President Trump on Monday scored an election-eve endorsement from Miami rapper Lil Pump, who posed for photos wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and a pro-Trump medallion necklace.
The 20-year-old musician, born in Miami to Colombian immigrants, is the latest high-profile rapper to back Trump as polls indicate rising support among Latino and black voters.
Lil Pump posted on Instagram a photo of himself in a “Trump 2020” hat, shirtless and flashing peace signs beneath a Trump flag held by four scantily clad women.
Trump adviser Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is dating Donald Trump Jr., posted a series of photos showing the fully clothed rapper in a MAGA hat with his “Trump 2020” bling on a thick gold chain. “#Realignment?” tweeted RealClearPolitics reporter Philip Wegmann.
On Thursday another prominent rapper, Lil Wayne, stunned fans by posting a photo of himself meeting with Trump. The 38-year-old New Orleans native also got behind Trump’s “Platinum Plan” for black Americans in a second term.
“Just had a great meeting with @realdonaldtrump @potus besides what he’s done so far with criminal reform, the platinum plan is going to give the community real ownership. He listened to what we had to say today and assured he will and can get it done,” Lil Wayne wrote.
Last month, Queens-raised rapper 50 Cent endorsed Trump, saying Democrat Joe Biden’s tax policies would make him “20 Cent,” though he later walked back his endorsement after ex-girlfriend Chelsea Handler publicly shamed him over the announcement.
Rap icon Kanye West visited the White House in 2018 and told Trump that wearing a MAGA hat made him feel like Superman.
Trump and Republicans have aggressively courted black and Latino voters this year, and polls indicate increasing support among Latinos in Florida is offsetting declining support for Trump among elderly voters in the crucial swing state.
The president said Monday at a rally in Scranton, Pa.: “To every black American, go tomorrow and vote for Trump. This is your one and only chance to show sleepy Joe Biden what you think of his decision to attack you, jail you and betray you, which is what he did.”
Biden, whose running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) would be the first black vice president, defeated Sen. Bernie Sanders in this year’s Democratic primaries with strong black support, but Trump frequently invokes Biden’s authorship of a 1994 crime law blamed for contributing to the “mass-incarceration” of minorities.
Trump also says black voters should consider Biden’s support for Mideast wars and his support for trade pacts that allowed outsourcing of jobs. Trump touts his own approval of funding for historically black colleges and “opportunity zone” perks for investing in poorer communities.
“In Florida the numbers are very high like nobody’s seen before with the black community and with the Hispanic American community,” Trump said in Scranton.
Trump has targeted Latino voters, especially from Cuba and Venezuela, with anti-socialism appeals and black voters with his record on criminal justice reform, particularly his passage of the prison and sentencing-reforming First Step Act of 2018.
Biden also has struggled with rude gaffes. In May, Biden walked back comments telling voters they “ain’t black” if they support a candidate other than him.
Trump said at the September event in Atlanta announcing his “Platinum Plan” that he will “create a national clemency project to right wrongful prosecutions and to pardon individuals who have reformed their life.”
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