Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) took to Fox Business ahead of the CNN debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, to proclaim that the former president is a great force for good in the Black community.
"President Trump is a harbinger of Black excellence," Hunt, who is Black, told host Larry Kudlow. He went on to tout his recent gathering with voters at a barbershop in Atlanta alongside his fellow guest, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), where Trump's mugshot from the Fulton County criminal case was on display; some of Trump's allies have bizarrely claimed that criminal charges could make Trump more relatable to Black people.
Commenters on social media were indignant at Hunt's claim.
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"The Central Park 5 beg to differ," wrote the account @sirDukeDevin, referring to an infamous episode from Trump's past in which he demonized in racially charged terms a Black group of joggers accused of a brutal rape but later found to be innocent.
"That he said this with a straight face is incredible," wrote the account @Gregnus__2024.
"The levels of cringe and secondhand embarrassment in this clip... Jesus Christ," wrote the account @JayNCtoDC.
"Trump is not invited to the cookout and neither are any of these men on the stage," wrote the account @TruWordsRSpoken.
The former president has sought to bolster his numbers with Black voters going into the 2024 election season. Among other things, he has touted the economic gains made by Black voters during his administration, even though Black unemployment is even lower now than it was while he was in office.
Hunt's associate Donalds, who hosted another Black voter outreach session in Philadelphia, came under controversy while there for seeming to suggest that Black families were stronger under Jim Crow, a sentiment he swiftly tried to disavow.