Trump Says He's 'The Least Racist Person In This Room' At Final Presidential Debate
US President Donald Trump declared, yet again, that he’s the “least racist person” while responding to a question on race in America during the final presidential debate on Thursday opposite Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
In making his statement to Kristen Welker, the first Black woman to moderate a presidential debate since 1992, Trump attempted to backpedal on his hateful rhetoric toward Black Americans.
Welker challenged Trump for calling the Black Lives Matter movement a “symbol of hate,” for tweeting a video of a Florida supporter chanting “white power” and for slamming Black athletes for exercising their First Amendment rights, asking him what he has to say to people who argue that his comments are contributing to a climate of racial violence.
Trump claimed that his “first glimpse” of Black Lives Matter “was a terrible thing,” citing a 2015 protest march in which some involved shouted “Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon” about police officers.
That protest, held by a Black Lives Matter group in St. Paul, Minnesota, was “an independent entity not affiliated with the national Black Lives Matter organisation,” as reported by CNN, and there’s “no evidence the chant has been used by the national organisation, by any Black Lives Matter groups in the New York City area, or by Black Lives Matter activists anywhere outside Minnesota.”
Continuing his response to Welker’s question, Trump offered the jaw-dropping comment: “As far as my relationships with all people, I think I have great relationships with all people. I am the least racist person in this room.”
Donald Trump tells a Black woman he’s the least racist person in the room. #Debates2020pic.twitter.com/HRiwIG5ToD
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) October 23, 2020
Welker continued to press Trump, asking again what he says to Americans who are concerned by his words and actions. He avoided the question, instead saying he didn’t “know what to say” and that people...
