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President Trump unveiled a plan for Black America on Friday, in a bid to woo Black voters with loans and lofty economic promises—though some of the assurances run counter to the president’s rhetoric and track record.
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 24: President Donald Trump speaks during his, ‘The Great American … [+] Comeback Rally’, at Cecil Airport on September 24, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. President Trump continues to campaign against Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Trump released the plan—the details of which were first reported by Fox News—during a summit in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday, as he looks to build on his woeful polling numbers with Black Americans (Trump won 8% of the Black vote in 2016).
The plan’s big promises: Create 500,00 new Black-owned businesses, 3 million new jobs for the Black community and increase access to capital in Black communities by $500 billion, though it’s not clear where that funding will come from.
It also calls for Congress to make “Juneteenth” a holiday, prioritize criminal justice reform and to designate Antifa and the KKK as terrorist organizations.
But one bullet calls for “diversity training” for law enforcement, even though the president has directed federal agencies to pause race-related trainings, and as recently as Thursday night, publicly railed against race sensitivity education.
Trump’s plan calls for greater “activity” in Opportunity Zones, a program established by the 2017 GOP tax plan that allows for tax breaks in low income areas, even though the New York Times reported last year the program generated a surge in developments financed by wealthy Americans, and may have accelerated gentrification.
Key Background
Trump has been criticized for stoking racial conflict for most of his presidential term, and his support among Black Americans has always been extremely low. Following violent protests by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, Trump appeared to equate white supremacists with counter-protesters, saying, “But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides.” Another pivotal moment for critics who say Trump has fanned racial tensions came during a rally in 2019, when Trump told a group of four American congresswomen of color to “go back” to where they came from. As protests swept the country following the death of George Floyd this year, Trump lumped peaceful protesters and the Black Lives Matter movement with rioters and looters, and was criticized by Democrats for stoking racial tensions. During an interview in June with Fox News, Trump said that many Black Lives Matter protesters don’t even know why they’re there. And during a rally last month, Trump said, “Protesters. You know what I say? Protesters, your ass. I don’t talk about my ass. They’re not protesters. Those aren’t pro — those are anarchists, they’re agitators, they’re rioters, they’re looters.” Trump has falsely blamed the movement for launching violent acts, and called the phrase a “symbol of hate” when New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered the city to paint a large “Black Lives Matter” slogan on the street outside Trump Tower in Manhattan. In June, the president scheduled a rally on Juneteenth, which he later rescheduled after multiple people objected, calling it insensitive, and appeared unaware about the holiday until this year, telling the Wall Street Journal that before this year, “nobody had ever heard of it” (Trump’s White House has issued statements on Juneteenth during each of his first three years.)
Tangent
On the flip side, Biden has issued his own plan for Black Americans, proposing to invest $150 billion in Black owned businesses, and to boost funding for Black colleges and universities. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Biden’s running mate, introduced a bill earlier this year to designate Juneteenth a holiday.
Surprising Fact
A picture of U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson’s notes—dug up by Bloomberg—during the event in Atlanta showed the secretary is unhappy with the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, which is responsible for approving new hires in the administration. However, Carson never uttered the planned remarks during his speech.
