Elections

Trump Doubles Down On 'What Do You Have To Lose' Pitch To Black Voters

During a criminal justice forum, the president took a victory lap for passing the First Step Act and made his pitch to black voters.

Trump Doubles Down On 'What Do You Have To Lose' Pitch To Black Voters
Bill Pugliano / Getty Images
Article by Jamal Andress
SMS
October 25, 2019

Last year, President Trump signed the First Step Act into law — arguably the largest criminal justice reform since the 1994 Crime Bill. Today, during a criminal justice forum the president took a victory lap for passing that legislation, jabbed at his democratic opponents and doubled down on controversial comments from the 2016 campaign trail. 

"I said to myself — probably shouldn't say it, but I'm going to say vote for me: What the hell do you have to lose? Do you remember that? What the hell do you have to lose? I said it," President Trump said. 

The Presidential Forum is taking place at Benedict College, a historically black college in Columbia, South Carolina. President Trump's visit is coming just days after he was roundly criticized for comparing Congress' impeachment probe to a lynching. 

But the president of Benedict College defended the decision to bring President Trump to campus, saying: "Changes in law and policy are made by leaders on both sides of the aisle. No political party owns the African American experience."

On Saturday and Sunday, 10 of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates are expected to speak at the 2020 forum, including Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.