The president targeted Black and Jewish voters while attacking Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed just days before Election Day.
President Donald Trump bizarrely called Black voters “crazy” while campaigning at a rally on Thursday in South Carolina.
During his more than one-hour speech in Rock Hill, Trump veered away from the South Carolina election to discuss the closely watched U.S. Senate race in Michigan, where Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is competing against Republican Mike Rogers.
Trump urged Black and Jewish voters not to vote for El-Sayed, whom he falsely accused of being a part of the Islamist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, and told them that they are “crazy” if they do.
“If you’re Black or if you’re Jewish and if you vote for Abdul, you’re crazy,” said Trump. The 80-year-old president added moments later, “You’re crazy anyway.”
“Trump stood on a stage in South Carolina and tried to turn Black voters, Jewish voters, and Muslim Americans against each other in a single breath,” said Brandon Weathersby, a spokesperson for American Bridge 21st Century, a liberal think tank research firm. “He’s insulting Black and Jewish voters’ intelligence while smearing a Muslim candidate with lies, because a divided electorate is the only way his party holds power.”
Weathersby told theGrio, “Calling voters crazy and calling a candidate a terrorist is how a man with no record to run on tries to win an election. His entire playbook is to pit communities against each other and hope nobody notices he has done nothing for any of them.”
Marseille Allen, executive director of Rank MI Vote, told theGrio she was personally offended by Trump’s off-the-cuff remarks.
“I’m Black and I’m Jewish, so President Trump was talking about me today. I’m not crazy. I’m as clear-minded as ever, and so are most Americans,” said Allen, a Detroit native. “This president has wrecked our standing in the world and put the American dream out of reach for millions of families. We know exactly who to vote for to get this country back on track.”
Paul Kanan, former communications director for the Michigan Democratic Party, slammed the president’s comments about Black voters, telling theGrio, “Black voters are the heart and soul of the Democratic Party—in South Carolina, Michigan and across the country. If Donald Trump thinks he can insult Black and Jewish voters into giving him two more years of Republicans who put his interests ahead of the country’s, he’s the crazy one.”
Kanan said Black and Jewish voters don’t need Trump’s “permission” to support El-Sayed “or Democrats anywhere else.” He asserted, “There’s nothing crazy about wanting leaders who will fight for you and your community.”
Trump calling Black voters “crazy” was no slip, says the Democratic operative. “It’s who Trump has always been. From his attacks on the Central Park Five to birtherism, he’s spent decades using racial division to advance himself,” he told theGrio.
Kanan added, “Five days before the election, he’d rather insult voters than answer for $4 gas and a disastrous, unnecessary war of his own choosing. That’s not a closing argument. It’s what you do when you don’t have one.”
El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and former public health administrator, has gained national attention for his surging campaign for the U.S. Senate in Michigan. The progressive managed to defeat an establishment Democrat, U.S. Congresswoman Haley Stevens. While he did not win a majority of support among Black voters, he has been making inroads in the final months and weeks leading up to Election Day.
Republicans have sought to cast El-Sayed as too radical for the U.S. Senate, and have used his Muslim faith as a marker of what they say are his “extreme” views.
Barack Obama, America’s first Black president, recently defended El-Sayed against Republican attacks, which critics have said are Islamophobic.
“We have seen this movie before. I starred in it,” Obama said at a Detroit rally campaigning for El-Sayed. He then joked about having to produce his long-form birth certificate during his own political career as a result of racist birther conspiracies that he was not born in the United States, which were primarily pushed by Trump.
The former president added, “This stuff didn’t work on me. Not in Michigan. It’s not going to work on Abdul.”
More About:Elections
Weekly New Episodes
Stream Now
