Trump: ‘I Have Done More for the Black Community Than Any Other President — Other Than Perhaps Abraham Lincoln’

During an interview that aired on Tuesday’s broadcast of Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” President Donald Trump boasted about his achievements for the Black community, noting strides made for historically black colleges and universities and the economy.

Trump compared his tenure to former President Barack Obama, the country’s first Black president, and argued he had done more for the Black community than any previous U.S. president with the notable exception of Abraham Lincoln.

Partial transcript as follows:

TRUMP: So, one reason is, they didn’t care. They never even tried to get criminal justice reform, which is a big deal.

And I got it. And nobody else was able to get it. And I don’t think anybody else could’ve gotten it. And they never really tried. They never really helped the black colleges and universities. They call them historically black colleges and universities.

They never — they never helped. And these wonderful people, like, 40 people, 42 people would come up, the heads of each college. And after two years of seeing them, I say: “Why do you people keep coming back? Why are you continuing to come back?”

“Well, we have to come back and ask for money.”

I said: “Every year, you have to ask for money? Every year? That’s not — that’s terrible.”

And one man said something. A wonderful guy in charge of one of the colleges, the head person at one of these really good colleges, said to me: “Yes, they make us feel like beggars, because, every year, they make us come back for money.”

“And you have been doing this for years?”

They said: “Yes, sir, we have been doing this for years.”

I said: “We have to give you long-term financing. And we have to give you a number that’s higher than you’re asking for.”

And I did that. And Obama could have done that, too, but he didn’t. He could’ve done that. And he could’ve possibly at least tried criminal justice reform. He didn’t even try.

I have done more for the Black community than any other president, other than perhaps Abraham Lincoln. And I will tell you, when you look at what we did with Tim Scott on Opportunity Zones, it’s incredible, the jobs that we are producing for African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans.

But the jobs that we are producing — Tim Scott is incredible. The jobs that we are producing, it was an idea that Tim had, and we took it. And we made it into an incredible thing, where jobs are being done. And areas that haven’t been invested in, in decades are being brought back. It’s an incredible thing to see.

And we did these things. And Obama didn’t do it. And this mostly helps the minority communities, the black community. It’s incredible, what has happened. It’s actually incredible, some of the things we have done.

And we have tremendous African-American support. I will tell you that, Sean, tremendous.

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