ATLANTA (CN) — President Donald Trump unveiled a new plan focused on “economic empowerment” for Black Americans during a campaign event in Atlanta Friday that also endorses the creation of a federal Juneteenth holiday commemorating the end of slavery and designates the KKK and Antifa as terrorist groups.
With less than six weeks to go before Election Day, the president tried to chip away at Democrats’ advantage in Georgia among Black voters by announcing a second-term agenda to increase Black employment nationwide and give Black-owned businesses access to $500 billion in capital.
“I’m here today to announce a brand-new plan to deliver more opportunity, more security, more fairness, and more prosperity to Black communities. We call it the Platinum Plan, and that's a contract with Black Americans," Trump said Friday, calling the plan a “bold vision” and a “foundation for the future.”
The plan pledges to create 3 million new jobs for the Black community and 500,000 new Black-owned businesses. The president said the plan will also increase educational opportunities, advance Black homeownership, lower the cost of healthcare and bring “even greater fairness to the justice system.”
“I will always put Americans first and that includes — very, very importantly — Black Americans,” Trump said in the address.
His statement contrasted with a statement made in June where the president said the words “Black lives matter” were a “symbol of hate.”
In a release Friday afternoon, the president’s campaign announced that the new agenda includes commitments to make Juneteenth a national holiday and make lynching a national hate crime.
The Platinum Plan will also allow for the prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan and Antifa as terrorist organizations.
Trump faces an uphill battle among Black voters in Georgia, who overwhelmingly support Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
A poll released Monday, which was conducted for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution by the University of Georgia’s School of Public & International Affairs Survey Research Center, found that just 5% of Black Georgia voters support Trump.
According to exit polls in the 2016 race, Trump won only 8% of Black votes nationwide. A Quinnipiac University poll released this week found that just 10% of likely Black voters support Trump.
The president made multiple jabs at Biden Friday afternoon, evoking boos from the crowd when he reminded them of the Democrat’s comment that they “ain’t Black” if they don’t vote for him. Trump called the statement “outrageous.”
“Biden believes that all Black Americans have to think the same way,” Trump said. “He doesn’t know Black Americans like I do.”
“Racial justice begins with Joe Biden’s retirement from public life,” Trump said, drawing loud cheers from the crowd.
A Monmouth University survey released Wednesday found Trump polling at 47% and Biden at 46% among all registered voters in the Peach State.
Follow @KaylaGoggin_CNS
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
