President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence plan to use Atlanta as a launching pad for his new African American coalition with a Friday rally at the Georgia World Congress Center.
What We Know:
- The AJC reports that Trump will kick off the Black Voices for Trump Coalition initiative at 3 p.m. Friday at the downtown Atlanta convention center after a high-dollar fundraiser in Buckhead to support U.S. Sen. David Perdue.
- POTUS is expected to highlight statistics that show low unemployment rates for black workers and allege that he’s the reason, though raw data shows that the unemployment rates began to fall under President Barack Obama and only continued to fall under the current administration.
- Trump will also tout an opportunity zone program that is designed to encourage investors to pump money into struggling areas.
- Trump’s campaign picked Atlanta for his rollout because of its role as an epicenter of black life and the region’s fast-growing African American population, according to a senior White House official. Vice President Mike Pence is also set to address the crowd.
- Trump’s visit to Atlanta, first reported last month, will start with a roundtable discussion that will cost supporters $100,000 to attend. It follows with a luncheon that will run attendees $2,800 — and a donation of at least $35,000 for a photo with the president.
- A recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed that only 4% of African Americans think Trump’s actions and policies have benefited black people.
Trump was slow to denounce white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., and he called Haiti and countries in Africa ‘shithole countries.’
Black News Alerts will provide full coverage of the event and provide updates in the BNA app and blacknewsalerts.com
