In a rare appeal to African-American voters, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump argued that Democrats have “failed and betrayed the African-American community.”
CNN reports the candidate made the assertion during a speech 40 miles outside of Milwaukee, a city rocked by a wave of violent protests in response to the police-involved killing of 23-year-old Sylville Smith.
“I’m asking for the vote of every African-American citizen struggling in our community today who wants a different and much better future. It’s time for our society to address some honest and very very difficult choices,” he said. “The Democratic Party has failed and betrayed the African-American community.”
Trump pledged to restore “law and order” and bring back jobs. In doing so, he painted policies put in place by Democrats as being engineers of poverty and crime in inner cities.
“To every voter in Milwaukee, to every voter living in the inner city or every forgotten stretch of society, I’m running to offer you a much better future,” Trump said. “They’ve taken African-Americans for granted. They just assume they’ll get their support. They’ve taken advantage of the African-American citizen. It’s time to give the Democrats some competition for these votes.”
A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll revealed that Trump has just 1% of the African-American vote in Ohio and Pennsylvania, both battleground states.
During his speech, Trump opted not to speak on the growing tensions between African-Americans and police in the country.
Instead, he chose to accuse Clinton of “bigotry” by seeing “communities of color …only as votes” and “not as individual human beings.”
“She doesn’t care at all about the hurting people of this country or the suffering she has caused them,” Trump said. “Now is the time for new leadership. The Hillary Clinton agenda hurts poor people by far the most.”
Trump also defended the officer who shot and killed Sylville Smith on Saturday night. The unidentified officer, who is believed to be Black, shot and killed Smith after he failed to comply with orders to put his gun down, officials say.
