PHILADELPHIA: Donald Trump made two speeches on Saturday, urging Christian supporters to go to the polls for him one last time and courting Black voters in Philadelphia by promising to fix a city “ravaged by bloodshed” even as data shows a decline in violent crime.
If elected in November, the Republican presidential candidate told a rally of several thousand at Philadelphia’s Temple University, he would give police “immunity” to do their jobs and “surge” federal resources to cities battling violence.
Trump dismissed as “fake” FBI statistics that showed a continued drop in levels of violent crime and murder across the country in the first three months of 2024, and accused Democratic President Joe Biden of lying about the data.
“Under crooked Joe Biden the City of Brotherly Love is being ravaged by bloodshed and crime,” Trump said in an arena in a historically Black neighborhood, addressing an audience more diverse than a typical rally, but still largely white.
“Under the Trump administration we are going to bring law and order and safety back to our streets.”
The promise to fight crime was part of a larger pitch to Black and Hispanic people, who form more than half the city’s population. The Trump campaign has been encouraged by some opinion polls showing he may be gaining ground with these voters this election cycle.
As he often does, Trump portrayed migrants in the country illegally as dangerous and burdensome. He claimed, without citing evidence, that they were taking jobs from Black and Hispanic workers. –Agencies
