President Donald Trump closed his Wednesday press briefing by declaring that he has “done more for black Americans than anybody with the exception of Abraham Lincoln,” adding that “nobody has even been close.”
Trump was asked by a reporter about remarks by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden who said of Trump, “We’ve had racists, and they’ve existed, they’ve tried to get elected president. He’s the first one that has.”
The president responded, “We did criminal justice reform, we passed criminal justice reform, something that Obama and Biden were unable to do.”
He added, “Prior to the China plague coming in … we had the best African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, almost every group was the best for unemployment. The unemployment numbers were the best.”
Moments later, the president continued, “I’ve said this, and I say it openly and not a lot of people dispute it, I’ve done more for black Americans than anybody with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln. Nobody has even been close.”
https://twitter.com/AlexThomas/status/1286062295228055557?s=20
Trump has made a similar claim in the past, to which The Washington Post gave him “Four Pinocchios” for.
Biden’s remarks came during a virtual town hall in which he said, “No sitting president has ever done this. Never, never, never. No Republican president has done this. No Democratic president.”
Biden says Trump is America's first racist president: "We’ve had racists, and they’ve existed, they’ve tried to get elected president. He’s the first one that has.” pic.twitter.com/BbOG3GgXvq
— The Recount (@therecount) July 22, 2020
But Biden was not responding to Trump’s treatment of the African-Americans community. Instead, the questions were about Trump’s tendency to refer to COVID-19 as the “China virus.”
In his response, Biden said, “The way he deals with people based on the color of their skin, their national origin, where they’re from, is absolutely sickening.”
Biden has slowly started making more public appearances, most of which have been virtual events from his home — though all of them are peppered with attacks on Trump.
Earlier this week, Biden appeared on MSNBC where he said that Trump has “raised the white flag” in the battle against the coronavirus.