The surging economy under Trump, participant R.C. Maxwell said, “should be the single most important issue for the black community.”
In his remarks Friday in the East Room, Trump at various points called the boisterous and enthusiastic crowd “leaders,” “special people,” and an “ambitious group.”
“One day one of you is going to be standing … right here,” the president said, maybe even several. “I have no doubt.”
Many in the audience sported one of Trump’s signature red “Make America Great Again” caps during this segment of Turning Point USA’s 2018 Young Black Leadership Summit.
When Trump asked who wanted to be president of the United States, a sea of cheers and raised hands with smart phones responded.
The next day, less than 2 miles away at the Liaison Hotel on Capitol Hill, The Daily Signal had the opportunity to ask some of the summit attendees about their thoughts on the president’s remarks.
Charlie Kirk, founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, said he wholeheartedly agreed with Trump that this was an ambitious bunch.
“The amount of students that wanted to come and run for office or be president was amazing,” Kirk said in a sit-down interview. “We need a nation of dreamers again. Because when you’re dreaming, then you’re not being a victim and … you’re going to be a victor.”
During his speech, Trump touted statistics from his tenure so far, particularly those showing the lowest unemployment levels for blacks, black women, and black youth since the government began keeping track.
The president speculated that many of those present had been attacked in the past for expressing conservative beliefs.
“The worst tendency in our politics is to tell people what they should believe based on their race, or religion, or color or creed,” Trump said.
‘Nature of the Beast’
James Boone, 32, of Bowie, Maryland, told The Daily Signal on Saturday that he found the president’s characterization to be accurate.
“It’s the nature of the beast,” Boone, a government contractor, said. “You’re supposed to be oppressed, you’re supposed to be victimized by things that … didn’t happen in your lifetime.”
Trump also told his audience of young black Americans that they “are demanding a better kind of politics,” where they wouldn’t be attacked for standing up for what they believe in.
More than 400 young people from age 15 to 35 attended the summit, which ran Thursday to Sunday. Turning Point USA, a conservative education organization that targets millennials, provided lodging and some meals at no expense to attendees.
Maxwell, 30, of Los Angeles, worked as a staffer at the summit. He told The Daily Signal that he agrees with the president’s characterization of the political climate for black Americans.
“I’ve been assaulted before at rallies just for speaking out against illegal immigration,” Maxwell said Saturday, adding that he was wearing a Trump hat at the time.
He was punched, pushed, and pepper-sprayed, Maxwell said.
“I think if I were a white Trump supporter, it would not have been so vitriolic,” he said...Read More HERE
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