Black voter tells Trump MAGA slogan is 'tone deaf', asks him when he'll address the 'race problem' in America
President Donald Trump, during ABC News town hall on Tuesday night, September 15, was confronted by a Philadelphia-based Black pastor, who told him that the Republican's 'Make America Great Again' (MAGA) slogan was "tone deaf." Pastor Carl Day told Trump: "When has America been great for African Americans in the ghetto of America? Are you aware of how tone-deaf that comes off the African American community?"
The pastor also pointed out that the president had not acknowledged the race problem in the country. Trump then replied to him, saying: "Well I hope there's not a race problem. I can tell you, there's none with me."
The town hall, which was pre-taped in Philadelphia hours before the broadcast, saw undecided voters pose questions to Trump as ABC News' George Stephanopoulos moderated the Q&A. During the session, the pastor was identified as an undecided voter who had voted for Jill Stein in 2016, the presidential hopeful for a third party. Day, after his interaction with the president during the town hall, went on CNN later and said: "I'm definitely not voting Trump, I will say that."
The pastor said that he wanted to hear the Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden's plans for Black America before voting in November.
After Day's "tone deaf" jibe at Trump's MAGA slogan, the president defended it by pointing to public opinion polls. "Well, I can say this, we have tremendous African-American support," Trump said. "You've probably seen it in the polls. We've done extremely well with African-American, Hispanic-American at levels that you've rarely seen a Republican have. You look just prior to this horrible situation coming in from China when the virus came in, that was the - probably the highest point, homeownership for the black community, homeownership, lower crime, the best jobs they’ve ever had, highest income, the best employment numbers they’ve ever had."
The Republican then told the pastor that if he went back six or seven months "that was the best single moment in the history of the African-American people in this country, I think - I would say." When the pastor questioned Trump again on why does he use the MAGA slogan while describing the conditions of the "ghettos," with guns and drugs. "And we have not been seeing a change, quite frankly under your administration," Day said. "Under the Obama administration, under the Bush, under the Clinton, the very same thing happening."
Day, during the town hall, also pointed to Trump's recent controversial comments about police officers "choking," and told him that the Republican leader must address the race problem in the country. "You have yet to address and acknowledge that there's been a race problem in America," Day wrote. The president instead told the pastor that he hoped there was not a race problem in America "because I have great respect for all races, for everybody. This country is great because of it."
Trump, during the town hall, also boasted of his response to the coronavirus crisis, saying he had done a "tremendous" job on the virus and insisted that "it's going to disappear." He also pressed his anti-mask stance during the session, saying that "a lot of people think masks are not good."