Former President Donald Trump claimed that the Black people like him because of his indictments as they see him as a victim of discrimination.
In a speech at the Black Conservative Federation’s annual gala event, Trump compared his legal jeopardy to the historic legacy of anti-Black prejudice in the U.S. legal system. Arguing he is the victim of political persecution, Trump said, “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, because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against.”
“I’m being indicted for you, the American people. I’m being indicted for you, the Black population. I am being indicted for a lot of different groups by sick people, these are sick sick people,” Trump said where he also received the “Champion of Black America” award, reported The Washington Post.
Trump also suggested his support from Black Americans stems from their understanding of how corrupt systems can lead to “great evil.”
“Some of the greatest evils in our nation’s history have come from corrupt systems that try to target and subjugate others to deny them their freedom and to deny them their rights,” Trump said. “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.”
Trump also mentioned the mug shot taken by Georgia authorities after he was indicted on state racketeering charges over the 2020 election.
“My mug shot — we’ve all seen the mug shot, and you know who embraced it more than anybody else? The Black population,” Trump said. “You see Black people walking around with my mug shot, you know, they do shirts and they sell them for $19 apiece. It’s pretty amazing — millions by the way.”
He also said that he knew many black people because his properties were built by black construction workers.
Trump told the crowd that unemployment, crime, and border crossings would all be lower under his presidency and he cited a range of stats that he claimed showed Black voters should abandon Biden. “You want to be able to go get a loaf of bread and not be shot,” he said.
“Joe Biden and the radical left have abandoned everything Black Americans care about,” Trump said, calling Biden a ‘racist’ and attacking him for his 1994 crime bill.
According to CNN, Biden’s campaign, before the event had issued a statement calling Trump “the proud poster boy for modern racism.”
However, Trump did not mention the Black Lives Matter protests and riots that occurred under his presidency in the summer of June 2020.
Earlier in the week, Trump compared himself to Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top domestic rival, who died in a remote Arctic prison after being jailed by the Kremlin leader.
Trump faces 91 felony counts in four separate cases for allegedly mishandling classified information, obstructing justice, conspiring to overturn the 2020 election and falsifying business records in connection to hush money paid to an adult-film star.