Black Americans will recognize President Donald Trump’s historic achievements for the Black community by supporting the Republican’s re-election bid in record numbers, Trump told a mostly Black audience in Atlanta Friday.
In a speech at the Cobb Galleria Centre, the president cited the economic gains Black Americans have made on his watch, including the most job gains in U.S. history, the lowest poverty rate and the largest increase in home ownership.
“I did more for the black community in 47 months than [Democratic challenger] Joe Biden did in 47 years,” Trump said.
Trump’s Georgia trip came as he and former Vice President Biden are locked in a tight race for Georgia’s 16 electoral voters. Pumping up his support among the Peach State’s Black voters, who have overwhelmingly supported Democrats for decades, would go a long way toward sealing victory in a state where Trump leads the polls by a large margin among white voters.
“Our movement is welcoming millions of Black Americans back into the Republican Party, the party of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln,” Trump said.
Trump and speakers who preceded him at the podium – including University of Georgia football legend Herschel Walker – cited the president’s support for prison reform, increased funding for historically black colleges and universities and the creation of thousands of economic “opportunity zones.”
The president used Friday’s speech to unveil a “Platinum Plan” for Black Americans for the next four years to build upon the prison reforms accomplished during his first term, address chronic health disparities between white and Black Americans and guarantee school choice to every parent.
Trump criticized Biden’s record as a U.S. senator and vice president, including the role he played in a 1994 crime bill critics say has contributed to a high prison incarceration rate among Black Americans.
In a response released in advance of Trump’s visit, Biden blamed the president’s “failed leadership” in the COVID-19 crisis for the deaths of nearly 6,800 Georgians.
“Black Georgians have been hit particularly hard by this crisis – 3,000 Black Georgians have died, 430,000 Black Georgians are uninsured, and 11.8% of Black Georgians have been left jobless,” Biden said. “In the midst of this global health pandemic and economic crisis, President Trump is still working to tear down the Affordable Care Act and take away protections for Georgians with pre-existing conditions.”
The president was greeted on the runway at Dobbins Air Reserve Base by Georgia’s top Republican elected officials, Gov. Brian Kemp and U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. He recognized each in turn with a shout-out during his speech.
