President Donald Trump responded to being called the “first racist president” by again comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln.
“I’ve done more for Black Americans than anybody, with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln. Nobody has even been close.” He made the remark as he left a press conference.
READ MORE: Mary Trump says Trump is ‘virulently racist,’ has used racial slurs
Twitter exploded with commentary after the comments were made.
Many believed that the comparison was ill-informed and that Trump might be confused about who Lincoln was and what he did for Black people in America.
Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The document declared the end of enslavement for “all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states.
According to the National Archives, “It applied only to states that had seceded from the United States, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy (the Southern secessionist states) that had already come under Northern control.”
Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, called out Trump’s racism during a town hall with union workers where he highlighted how the president continues to refer to COVID-19 as “the China Virus.”
Biden said, “The way he deals with people based on the color of their skin, their national origin, where they’re from, is absolutely sickening. No sitting president has ever done this.”
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“Never, never, never. No Republican president has done this,” Biden continues. “No Democratic president. We’ve had racists, and they’ve existed. They’ve tried to get elected president. He’s the first one that has.”
Biden continued, “And the way he pits people against one another is all designed to divide the country, divide people, not pull them together.”
Following Biden’s remarks, his campaign released a statement from his senior adviser, Symone Sanders, saying, “There have been a number of racist American presidents, but Trump stands out — especially in modern history —because he made running on racism and division his calling card and won.”
Katrina Pierson, a Trump campaign senior adviser, responded by saying that Trump, “loves all people, works hard to empower all Americans, and is supported by more Black voters than any Republican presidential candidate in modern history.”
READ MORE: Susan Rice calls Trump’s White House ‘racist to its core’
Biden is not alone in his opinion.
A Washington Post opinion piece from early this July, written by Jennifer Rubin, a former labor attorney, highlighted some of Trump’s racially-charged rhetoric since even before his presidency.
The piece was simply called, “Let’s not mince words. Trump is racist.”
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s new podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!