Six days before Election Day, President Donald Trump stepped-up his criticism of Andrew Gillum, Florida’s gubernatorial candidate, in what some are describing as a racially incendiary attack.
Trump called Gillum a “thief” without any evidence whatsoever to support his accusations. Trump also claims Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, Florida, is in charge of one of America’s “most corrupt cities.”
Gillum is trying to become Florida’s first African-American governor and leads his opponent former Rep. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, by five points, according to The New York Times.
Trump, who is backing DeSantis, appears desperate to make sure Gillum is defeated in the Nov. 6 mid-term elections, which includes tweeting that Gillum “a thief” for no legitimate reason.
Trump has a penchant for lying, concocting bizarre theories, and making up scenarios that completely misrepresent the facts. Trump is playing racial politics — again. He’s clearly trying to scare Florida voters by claiming, without proof, that Gillum, a black man, is unsavory.
To Gillum’s credit, he wasted no time responding to Trump and he mocked Trump for using social media to attack him.
“On Twitter there is a choice between having the courage to @ the person you are trash talking, or not,” Gillum wrote. “@realDonaldTrump is howling because he’s weak. Florida, go vote today,” Gillum tweeted.
Meanwhile, DeSantis, has blasted Gillum’s decision to accept a ticket to see the Broadway show “Hamilton” in 2016 from a group that included an undercover FBI agent. DeSantis has also questioned whether a trip Gillum took that year to Costa Rica with his wife, along with lobbyist and longtime friend Adam Corey and his associates, was appropriate. Gillum has said he paid his own way.
Gillum, nor anyone connected with him, has been charged with a crime and Gillum said the FBI has told him he is not a focus of the probe. And there is no evidence that Gillum is a “thief” as Trump suggests, which borders on slander.
On Monday, during an appearance on Fox News, Trump doubled down on his attack on Gillum.
“The FBI offered him tickets at $1,800 apiece and he took them — he took a trip with the same FBI agent— I guess he was posing as a developer or something — the man stone cold took this stuff,” Trump said.
Here is Gillum’s response: : “I heard @realDonaldTrump ran home to @FoxNews to lie about me. But as my grandmother told me — never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it. So ignore him and vote, Florida!”
With early voting already underway, Florida voters will hopefully see through Trump’s thinly-veiled charade – and perhaps Democrats will turn out in record numbers.
Singer Pharrell Williams isn’t happy with Trump.
Trump played Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy” at a rally hours after the Tree of Life congregation shooting in Pittsburgh that claimed the lives of 11 people.
Williams is angry and asked his lawyer to send Trump a cease and desist letter.
“On the day of the mass murder of 11 human beings at the hands of a deranged ‘nationalist,’ you played his song ‘Happy’ to a crowd at a political event in Indiana,” attorney Howard King wrote in the letter to Trump. “There was nothing ‘happy’ about the tragedy inflicted upon our country on Saturday and no permission was granted for your use of this song for this purpose.”
Last week, Trump signed a proclamation to create a national monument in Kentucky to honor the African-American soldiers who fought in the Civil War. The 380-acre site in pays tribute to the 23,000 Black troops who fought for the Union in Kentucky.
“During the war, thousands of enslaved African-Americans risked their lives escaping to Camp Nelson, out of a deep desire for freedom and the right of self-determination,” Trump said.
Since Trump was elected president in 2016, he has reversed social policies that benefited African-Americans, insulted Black people at every turn, and abolished policies created by former President Barack Obama that were designed to uplift people of color.
Is Trump’s proclamation a legitimate effort to honor African-American soldiers or a shameless political stunt by Trump to bolster support for Kentucky’s Republican candidates days before the mid-term elections?
Trump is trying hard to prevent immigrants from entering the U.S. and now he’s making a seemingly unlawful promise to end birthright citizenship. Trump’s hardline approach to immigration comes just days before the Nov. 6 mid-term elections where Democrats challenging Republicans in several close races across the country.
Trump is making immigration a key campaign issue by promising his base that he will end the right to citizenship for the children of non-citizens and unauthorized immigrants born in the United States.
There’s already a question of whether Trump’s vow is actually legal.
“We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in, has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits,” Trump said in an interview for “Axios on HBO.”
“It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end,” Trump said.
Trump’s tough vow comes as the administration has ordered the deployment of 5,200 troops to protect the U.S. southern border from a “caravan” of about 4,000 immigrants traveling through Mexico to reach the U.S.
Trump says that “unknown Middle Easterners” are part of the caravan and heading to the U.S. – another unsupported declaration by Trump.
Here’s how The New York Times put it:
“The unsubstantiated charge marked an escalation of Mr. Trump’s efforts to stoke fears about foreigners and crime ahead of the Nov. 6 vote, as he did to great effect in the presidential race. Mr. Trump and other Republicans are insistently seeking to tie Democrats to unfettered immigration and violent crime, and in some instances this summer and fall they have attacked minority candidates in nakedly racial terms.”
That’s right on point.
What do you think?
PHOTO: AP
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