President Trump on Wednesday tore into former Vice President Joe Biden over his work on a 1994 crime bill during his tenure in the Senate, accusing him of setting black Americans back “big time.”
In a pair of tweets, Trump claimed that he has done more for the black community as president than Biden — or any president since Abraham Lincoln — ever has.
“In 3 1/2 years, I’ve done much more for our Black population than Joe Biden has done in 43 years,” Trump tweeted. “Actually, he set them back big time with his Crime Bill, which he doesn’t even remember.”
“I’ve done more for Black Americans, in fact, than any President in U.S. history, with the possible exception of another Republican President, the late, great, Abraham Lincoln…and it’s not even close,” he continued. “The Democrats know this, and so does the Fake News, but they refuse to write or say it because they are inherently corrupt!”
Trump’s tweets about his likely 2020 opponent for president come as the country has seen widespread civil unrest following the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed while in police custody in Minneapolis last month.
The president has faced severe backlash for his handling of the protests, especially after police aggressively cleared protesters from the area around the White House on Monday to pave the way for Trump to visit a nearby church for a photo op.
Biden sharply criticized Trump for his response to the protests on Tuesday and called for broad reforms to policing in the U.S.
But Biden’s work on the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act still remains an issue for the former vice president and Delaware senator. The measure has been widely blamed for leading to mass incarceration in the U.S. and worsening police practices in black communities.
Biden faced criticism for his work on the crime bill from a number of his rivals in the Democratic presidential primary contest. Even before he launched his campaign last year, he expressed regret for the measure, calling it a “big mistake” that “trapped an entire generation” of black Americans.
Black voters make up the most reliable coalition for Democrats, but for Biden especially, those voters carry particular weight. Throughout the Democratic primary, black voters in states like South Carolina helped propel the former vice president to the front of the pack after a lackluster start to the nominating contest in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.
Trump is seeking to make inroads with black voters in his bid for a second White House term.
But there is evidence that he has a tough road ahead on that front. A CBS News/YouGov poll released on Tuesday showed 50 percent of registered voters believe that, as president, has worked against the interests of black Americans, while 72 percent said that they believe Trump’s work in office has been more favorable to white people.
Meanwhile, 46 percent of respondents said that, if he’s elected president, Biden’s work would favor black Americans, while about 22 percent said that he would work against them.