The Rev. Al Sharpton denounced former President Trump’s recent race-related comments and urged voters to “look at his record” on past issues involving Black Americans before leaning into his rhetoric.
Sharpton Participated MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace asked Trump about his recent comments on Friday. Semaphore highlights He boasted that he had “a lot of black friends,” but that could hardly be considered racist.
“I have a lot of black friends, and if I was a racist, they wouldn’t be my friends, and they would know that before anybody else,” Trump said in the interview, according to the outlet. “If they thought I was a racist, they wouldn’t hang out with me for two minutes. I’m not a racist!”
Wallace asked Sharpton how he thought the media should cover the former president’s controversial comments.
“I think we should cover that in the records. [take the] “It’s bait … that we have to prove that Donald Trump is a racist,” Sharpton responded.
He added that he knows Trump and believes he is a racist, but “that’s not something we have to prove.”
“You look at his record, he’s always been a stoker of racism,” the pastor argued.
Sharpton went on to list Trump’s harsh comments about the Central Park Five, who were wrongfully convicted of brutal sexual assault in 1989. He specifically mentioned Trump’s comments after the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, where he said there were “very fine people” on both sides of the conflict.
He also brought up the same case after the former president was convicted in a Manhattan hush-money trial late last month.
As another example, Sharpton pointed to President Trump clearing protesters from outside the White House to allow for a photo-op during the George Floyd protests in 2020. He also claimed that the Republican front-runner, a businessman and former TV host, launched his political career by saying former President Barack Obama wasn’t a true American and questioning his place of birth.
“Birthralism. Has he ever even questioned Joe Biden’s birthplace?” Sharpton asked. “I mean, on anything to do with race, he’s always making racist attacks on black people.”
“So you look at his record, and I say to those who support him, show me where he was right on the issue of race,” he added.
Sharpton continued, “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.”
“I think he’s a racist,” he said, before adding, “I don’t think everyone who votes for him is a racist, but I think all racists are going to vote for Donald Trump.”
Sharpton’s comments come as Trump maintains a slim lead over Biden, according to polling tallies by The Hill/Decision Desk, after his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the hush-money case.
This is not the first time Trump has come under fire for his comments about black Americans. In February, while talking about his own indictment, he tried to gain sympathy from his audience by claiming that black voters were just like him because they had experienced discrimination.
He also compared his own personal legal battles to those faced by black men in the nation’s criminal justice system, saying “black residents” were pleased to see photos of his arrest in an election interference case in Fulton County, Georgia.
Black leaders and Democrats slammed the former president’s comments.
Trump has made a concerted effort in recent months to win over black men on the campaign trail, especially as Biden appears to be losing support among voters of color. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, a finalist for the vice presidential nomination in 2024, has been campaigning to help the former president win over black voters.
