The past few weeks have been rocky for President Trump. On Thursday, he had the vote for his American Healthcare Act get postponed, leaving him seemingly frustrated. As a result, the President went on and offered his Republican counterparts an ultimatum: To vote in his bill come Friday or face the disappointment as well as embarrassment that would stem from not replacing Obamacare. The replacement of the Affordable Healthcare Act had been one of the key campaign policies for the President. Come Friday, however, and the President chose to withdraw the vote after it became apparent he would not attain the numbers to pass it forward; a humbling experience. On this, he blamed the Democrats.
However, despite the apparent rejection of his proposed bill, President Trump has increased his societal acceptance in other areas, with numerous American citizens citing benefits from his Presidency. In the recent past, he has met the Congressional Black Caucus who cited significant progress concerning his choices and tenure.
On March 22nd, members of the group went to the White House for their first official meeting with President Trump. The meeting came five weeks after a reporter requested the President to assist the group to obtain a meeting with him concerning the recent budget proposal, which saw various government agencies and environmental groups suffer deep cuts in their funding. Group Chairman Cedric Richmond, had said that the plan of how the country would be funded over the next year was going to be “devastating” for the African American community. Mr. Richmond serves as the Democrat Representative for Louisiana.
In a statement to the press, Democrat Representative for California Karen Bass said that the meeting was a “positive first start” despite the group having raised “several areas of concern” regarding the Trump administration’s choices in governance. Among these concerns was how President Trump had depicted the African American community as “completely lawless” individuals. Also, key issues on which President Trump and the group had differences in was his budget plan, his proposed revving back of the Voting Rights Act as well as the increasing mass incarcerations for the members of the African American community.
Despite these few differences, an overall air of positivity and progress for the African American community was raised from the meeting. Mr. Richmond said that the meeting yielded more similarities in the view as to bringing improvements to African Americans’ lives than it made differences. Additionally, he stated that the President appeared “willing to have further engagement on a consistent basis,” citing the possibility of more talks in future which could consequently lead to higher living standards for African Americans everywhere.
Further, Richmond said that members of the Congressional Black Caucus agreed with President Trump’s sentiments that there needed to be an improvement on the country’s infrastructure. Also, they expressed their support towards the President’s plans to make inner-city neighborhoods “as safe as possible.” The President also said that History Black Colleges and Universities would be high on the priority list for funding, much of the group’s support.
The two flanks shared many common goals. However, the meeting showed that the President and members of the Black Caucus had differing views as to how a change would be implemented. Richmond explained that the President had a more lawful approach, while the group was in the view of implementing change through alternative programs that were constructive and gave members of the African American community different chances to excel. “His path as described was more on the lines of law and order; we offered one more of opportunity and summer jobs,” he said.
Besides, the group’s chairman also cited that President Trump had listened to their ideas and expressed his support towards them. The President did not make any promises towards them, although he notably added that President Trump had not heard most of these policies before. As such, he was likely to have to first make consultations on the issues.
Speaking about the two parties’ desire to see positive change in the lives of all Americans -African Americans in this context, Richmond said that both sides had a strong drive to improving these local communities. Additionally, the discussions did not appear to be succinct. Commenting on this, Richmond stated, “I don’t think it was terse at any time. I think that both sides are very passionate about how to get to the goals, but we were very firm in terms of our experiences and how we see the result.”
The group also discussed Trump’s current policies towards increasing security and America’s stand against terrorism. Democrat Representative for Indiana Andre Carson raised the issue of community policing, citing its importance as well as the value that Muslim Americans could hold. Carson explained that Muslim Americans “serve as our eyes and ears and speak up.”
Although the President did not agree with the African-American group concerning that particular issue, the group’s chairman said that members of the Congressional Black Caucus intended to express their beliefs fully. In a statement to the press regarding the meeting, he said, “That was not an area of agreement coming in, but it was something that had to be said from our standpoint because those are the things that we believe in.”
Over the years, President Trump has been criticized for his attitude towards members of the African-American community. In the past, Trump has held onto allegations that former President Barack Obama was not American by the fact that he was born in Kenya; these accusations were later discredited. Recently, he has also clashed with Democrat Representative for Georgia who is a civil rights leader.
In the bigger picture, Democrat Representative for Wisconsin Gwen Moore informed the press that the group made sure they told the President that “a lot of the policies he’s proposing will not only have an impact on African-Americans but a greater impact for those that voted for him.” The policies specifically affected those who were economically unstable.
Richmond went ahead to say that the two groups would continue working towards more communication and stated that they would continue to speak out on various issues. We’re not called ‘the conscience of the Congress’ for nothing. … It’s because we have the will to fight and follow our conscience,” he said.
However, this recent development with President Trump meeting representatives from the African-American community could mean that he is changing his public opinion about the group. The President has also held positive talks with veterans over the course of the week.
