By Bo Erickson
WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday highlighted top Black administration officials, rejected accusations of racism and promised “a century more” of success for African Americans during a White House celebration marking 100 years of Black History Month.
The president’s upbeat remarks stood in contrast to criticism of the administration’s ongoing efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The event also came nearly two weeks after an uproar over a social media post on the president’s account that featured a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as apes.
At the time, Senator Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, quickly called the video, “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.” The White House, despite growing outrage, initially defended the post, criticized the “fake outrage,” and then ultimately, deleted it.
The president said he didn’t see the clip of the Obamas, blamed a staffer for the post, declined to apologize and later said no one was disciplined.
Trump, who is in his second term, has a history of sharing racist rhetoric. He long promoted the false conspiracy theory that Obama, the president from 2009 to 2017, was not born in the United States. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a Wednesday briefing said members of the media have “smeared” the president as a racist.
On Wednesday, Trump warmed up the invite-only crowd of around 100 guests by floating compliments to notable Black Americans.
The president twice complimented Scott, the South Carolina senator, and welcomed to the podium multiple Black administration officials, including Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, who Trump called “exceptional,” former presidential rival and first-term Cabinet secretary Dr. Ben Carson, who Trump said would soon receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and White House pardon czar Alice Johnson, who Trump issued a pardon to in 2020.
“When I met her, I fell in love,” Trump said about meeting Johnson.
Trump was cheered as he discussed criminal justice reform from his first term and strict immigration enforcement policies in recent months. “It’s no wonder that in 2024 we won more African American voters than any Republican presidential candidate in history,” he responded.
Trump in the past year has been criticized for rhetoric targeting immigrant communities, including Somali Americans and immigrants of Latin descent, often framing them within broader arguments about crime, as he did on Wednesday by inviting a Washington, D.C.-area grandmother on stage whose grandson was killed in 2017.
Civil rights advocates and experts have also said Trump’s efforts to curb diversity programs and policies could erase decades of progress.
“He keeps it real, just like grandma,” Forlesia Cook said at the podium, thanking Trump for urging the National Guard to patrol the capital to keep up the tough approach to crime.
“I love him,” Cook said, as the president patted her back, “I don’t want to hear nothing you got to say about that ‘racist’ stuff…get off the man’s back. Let him do his job, he’s doing the right thing, back up off him!”
Trump, for a second day in a row, touted decades-long relationships with prominent Black Americans to discredit accusations of racism towards him. At the celebration event, the president complimented the loyalty of fighter Mike Tyson for defending him.
After the death of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson on Tuesday, Trump posted 11 photos online of himself next to Jackson and other Black celebrities, and wrote that “despite the fact that I am falsely and consistently called a Racist by the Scoundrels and Lunatics on the Radical Left, Democrats ALL, it was always my pleasure to help Jesse along the way.”
Following a chant of “four more years,” the president ended Wednesday’s event looking ahead.
“This is a very special group of people,” Trump said, “So happy Black History Month, happy Black History Year, and happy Black History Century.”
(Reporting by Bo Erickson, Steve Holland, and Bianca Flowers; Editing by Kat Stafford and Lincoln Feast)
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