Trump: “Just like Clinton is against the miners, she is against the police, believe me.” https://t.co/UToDV9KrBY https://t.co/pK1BdjuOEo
— ABC News (@ABC) August 17, 2016
Donald Trump is a candidate of controversy. However, his team is serious about this general election stuff, and so he’s cooperating, sort of. On Monday, he delivered a subdued Ohio speech in which he adopted a calm, measured tone. His subject matter may have raised some eyebrows — he proposed “ideological tests” for hopeful immigrants — but Trump’s generally bombastic air dissipated, so his statements didn’t generate much outrage.
On Tuesday, Trump again adopted his low key (for him) manner of speaking in West Bend, Wisconsin, but his message caused waves. In the above video, Trump made grand statements, including “I can be your champion in the White House” and “Make America Rich Again.” But a main objective was to address a nearby happening, last weekend’s Milwaukee protests, which began after police shot a man during a traffic stop. Trump’s been polling abysmally with minorities and saying cringeworthy stuff for months. He decided to make a big play to recover some votes.
Trump claimed that Hillary Clinton has damaged the African-American community more than anyone with her policies, including her immigration stance. He vowed to “reject bigotry and hatred and oppression in all its forms, and seek a new future built on our common culture and values as one American people.” Trump then pledged to be the answer to economic development in minority communities, whereas he feels that Clinton “takes advantage” of them. He also drew upon a previous Clinton interview where she was perceived as wanting to put miners out of business and applied it to the tensions between officers and anti-brutality protesters: “Just like Hillary Clinton is against the miners, she is against the police, believe me. You know it and I know it, and guess what? She knows it.”
He wasn’t finished. Trump stated, “We reject the bigotry of Hillary Clinton, which panders to and talks down to communities of color and sees them only as votes — that’s all they care about.” To him, Clinton “would rather protect the offender than the victim.” Trump then painted a picture of continued doom and gloom, should Clinton take the White House: “Our opponent Hillary … A vote for her is a vote for another generation of poverty, high crime and lost opportunities.” Perhaps Roger Ailes had a hand in this speech?
As a side note, NAACP President and CEO Cornell Williams revealed to CNN that the Republican nominee turned down the invitation to speak at the group’s annual convention this weekend. However, Clinton will appear as scheduled for a speech.
You can watch Trump’s full West Bend, Wisconsin speech below.