Matt Brown, Associated Press
2 hours ago
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump visits Chick-fil-A restaurant in Atlanta on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)
WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump was warmly welcomed by a black audience at a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Atlanta on Wednesday, as conservatives watched him warmly welcomed by a black audience as Republicans hope to make inroads with Democrats' most loyal voters. It excited the political media.
These widely shared moments were the result of days of collaboration between the Trump campaign, local activists and students at the nation's most iconic historically black colleges.
Mr. Trump and his allies have argued that his message on the economy and immigration will help them win over more black voters, an idea rejected by President Joe Biden's campaign. Some of his activities against African-Americans include promoting $399 branded sneakers and suggesting that black people would sympathize with his dozens of felonies. Some took advantage of it, angering longtime critics and some potential allies.
But his campaign considered Wednesday's photo opportunity at a Chick-fil-A, where he stopped on his way to a fundraiser in Atlanta, a win that spawned a viral video widely discussed by supporters and opponents alike. .
Michael Montgomery, a conservative activist and founder of Conserve the Culture, which recruits and educates college students and young alumni at Atlanta University, said, “People wanted to know that there was a young black man who wanted a chance to meet President Trump.'' It's hard to believe that.” It is a historically black university.
Montgomery, a former Georgia Republican staffer who regularly coordinates events where HBCU students open to conservative ideas meet politicians and activists, was on Trump's trip to host a high-level rally. He said he was informed earlier in the week that he would be visiting Atlanta's Vine City area. Dollar fundraiser in the city. She notified students of the president's visit in a private group chat they use to coordinate events and job opportunities. She was immediately out of about 12 students expressing interest in performing with him.
“We all got together around 9:30 in the morning and headed to Chick-fil-A, and then we sat there and waited until the president showed up,” Montgomery said. viral video. “It was really disappointing to see the media treating us like we stumbled into Chick-fil-A and he bought us milkshakes.”
Morehouse College and Spelman College are some of the nation's oldest black colleges and universities, with a long tradition of influential black alumni in politics, business, religion, and medicine. Martin Luther King Jr. and Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, a former pastor at Dr. King's church, are both graduates of Morehouse. Stacey Abrams, an influential Georgia Democrat, also attended Mr. Spellman. Along with neighboring Clark University and Morris Brown College, this academic cluster on Atlanta's West Side has served as a hub for African American politics and culture since before the civil rights movement.
President Trump's preface to students at iconic Black institutions underscores his eagerness to demonstrate potential penetration into Black voters and partnering with local conservative groups to draw crowds into communities outside the Republican base. It emphasizes the campaign's strategy of rallying people, a common political tactic among Republican voters. A slight twist.
“The location was beautifully chosen and had an incredible impact,” said Bill White, a businessman and longtime friend of the former president who organized an expensive luncheon for the Trump campaign in Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood that day. I think so,” he said. “I thought this day was a huge success for him and for the people of Georgia who loved him and wanted to show their support.”
White added that Donald Trump is “really someone that everyone can relate to very easily.” “Atlantans saw that and had an opportunity to give the love back,” he said, predicting that events like Wednesday's trip will help Mr. Trump make significant inroads with black voters in Atlanta and across the country.
Biden campaign spokeswoman Jasmine Harris criticized the trip.
“To think that black voters are associated with Donald Trump because he spent 20 minutes handing out giveaways at a fast food restaurant is yet another insult to our intelligence and an insult to Trump's outreach to black voters. “This is a perfect example of how dishonest the US continues to be,” Harris said in the paper. statement.
An AP-NORC Public Research Center poll found in March that 55% of Black Americans said they approve of the way Biden is handling his job as president, while 45% disapprove. However, a February poll found that black Americans had a favorability rating of Trump at just 25 percent.
The visit was not welcomed by some on campus and in the community. Montgomery condemned the criticism some students who appeared in viral videos with Trump received both on campus and online.
“They're claiming that students are mocking their own institutions and disrespecting their own ancestors. It's really, really bad,” Montgomery said.
