “The Apprentice” creator again reiterated that he is the best choice for minorities.
“I’m the best president for Black people since Abraham Lincoln, and people, Black people, are seeing that,” declared Trump. He has previously juxtaposed his racially motivated political efforts in comparison to President Abraham Lincoln, who in 1863 signed the Emancipation Proclamation as an effort to aid the Union in defeating the Confederacy, presenting a pathway for enslaved people in Southern states to join in the Civil War.
Like Trump, he was also a member of the Republican Party. An often overlooked part of the 16th president’s stance on race is that he proposed sending Black people to Liberia and Central America so that white people would not have to coexist with them and that he did not believe Black people should have equal rights as their white counterparts.
Trump continued, “Black people are used to voting for Democrats, but they’re coming off of this. They’re smart. They’re seeing what’s happened. They’re seeing criminal justice reform, they’re seeing the Black colleges and universities, I got them funded, they’re seeing all of the things that I’ve done. Nobody could do what I did. I say that them people sometimes smile, but it’s actually true.”
As it pertains to criminal justice reform, during his tenure as president, Trump signed off on the First Step Act in 2018. The legislation reduced life sentences from some drug-related offenses, proposed a new assessment of prisoner rehabilitation efforts, and more. He also prides himself on granting 73 pardons and commuting sentences for 70 additional inmates.
At the end of his two terms, former President Barack Obama granted clemency 1,927 times, and of those 212 were pardons. His record falls second to Harry Truman, who served as the commander-in-chief from 1945 to 1953.
In 2019, he signed a bill providing HBCUs and other minority-centered schools with $250 million a year. He said that the institutions “never had better champions in the White House.” However, his administration is not responsible for the funds inception, his signature simply reinstated funding that had lapsed during his term.
In May, the White House reported that Biden’s administration invested more than $16 billion between 2021 and 2014 into HBCUs, setting a new record.
His comments were met with critical reactions as a clip circulated on social media. “REACHING! If he so much for blacks why did he take away the “Fair housing act” which is housing discrimination act. If he so much for blacks why didn’t he pick not 1 black circuit judge out of 200?” read an Instagram comment.
A second criticism read, “How are you best for black ppl when you dog whistle proud boys and white nationalists on tv ?? And advocate against BLM and police brutality?”
A third person asked, “Does he believe he’s our white savior?” While a fourth “He truly believes he was put on this earth to save us. And the crazy part is these yt people that follow him think this as well.”
Councilman Yusef Salaam, one of five Black and Latino teenagers wrongfully convicted of a 1989 rape in Central Park known as the exonerated Central Park 5, spoke with me about former President Donald Trump’s recent trial and felony conviction. Trump famously took out a full-page… pic.twitter.com/MlxyIUx817
— Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) June 4, 2024
A fifth user said, “He didn’t mention the Central Park 5 for some reason.”
In 1989, Trump promoted the execution of Kevin Richardson, 14, Raymond Santana, 14, Antron McCray, 15, Yusef Salaam, 15, and Korey Wise, 16, in New York newspapers. The teenagers were falsely accused and convicted of raping and beating a white woman in Central Park.
The men were exonerated in 2002, after DNA and a confession from a serial rapist proved their innocence.
Trump made history on May 31 when he was found guilty of 34 felony crimes in relation to hush money scheme to silence porn star Stormy Daniels. He is the only U.S. president to become a convicted felon. His sentencing is scheduled for July 11.
