President Joe Biden contended that he is a man of his word during the launch of his campaign’s black voter outreach program as polling indicates a lack of support for him among the demographic.
But while he presented a positive case to black voters, he also underscored former President Donald Trump‘s record, describing the former president as “unhinged.”
“The threat that Trump poses is greater in his second term than his first,” Biden told the crowd Wednesday in Philadelphia. “It’s clear that when he lost in 2020, something literally snapped in this guy. That’s why Jan. 6 happened.”
“What do you think would’ve happened had black Americans stormed the Capitol?” he said. “I don’t think he would be talking about pardons. This is the same guy who wanted to tear gas you as you peacefully protested George Floyd‘s murder.”
Biden also criticized Trump for calling himself, in Biden’s words, “the greatest president of black people in the history of America,” including former President Abraham Lincoln, who ended slavery.
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time,” Biden said. “I have shown you who I am, and Trump has shown you who he is. Today, Trump is peddling lies and stereotypes for your vote so he can win for himself, not for you. Not in our house. Not on our watch.”
“I know we have a lot more to do,” he added. “I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let Donald Trump turn America into a place that doesn’t believe in honesty, decency, and treating people with respect.”
Black voters are a crucial component of Biden’s base, with the president reiterating during his address at Girard College, a majority black school in Philadelphia, that the voting bloc “will make Donald Trump a loser again” in 2024.
But although the majority of black voters tell pollsters they support Biden over Trump, his margin of 59 percentage points, 77% to 18%, is lower than it was in 2020 or in 2016 for then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during her election cycle, according to Pew Research Center-validated voter studies.
Sensing an opportunity, Trump has pitched himself to minority voters, including at a rally last week in New York in the Bronx.
Regardless, Biden repeated the line “a promise made and a promise kept,” citing his pandemic response and black community investments, in addition to his healthcare, environmental, and student debt policies, as being among his administration’s achievements. He also listed marijuana decriminalization, the implementation of parts of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, and nominating Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“Folks, Trump continues to lie by saying black unemployment was at a record low on his watch,” he said. “The fact is a record low unemployment happened on my watch, and we will keep it going.”
Vice President Kamala Harris appeared alongside Biden on Wednesday, reminding the crowd of when Trump asked black voters during the 2016 election, “What the hell do you have to lose?”
“Sadly, we all know too well,” Harris said. “When he was president, Donald Trump tried over and over to get rid of the Affordable Care Act and to take healthcare from millions of black Americans. Year after year, he proposed cuts to Social Security and Medicare. And then he hand-picked three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would overturn Roe v. Wade.”
“If Trump wins a second term, I promise you, he’s gonna go even further,” she continued. “Who sits in the White House matters.”
The “Black Voters for Biden-Harris” national organizing program will be augmented by “an eight-figure investment in engagement programming” with black student organizations, community groups, and faith centers, as well as advertising spending, per the Biden campaign.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Our campaign believes that black voters deserve to hear from Team Biden-Harris, and they deserve to have their vote earned, not assumed,” the campaign wrote in a fact sheet. “That’s exactly what we are doing through historic investments in black media and outreach, creative engagement efforts, culturally competent content, and innovative organizing initiatives.”
“No campaign has valued black voters like we have, including through investing earlier and with more money than ever before talking to black voters,” the campaign said.
