JACKSON, Miss. — Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) stood at Donald J. Trump’s side Wednesday night as the Republican presidential nominee made a pitch to black voters, urging them to abandon a Democratic Party that he argues has failed them.
“Hillary Clinton is a bigot who sees people of color only as votes, not as people,” exclaimed Trump as Sen. Sessions, former UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani looked on.
“It’s time to give Democrats some competition for the African-American and Hispanic vote,” Trump said. “What do you have to lose by trying something new?”
It was the latest overture in a concerted effort by Trump to woo minority votes away from Mrs. Clinton. NBC polls have seen Trump’s support among black voters fluctuate between 6 and 10 percent, but the billionaire mogul believes he will garner a much higher percentage of the minority vote. He has also predicted he will win 95 percent of the black vote in his 2020 re-election bid.
Trump has at times softened his rhetoric on immigration in recent days, but Wednesday night he was back to his hardline self — which undoubtedly pleased Sen. Sessions — prompting “Build That Wall” chants to envelop the crowd.
“Hillary Clinton does not believe in America first,” Trump said. “We will protect your job from illegal immigration and a broken visa system. We will rebuild roads and bridges and infrastructure, and we will do it with our companies and our steel and our labor.”
The stop in Mississippi was part of a swing through the South designed to fire up Mr. Trump’s base and raise money. The campaign raised over a million dollars at the Mississippi stop alone.
Sen. Sessions has been a fixture on the campaign trail and on Sunday morning talk shows while the U.S. Senate has been on its summer recess. Along with Mr. Giuliani, a fellow “law and order” politician, he has been the most high-profile Trump surrogate in recent months.
This week the group has been joined by Mr. Farage, who led UK’s “Brexit” movement to leave the European Union.
“If I were an American citizen, I wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton if you paid me,” Mr. Farage said during an Austin, Texas, event, although he declined to officially endorse Mr. Trump because he was critical of President Obama’s attempt to influence the Brexit vote in the U.K.
Trump has drawn comparisons between the Brexit vote and the U.S. presidential race, saying both represent opportunities for “the People” to take their countries back from “globalists.”
“Tonight is about redeclaring our independence in this country,” Trump declared as Sen. Sessions nodded approvingly.
(h/t Clarion-Ledger)
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