Trump Under Fire for Equating Himself with Historically Discriminated African Americans

Donald Trump, the first former and current U.S. president to be criminally charged, is under fire for comments equating himself with historically discriminated African Americans. Trump is trying to gather support by using the accusations against him to his advantage and projecting himself as a political victim. He has even drawn comparisons to the recently murdered Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, among other people. Trump is attempting to garner support by exploiting the charges against him and portraying himself as a political victim. He has even compared himself to recently deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, among others.

According to ABC broadcasts in the U.S. and Reuters on the 25th (local time), Trump, on the eve of the Republican primary, compared his criminal charges to racial discrimination against African Americans during a speech at a Black Conservative Federation event in South Carolina on the 23rd. Nikki Haley, his competitor and former South Carolina governor, immediately condemned his remarks as “disgusting” on the 24th. Haley warned that such remarks were a “huge red flag,” reiterating that if Trump were confirmed as the Republican candidate, he would lose again to President Joe Biden.

During his speech on the 23rd, Trump claimed, “I’ve been indicted a second, third, and fourth time. Many people say the reason black people like me is because they’ve experienced so much pain and discrimination. They saw me as a victim of discrimination.” He equated his four separate criminal charges on 91 allegations with historical racial discrimination against African Americans, asserting that they began to support him because “what’s happening to me is happening to them.” He further mentioned his mugshot, taken in Georgia last August when he was charged with attempting to overturn the 2020 election results, claiming it was popular among African Americans and making the baseless assertion that “I was indicted for you, the black population.”

Trump has been charged with falsifying business records to pay off sexual relations, attempting to overturn the 2020 election, and leaking confidential documents. He has claimed these charges as political persecution. During his speech, he even made a joke based on the racially discriminatory expression that “you can’t see black people in the dark,” saying, “The lights are too bright, I can’t see many people. I can only see black people, not white people.”

Cedric Richmond, an African American co-chair of the Biden campaign, stated on the 24th, stating, ” It’s a foolish claim for Trump to argue that African Americans would support him because of his criminal charges. This is blatant racism.” He added, “He (Trump) thinks black voters are too uninformed to see through his blatant propaganda.”

Civil rights groups criticized the comments as Trump wrongly linking his criminal charges to the systemic racial bias in the U.S. judicial system. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a U.S. civil rights organization, pointed out on social media on the 24th, “This is not the first time Trump has equated blackness with crime. Let’s be clear. We (Trump and blacks) have nothing in common.”

ABC reported that Reverend Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist and founder of the National Action Network (NAN), also criticized Trump’s remarks as “an insult to blacks” on the 24th, stating, “This is beyond politics. The reason we (blacks) all know about mugshots is because the justice system is often unfair to us.”

Trump’s approval rating among black respondents in a Quinnipiac University poll released on the 21st was only 19%, significantly lower than Biden’s (79%). However, this is a slight increase compared to the exit polls from the 2020 election, which Trump lost. In that survey, 87% of black voters supported Biden, and only 12% supported Trump.

This is not the first time Trump has baselessly equated himself with a political victim by exploiting the fact that he has been charged. Last week, Trump even compared himself to Navalny, who was a major adversary of Russian President Vladimir Putin and died in custody on the 16th. On the 18th, Trump posted on social media, “Biden:Trump=Putin:Navalny,” and mentioned on Fox News on the 20th that his being charged was a “terrible thing,” claiming, “It’s an unfortunate situation, but it’s also happening in our country.” However, unlike Biden and other Western leaders, Trump did not say that Putin was responsible for Navalny’s death. On the contrary, former Governor Haley pointed out on ABC on the 18th that Putin “killed” Navalny.

On the 25th, The New York Times reported that Chris Sununu, a moderate Republican governor from New Hampshire who supports Haley, claimed that Trump’s election victory in the primaries was due to “his self-victimization,” saying the media “highlights the fact that he (Trump) is in court and allows him to portray himself as a victim.” Governor Sununu added, “He (Trump) loves it (being a victim) and knows very well how to use it.”

Trump won the Republican primary in South Carolina, where Haley served as governor, on the 24th, garnering about 60% of the vote and beating former Governor Haley by 20 points. Despite repeated defeats, Haley announced she would continue to run without resigning.