“Many people said that the reason black people like me is because black people have been so hurt and discriminated against, and in fact, they saw me in the same way that I was discriminated against,” Trump said. insisted.
He said the mug shot he received when he was booked into the Fulton County Jail only helped black voters. President Trump claimed, “When I took my mugshot in Atlanta, that mugshot was number one.'' “You know who accepted it more than anyone else? The black population.”
The audience seemed to enjoy President Trump's speech, with lines such as one receiving the strongest applause, a recent public statement in which he compared himself to the recently deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. It was the same.
“The lights are so bright and there are so many people outside that I can't see. But I can only see black, I can't see white. That's how I got here,” Trump said, looking out at the audience. is.”
He twisted the baseball home run record of Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds and asked who would be the record holder. “I'm with Barry, especially tonight with Barry,” he said, drawing laughs.
Trump's arrival comes as President Joe Biden's campaign and the Republican Party seek to woo African American voters after polls show Trump's support among black voters has declined. It was held in
According to the AP-NORC poll Since December, just 50% of Black adults say they support Biden, down from 86% in July 2021.
However, according to the same poll, President Trump's approval rating among black voters has languished at about 25%. In a statement released Friday, the Biden campaign criticized Trump's efforts to woo black voters in South Carolina, calling him “the proud poster boy for modern-day racism.”
The former president received a standing ovation after highlighting his economic policies in a speech that included concerns about public safety, the influx of migrants into cities like Chicago, and a promise to crack down on immigration at the border.
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson sat behind the stage and reminisced about his 2016 campaign with Congressman Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) and Congressman Byron Donald (R-Fla.) . he.
Before Trump took to the stage, the Donald urged the audience to ignore Trump's often eyebrow-raising remarks.
“True leadership isn't pretty sometimes, but it gets the job done,” Donald said.
Braxton May, a Raleigh, N.C., member of the Black Conservative League, said she came to support Trump and called the night “a great opportunity to bring all of us together tonight and see Trump's progress.” Stated.
Earlier in the day, Trump held a get-out-the-vote rally in Rock Hill and launched a series of attacks on his Republican rival Nikki Haley, calling on her to “switch parties.”
“Republicans don't support her, they don't like her, they don't like her policies. She's a Democrat at heart,” Trump said.
The two visits to South Carolina mark the end of Trump's primary campaign there. The former president made Colombia one of his first campaign stops in early 2023. At the time, Trump was the only Republican in the race.
At an event at the state Capitol, he announced early support from prominent state Republicans, including Gov. Henry McMaster and Sen. Lindsey Graham. In the weeks that followed, two of South Carolina's Republican up-and-comers, Sen. Tim Scott and former Gov. Nikki Haley, joined other prominent Republicans in entering the race. A year later, the stakes are between Trump and Haley, with Haley vowing to press on despite the former president leading by double digits in polls in her home state.
Meanwhile, Scott has become one of Trump's leading surrogates and has been named as a possible vice presidential candidate. Trump praised the senator's support at back-to-back events in South Carolina.
“He's a much better representative for me than he is for himself. He's a quality human being and he doesn't like to talk about himself, so this is a great compliment,” Trump said at Rock Hill. ” he said.
