Trump calls Clinton a 'bigot' in appeal to African-American voters
JACKSON, Miss. — Donald Trump ratcheted up his appeal to African-American voters while calling Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton a bigot "who sees people of color only as votes, not as people" in a rally here Wednesday night.
The Republican presidential nominee also again vowed to continue to take a hard line on illegal immigration and raked in a reported $1.2 million or so in campaign donations, party officials said.
Trump, flanked by Gov. Phil Bryant, former New York Gov. Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama and a leader of the Brexit movement in the United Kingdom, told a vastly white crowd of thousands at a rally at the Mississippi Coliseum that he plans to change “the Democratic Party taking the vote of African Americans for granted.”
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“It’s time to give Democrats some competition for the African-American and Hispanic vote,” Trump said. “What do you have to lose by trying something new?”
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Longtime former U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, who pushed for the U.K. to leave the European Union, also spoke, saying Americans face in this presidential election an option similar to what U.K. voters faced — taking the country back from "the political class" and "big banks."
Farage said he can't endorse a candidate in the U.S. presidential election because he has criticized President Obama for telling U.K. voters to vote against leaving the EU. But he said, "If I were an American citizen, I wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton if you paid me."
Over the last couple of days, several national reports had questioned whether Trump was starting to take a weaker stance on illegal immigration, and lean toward “amnesty,” which could hurt with his conservative base.
But in Jackson on Wednesday night, where many in the crowd wore “Build That Wall” T-shirts, Trump appeared to take as hard a line as ever on immigration.
“Hillary Clinton does not believe in America first,” Trump said. "... Why aren't young Americans considered dreamers, too? ... We will protect your job from illegal immigration and a broken visa system. We will rebuild roads and bridges and infrastructure, and we will do it with our companies and our steel and our labor."
Trump said Mississippi has lost vast numbers of manufacturing jobs because of the North American Free Trade Agreement and other trade pacts that he would undo or prevent and he promised, "I will be the greatest jobs president God ever created."
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Before his public rally at the Mississippi Coliseum, a private, $1,000-a-ticket Trump/RNC fundraiser at the Jackson Convention Complex raked in well more than its $1 million goal, state Republican Party Chairman Joe Nosef said.
“My understanding is we’re looking at 10% to 20% beyond what we were trying to raise,” Nosef said. “The governor has done a tremendous amount of work on that.”
Nosef said Trump’s haul was notable for a fundraiser held on relatively short notice. He said Trump donors Wednesday were a mix of traditional Republican campaign financiers and those who typically don’t contribute — a sign, he said, that the establishment and more conservative GOP is coalescing behind the candidate.
Trump has shown Mississippi more love than other presidential candidates in recent history. Wednesday’s fundraiser and rally marked his third trip to the Magnolia State. Two were large rallies before the Republican Primary. His son, Donald Trump Jr., visited the Neshoba County Fair last month, drawing thousands to his speech at the fairgrounds.
Clinton so far has not visited Mississippi this cycle.
Nosef said it’s not unusual for a GOP candidate to raise money in a solid-red state, but adding a public rally in a small state with only six electoral votes that he already appears to have locked down is “admirable.”
“He was coming back to do a fundraiser, and added a public rally at the last minute to reward those folks helping him who couldn’t go to the fundraiser,” Nosef said. “I think that is something people appreciate.”
In 2012, GOP candidates, including presidential nominee Mitt Romney, visited Mississippi before the primary, but Romney made only one stop here during the general election, for a private fundraiser with no accompanying public event.
Trump won Mississippi’s Republican Primary on March 8, garnering 47% of the vote in a six-way race, with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz — whom Bryant had endorsed — trailing at 36% and Ohio Gov. John Kasich a distant third at less than 9%.
A recent poll commissioned by Y’all Politics showed Trump with a 15-point lead over Clinton, 54% to 39%, in Mississippi in a head-to-head matchup.
Trump earlier Wednesday held a large rally in Tampa, Fla., as a poll of voters in that battleground state showed him with a new, slight lead over Clinton, 43% to 41%. On Thursday, he is scheduled to hold a campaign rally in Manchester, N.H.
Follow Geoff Pender on Twitter: @GeoffPender
