Citing his administration’s lack of respect for the Constitution and the rule of law, the NAACP announced, for the first time in its 116-year history, it will not be inviting the sitting president to speak at its upcoming national convention in Charlotte.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement that the decision “has nothing to do with political party.”
“Our mission is to advance civil rights, and the current president has made clear that his mission is to eliminate civil rights,” said Johnson. rejecting what he called Trump’s “fascist playbook.”
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields attacked the NAACP in response to the slight, saying the organization “isn’t advancing anything but hate and division, while the President is focused on uniting our country, improving our economy, securing our borders, and establishing peace across the globe.”
Trump never spoke to the NAACP convention during his first term. He declined invitations in 2016-2018 and backed out of an appearance in 2019 after the format was changed from a speech to a question-and-answer session. That same year, convention delegates unanimously passed a vote calling for Trump’s impeachment. Needless to say, the president skipped the 2020 meeting.
MAGA supporters were appalled by the NAACP’s snub.
“Who cares about a communist organization, not one patriot I know,” wrote one angry Trump supporter, posting on X. (Despite the claims of many pro-Trumpers, the NAACP is not and has never been aligned with any communist party.)
Added another, “NAACP doesn’t know what fascism is: In a break with its long history, the NAACP announced that it will not invite Donald Trump to its national convention this year. NAACP President Derrick Johnson’s explanation for making this unprecedented decision was purely political, despite insisting that ‘we’re nonpartisan.’ “
Many others saluted the decision.
“I applaud the NAACP for excluding Trump due to his brutal assault on civil rights in America,” said one critic. “We cannot condone his blatantly racist, sexist, and xenophobic policies that discriminate against immigrants, women, disabled, poor, and LGBTQ people.”
Despite the rebuke, Trump has made inroads with Black voters. In 2024, he won the largest share of Black votes for a Republican since Gerald Ford 49 years ago. Currently, a little more than 20 percent of Black Americans give him a favorable approval rating.
Black men have been especially open-minded about supporting Trump. About a quarter of Black males voted for him in 2024, including nearly 30 percent of Black men under 45 years old,
Still, the civil rights establishment remains in staunch opposition to the president and his policies. The NAACP is currently involved in numerous legal battles against the Trump administration on issues including his attempt to shutter the Department of Education and his threat to withhold federal funding to schools that maintain diversity, equity, and inclusion programs
“The NAACP Convention has always been a place where people across the country come together to map out our advocacy and mobilization strategies to advance civil rights and democracy for all,” according to the organization’s statement. “Our annual convention is meant to be a safe space for all people — regardless of political ideology — who believe in multiracial democracy and the ideal of building a more perfect union.”
Republicans have traditionally received a more hostile reception from the NAACP. Still, GOP presidents, including George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, often used the forum to defend themselves against charges of racism.
In 1981, Reagan dismissed racial bigotry as fundamentally un-American, saying, “A few isolated groups in the backwater of American life still hold perverted notions of what America is all about.” America, he said, “will not stand for your conduct.”
In 2006, George W. Bush, fresh off his administration’s lackluster response to Hurricane Katrina, acknowledged the GOP “wrote off the African American vote, and many African Americans wrote off the Republican Party.”
“That history has prevented us from working together when we agree on great goals,” Bush said to applause. “That’s not good for our country … I want to change the relationship.”
Trump last spoke to a predominantly Black audience in August 2024, when he appeared at the convention of the National Association of Black Journalists. It did not go well.
After claiming he was “the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln,” Trump questioned whether his opponent, then Vice President Kamala Harris, was actually Black.
