The presumptive Republican nominee took a moment out at his mostly-white rally to claim he has 'tremendous support' from African-Americans.
"Oh, look at my African-American over here. Look at him," Trump said, as he pointed out a gentleman in the audience. "Are you the greatest?"
According to CNN, Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said Trump was "just referring to a supporter in the crowd, there's no ill will intended, obviously." She added Trump was "grateful for this person's support."
CNN also reports that Hicks dismissed the suggestion that Trump's use of the possessive "my" to refer to the supporter was racist, saying such a charge was "ridiculous."
She might want to ask African-Americans how they feel about being referred to in the possessive before dismissing it out of hand. While I'm certain there was no ill will, there was more than a small amount of white privilege oozing.
Twitter response was fast:
Trump thinks that if you're a black dude at his rally, he owns you https://t.co/nNGWdDlB5D
— (((Brendan Karet))) (@SpideyScouting) June 3, 2016
Sounds awfully like an auctioneer: Trump in California: "Look at my African American over here" https://t.co/FqSo65P4Nu
— Philip Gourevitch (@PGourevitch) June 3, 2016
No sooner did that idiot @SpeakerRyan sign on to the Trump train, then it jumps clean off the tracks. Awesome. https://t.co/siMrdsTowZ
— Shoq (@Shoq) June 3, 2016
