- Trump claimed he has a shared experience with Black people of discrimination in the legal system.
- Trump faces 91 felony charges following four historic indictments.
- Despite accusations of using racist language, Trump won 12% of the Black vote in 2020.
Donald Trump, the first former president in US history to face criminal charges, claimed that "the Black people" like him because he's been discriminated against in the legal system.
"I got indicted a second time and a third time and a fourth time, and a lot of people said that that's why the Black people like me," Trump said while speaking at the Black Conservative Federation's annual Gala in Columbia, South Carolina on Friday.
"Because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I'm being discriminated against," he said.
Trump at the Black Conservative Federation Gala: I got indicted and lot of people said that’s why the black people like me… pic.twitter.com/QENwQvvyLI
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 24, 2024
"I think that's why the Black people are so much on my side now because they see what's happening to me happens to them," he said.
He went on to claim that Black people walk around with photos of his mug shot on $19 T-shirts — which he claimed was the "number one" mug shot, followed by Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra's.
Trump faces 91 felony charges across four states in cases relating to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, the handling of classified documents, and a hush-money payment to an adult film star.
As he seeks the Republican nomination, Trump has continued to frame himself as a victim of persecution.
In recent days, he also compared his legal troubles to the death of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, whose death President Joe Biden has blamed on President Vladimir Putin.
Trump holds Black Americans in low regard, say Democrats
Trump's latest comments about Black people come as he and his allies seek to secure a historic share of the Black vote for Republicans.
At the event in South Carolina, he appeared with other Black Republican politicians, including Sen. Tim Scott and Ben Carson, who served as the Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary under Trump.
Despite persistent accusations of using racist language over the years, Trump won 12% of the Black vote in 2020, which was the highest a Republican president has received in recent decades.
Jasmine Harris, the Biden campaign's media director, who is Black, said Trump was an "anti-Black tyrant" and "the proud poster boy for modern racism," per NBC News.
"This is the same man who falsely accused the Central Park Five, questioned George Floyd's humanity, compared his impeachment trial to being lynched, and ensured the unemployment gap for Black workers spiked during his presidency," Harris said.
Trump holds Black Americans in such low regard that he "publicly dined with white nationalists a week after declaring his 2024 candidacy," she said.
