Democrat Hillary Clinton called on Friday for voters to reject what she called the "bigotry" of Donald Trump's White House campaign, releasing a television ad criticizing his efforts to appeal to black voters and saying she was reaching out to people from all parties who are troubled by his candidacy.
The ad shows video of Trump's controversial pitch to black voters, in which the Republican candidate urges them to support him by asking, "What do you have to lose?" It also shows headlines about a racial discrimination lawsuit the New York real estate mogul faced in the 1970s.
In an episode early in Donald Trump’s career, his New York real estate company was sued by the federal government for discriminating against potential black renters. After a lengthy legal battle, it ultimately agreed to wide-ranging steps to offer rentals to nonwhites.
The little-remembered case provides crucial context for the current discussion centering on Trump and race. The celebrity businessman made news last month when he declared, “I have a great relationship with the blacks. I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks.”
He has recently come under fire for attacks on President Obama that critics have described as racially tinged. CBS anchor Bob Schieffer, for example, said Wednesday there is “an ugly strain of racism” in Trump’s recent (baseless) accusations that President Obama should not have been admitted to Columbia. Also yesterday, Trump told a black reporter, unprompted, “Look I know you are a big Obama fan.”
The discrimination case began in the earliest days of Trump’s career, when he was still in his 20s.
Fred Trump, Donald’s father, was, unlike his son, a self-made man. He made his fortune by building thousands of units of middle-class housing in Brooklyn and Queens. But in the early 1970s, Donald was made president of the family company.
One of Donald’s first challenges came in October 1973, when the Justice Department hit the Trump Organization with a major discrimination suit for violating the Fair Housing Act. The Times reported:
… the Government contended that Trump Management had refused to rent or negotiate rentals “because of race and color.” It also charged that the company had required different rental terms and conditions because of race and that it had misrepresented to blacks that apartments were not available.
The journalist Gwenda Blair reported in her 2005 Trump biography that while Fred Trump had sought to combat previous discrimination allegations through “quiet diplomacy,” Donald decided to go on the offensive. He hired his friend Roy Cohn, the celebrity lawyer and former Joseph McCarthy aide, to countersue the government for making baseless charges against the company. They sought a staggering $100 million in damages.
A few months after the government filed the suit, Trump gave a combative press conference at the New York Hilton in which he went after the Justice Department for being too friendly to welfare recipients. He “accused the Justice Department of singling out his corporation because it was a large one and because the Government was trying to force it to rent to welfare recipients,” the Times reported. Trump added that if welfare recipients were allowed into his apartments in certain middle-class outer-borough neighborhoods, there would be a “massive fleeing from the city of not only our tenants, but communities as a whole.”
Clinton's presidential campaign said the ad, released a day after she gave a speech accusing Trump of fuelling America's "radical fringe," would air in the hotly contested states of Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Her campaign also said on Friday that President Barack Obama will appear in Pennsylvania on Sept. 13 to promote her candidacy.
Clinton followed up her tough speech by saying on Friday that Trump's temperament and divisiveness made him unfit for the White House.
"I am reaching out to everyone, Republicans, Democrats, independents, everyone who is as troubled as I am by the bigotry and divisiveness of Donald Trump's campaign," she told MSNBC, adding she was asking "fair-minded Americans to repudiate this kind of divisive demagoguery" at the Nov. 8 election.
Clinton delivered the speech in the middle of a difficult week for her campaign, as the release of new emails from her time as secretary of state revived criticism of her decision to use a private address and server rather than a government one.
The emails also stoked scrutiny of her family's charitable foundation, including accusations that major corporate and foreign donors gave money in hopes of securing more access to then-Secretary Clinton. Her campaign says no donors received any special favours.
Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer told MSNBC Clinton was only talking about Trump and race this week to deflect attention from that controversy.
Trump countered her rhetoric on Friday by releasing a video showing Clinton in the 1990s discussing a crime bill and referring to "super-predators," or at-risk youth she said needed to be brought under control. The video also shows U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton's main opponent in the Democratic primary this year, calling that phrase a "racist term."
CONTROVERSIAL STATEMENTS
In targeting what she terms Trump's bigotry, Clinton hopes to remind voters of controversial statements he has made over the course of the campaign. Those include describing some Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists, suggesting a judge could not be fair because of his Mexican-American heritage, and proposing a temporary ban on Muslim immigration to combat terrorism.
Trump has tried to sidestep these dust-ups by saying Democrats have failed minorities with their economic policies. On the campaign trail, Trump has begun asking what black voters have to lose by supporting him, saying they are living in poverty and attending failing schools.
Jennifer Hochschild, a professor at Harvard University who focuses on race and immigration, said she did not think Trump could fix his relationship with black and Hispanic voters.
"General cluelessness about racial dynamics will diminish any possible black support that comes from Trump's emphasis on job creation," Hochschild said in an email. "And Clinton has a lot of deep roots among black politicians."
Trump also has been criticized for vowing to deport millions of people living in the United States illegally. In recent days, he had appeared to hold out the possibility of toning down his hardline stance, although his precise plans on immigration have been harder to pin down.
On Thursday, he denied he would loosen his proposed immigration restrictions.
"I don't think it's a softening," Trump told CNN. "I've had many people say it's a hardening, actually." He said he was still weighing what would become of the 11 million people already in the country illegally.
Further Reading
Donald Trump calls U S President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton the co-founders of ISIS
Trump ignites firestorm with remarks on gun rights, Clinton
Slain US soldier serving his country , Parents mocked by Donald J Trump ,It's just Wrong Wrong Wrong !
America’s greatness doesn’t depend on Donald Trump, says Obama
US tech leaders criticise Donald John Trump, Sr.in open letter
The ad shows video of Trump's controversial pitch to black voters, in which the Republican candidate urges them to support him by asking, "What do you have to lose?" It also shows headlines about a racial discrimination lawsuit the New York real estate mogul faced in the 1970s.
In an episode early in Donald Trump’s career, his New York real estate company was sued by the federal government for discriminating against potential black renters. After a lengthy legal battle, it ultimately agreed to wide-ranging steps to offer rentals to nonwhites.
The little-remembered case provides crucial context for the current discussion centering on Trump and race. The celebrity businessman made news last month when he declared, “I have a great relationship with the blacks. I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks.”
He has recently come under fire for attacks on President Obama that critics have described as racially tinged. CBS anchor Bob Schieffer, for example, said Wednesday there is “an ugly strain of racism” in Trump’s recent (baseless) accusations that President Obama should not have been admitted to Columbia. Also yesterday, Trump told a black reporter, unprompted, “Look I know you are a big Obama fan.”
The discrimination case began in the earliest days of Trump’s career, when he was still in his 20s.
Fred Trump, Donald’s father, was, unlike his son, a self-made man. He made his fortune by building thousands of units of middle-class housing in Brooklyn and Queens. But in the early 1970s, Donald was made president of the family company.
One of Donald’s first challenges came in October 1973, when the Justice Department hit the Trump Organization with a major discrimination suit for violating the Fair Housing Act. The Times reported:
… the Government contended that Trump Management had refused to rent or negotiate rentals “because of race and color.” It also charged that the company had required different rental terms and conditions because of race and that it had misrepresented to blacks that apartments were not available.
The journalist Gwenda Blair reported in her 2005 Trump biography that while Fred Trump had sought to combat previous discrimination allegations through “quiet diplomacy,” Donald decided to go on the offensive. He hired his friend Roy Cohn, the celebrity lawyer and former Joseph McCarthy aide, to countersue the government for making baseless charges against the company. They sought a staggering $100 million in damages.
A few months after the government filed the suit, Trump gave a combative press conference at the New York Hilton in which he went after the Justice Department for being too friendly to welfare recipients. He “accused the Justice Department of singling out his corporation because it was a large one and because the Government was trying to force it to rent to welfare recipients,” the Times reported. Trump added that if welfare recipients were allowed into his apartments in certain middle-class outer-borough neighborhoods, there would be a “massive fleeing from the city of not only our tenants, but communities as a whole.”
Clinton's presidential campaign said the ad, released a day after she gave a speech accusing Trump of fuelling America's "radical fringe," would air in the hotly contested states of Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Her campaign also said on Friday that President Barack Obama will appear in Pennsylvania on Sept. 13 to promote her candidacy.
Clinton followed up her tough speech by saying on Friday that Trump's temperament and divisiveness made him unfit for the White House.
"I am reaching out to everyone, Republicans, Democrats, independents, everyone who is as troubled as I am by the bigotry and divisiveness of Donald Trump's campaign," she told MSNBC, adding she was asking "fair-minded Americans to repudiate this kind of divisive demagoguery" at the Nov. 8 election.
Clinton delivered the speech in the middle of a difficult week for her campaign, as the release of new emails from her time as secretary of state revived criticism of her decision to use a private address and server rather than a government one.
The emails also stoked scrutiny of her family's charitable foundation, including accusations that major corporate and foreign donors gave money in hopes of securing more access to then-Secretary Clinton. Her campaign says no donors received any special favours.
Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer told MSNBC Clinton was only talking about Trump and race this week to deflect attention from that controversy.
Trump countered her rhetoric on Friday by releasing a video showing Clinton in the 1990s discussing a crime bill and referring to "super-predators," or at-risk youth she said needed to be brought under control. The video also shows U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton's main opponent in the Democratic primary this year, calling that phrase a "racist term."
CONTROVERSIAL STATEMENTS
In targeting what she terms Trump's bigotry, Clinton hopes to remind voters of controversial statements he has made over the course of the campaign. Those include describing some Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists, suggesting a judge could not be fair because of his Mexican-American heritage, and proposing a temporary ban on Muslim immigration to combat terrorism.
Trump has tried to sidestep these dust-ups by saying Democrats have failed minorities with their economic policies. On the campaign trail, Trump has begun asking what black voters have to lose by supporting him, saying they are living in poverty and attending failing schools.
Jennifer Hochschild, a professor at Harvard University who focuses on race and immigration, said she did not think Trump could fix his relationship with black and Hispanic voters.
"General cluelessness about racial dynamics will diminish any possible black support that comes from Trump's emphasis on job creation," Hochschild said in an email. "And Clinton has a lot of deep roots among black politicians."
Trump also has been criticized for vowing to deport millions of people living in the United States illegally. In recent days, he had appeared to hold out the possibility of toning down his hardline stance, although his precise plans on immigration have been harder to pin down.
On Thursday, he denied he would loosen his proposed immigration restrictions.
"I don't think it's a softening," Trump told CNN. "I've had many people say it's a hardening, actually." He said he was still weighing what would become of the 11 million people already in the country illegally.
Further Reading
Donald Trump calls U S President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton the co-founders of ISIS
Slain US soldier serving his country , Parents mocked by Donald J Trump ,It's just Wrong Wrong Wrong !
America’s greatness doesn’t depend on Donald Trump, says Obama
US tech leaders criticise Donald John Trump, Sr.in open letter
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