President Donald Trump is being questioned about his campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
The president was confronted during Tuesday night’s ABC News town hall by an uncommitted voter on his slogan and how that relates to Black Americans.
“When has America been great for African Americans in the ghetto of America?” Pastor Carl Day, from Philadelphia, said. “Are you aware of how tone-deaf that comes off the African American community?”
Trump responded, “Well, I can say this, we have tremendous African American support,” before going on to say that six or seven months ago “was the best single moment in the history of the African-American people in this country.”
However, undeterred, Day continued to press:
“I mean, your statement is though, make it great again. So historically, the African American experience, especially in these — out of these ghettos that have been out redlined, historically these ghettos that have systemically been set up,” later adding, “And we have not been seeing a change, quite frankly under your administration, under the Obama administration, under the Bush, under the Clinton, the very same thing happening, the very same system, the cycles continue to ensue.”
“You say again, we need to see when was that great, because that pushes us back to a time in which we cannot identify with such greatness,” Day continued. “And I mean you’ve said everything else about choking and everything else, but you have yet to address and acknowledge that there’s been a race problem in America.”
Watch the video below:
In a special @ABC2020, an uncommitted voter presses Pres. Trump on how his slogan "Make America Great Again" relates to Black Americans, "because that pushes us back to a time in which we cannot identify with such greatness." https://t.co/udW8eVJ2FD pic.twitter.com/VTWSPepomJ
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 16, 2020
Trump responded, “I hope there’s not a race problem. I can tell you, there’s none with me, because I have great respect for all races, for everybody.”
“But when you go back six months and you take a look at what was happening, you can’t even compare that with past administrations,” he added.
When Trump suggested he thinks “next year is going to be one of our best years economically,” Day pushed back, “But income inequality is still, but income inequality is higher.”
After ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos later added that “even before the pandemic the average black family was earning half of what the average white family was earning,” Trump responded, “You’re right. I can only compare it to the past. The African-American, the Black community was doing better than it had ever done by far both in terms of unemployment, homeownership.”
