There’s at least some evidence that many Black voters are prepared to give Donald Trump a second look ahead of the 2024 elections. The former president appears to be aware of the opportunity, and it’s leading him to make some outlandish claims.
“Honestly, there’s been no president since Abraham Lincoln — and perhaps, in a certain way, including Abraham Lincoln — but there’s been no president since Abraham Lincoln that has done more for the Black individual in this country than President Donald J. Trump,” the Republican declared at an event two weeks ago. “There’s been nobody. Not even close.”
A week later, President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign unveiled an ad emphasizing the presumptive GOP nominee’s history of racism, and yesterday the Democratic incumbent spoke at an outreach event in Philadelphia where he kept the offensive going. From the White House transcript:
“Let me ask you, what do you think would have happened if Black Americans had stormed the Capitol [on Jan. 6]? I don’t think he’d be talking about pardons. This is the same guy who wanted to tear gas you as you peacefully protested George Floyd’s murder. The same guy who still calls the Central Park Five “guilty,” even though they were exonerated. He’s that landlord who denies housing applications because of the color of your skin. He’s that guy who won’t say ‘Black lives matter’ and invokes neo-Nazi, Third Reich terms. And we all remember Trump is the same guy who unleashed birthism — the birtherism lie against Barack.”
As for the Lincoln reference, Biden went on to say, “I love this one. He says he’s the greatest president for Black people in the history of America, including more than Abraham Lincoln.” After making the sign of the cross, the incumbent Democrat concluded, “I mean, can you fathom that? … I think he injected too much of that bleach into his brain.”
To be sure, much of Biden’s speech was devoted to his own accomplishments and the promises to Black voters that he’s delivered on over the last three and a half years.
But the incumbent also seemed to revel in making the case against this 2024 rival.
As a matter of political rhetoric, it is certainly a target-rich environment: Trump’s lengthy record of overt racism is impossible to defend. But the matter is not entirely retrospective.
Last month, Axios reported that in a prospective second term, Trump and his team intend to “dramatically change the government’s interpretation of Civil Rights-era laws to focus on ‘anti-white racism’ rather than discrimination against people of color.” Asked for comment, the Republican’s campaign didn’t exactly deny its interest in rolling back policies designed to address systemic racism.
A few weeks later, Trump sat down with Time magazine’s Eric Cortellessa and said, “I think there is a definite anti-white feeling in this country and that can’t be allowed either.” The Republican added that he hopes to focus on the “problem” related to the “bias against white.”
Trump hopes Black voters will overlook his racist record and vision, and Biden hopes to remind Black voters why they shouldn’t. It’s unlikely that the public has heard the last of this.
