At a rally in Hershey, PA Thursday night, president-elect Donald Trump called for the largely white crowd to cheer for all the “smart” black Americans who “didn’t come out to vote” for Hillary Clinton this election. And cheer they did.
“We did great with women,” Trump said, shouting out his biggest fans. “We did great with the African-American community, so good. Remember the famous line—because I talk about crime, I talk about lack of education, I talk about no jobs, and I’d say, ‘what the hell do you have to lose?’ It’s true.
“And they’re smart and they picked up on it like you wouldn’t believe and you know what else? They didn’t come out to vote for Hillary. They didn’t come out. And that was a big thing, so thank you to the African-American community,” he continued, I imagine largely because he can.
(Trump ultimately took home about eight percent of the African American vote nationwide, compared to Hillary Clinton, who bested him by about 80 percentage points. Still, turnout dropped dramatically compared to the ‘08 and ‘12 elections, just one of a myriad occurrences that contributed to Clinton’s stunning loss.)
The rally Thursday was part of Trump’s so-called “victory tour,” staged officially to thank voters who supported him, though advisers have explained anonymously that Trump is mostly just addicted to the big cheering crowds. And the majority-white crowd at Hershey—which helped Trump become the first Republican to win the state since ‘88—was happy to oblige.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the rally also featured a slightly-less racist “20-minute recap of Trump’s election night win with the crowd cheering as the president-elect slowly ticked off his victories state by state, mixing in rambling criticisms of incorrect pundits and politicians from both sides of the aisle.”
Sounds like a real show. You can watch it below, or do literally anything else: