With days to go until the election, a Black Voices for Trump function in Ohio on Friday night represented one of the last chances for the Trump campaign to win over Black voters in the state.
Unfortunately for Trump, the event in Cleveland, a city with a population of 383,000, drew a total of 20 people.
It didn’t seem to bother Katrina Pierson, a senior advisor to the Trump campaign who as Trump’s former spokesperson, has echoed conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton and criticized women who accused Trump of sexual assault.
“We have a leader in Donald Trump who has kept promises he didn’t even make,” Pierson told the audience.
Pierson did not elaborate on how that would work, but did offer an optimistic take on Trump’s re-election chances.
“The numbers right now look phenomenal,” Pierson said, despite all evidence to the contrary.
“Early voting … it’s not looking so great for the Democrats. Have you heard about that? You won’t read about that. But it’s true.”
Trump won 8% of the Black vote in 2016, compared to Mitt Romney’s 6% in 2012, and Joe Biden is expected to win the overall Black vote convincingly. But polling suggests a generational gap, with Trump’s support among younger Black people having increased since 2016.
At the Cleveland event, held in a dimly lit campaign office in the east of the city, five of the attendees appeared to be white people, with
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(@MsGailWilson)@KatrinaPierson and @JaRonSmith45 kicking off #BlackVoicesforTrump homestretch event in Cleveland, Ohio! pic.twitter.com/1bghuXEqhV
“As a black person, it’s the things that he has done specifically that will effect Black people positively,” said Lawrence Hill, 58.
“He’s supported all black colleges and universities,” Hill said. “Obama really didn’t try to do anything to help our black colleges and universities.”
Trump has claimed he “saved” Historically Black colleges and universities – higher education facilities established prior to 1964 with a mission to educate Black Americans – by allocating permanent funding. Fact checkers have pointed out that while Trump did sign a bill drafted by Democrats and Republicans, the amount of funding allocated to HBCUs has changed little from Barack Obama’s presidency.
Still, Hill predicted a groundswell of support for Trump come Tuesday.
“There’s an undercurrent of Black people who are going to come out and support our president. I’ve met more this year than I’ve ever met in my life,” Hill said.
“Hispanic and black voters, we are the ones who are going to to turn this thing out.”
