Anti-Donald Trump protesters made some bold claims about the president and his policies outside of Tuesday’s Students for Trump event in Phoenix.
Among the claims they made were that Trump is “anti-gay” and that he is oppressing African-Americans in order to perpetuate a system that “thrives on a low-wage earning class.”
One of the demonstrators who spoke with The Western Journal carried a sign that read “Facts and BLM.” According to that protester, Trump does not believe that black lives matter.
“Looking at policy, oppression, his reaction — what he generates tweets about, considering to the minimal amount of condemnation for these African-American men who are being killed. It seems like he’s much more interested in himself and his narcissism than he is about the people, particularly disenfranchised groups.”
When asked about what he meant by “oppression,” the protester further explained that Trump’s “minimum wage” policy was an example and that the president’s “system thrives on a low-wage earning class.”
“Looking at policy, oppression, his reaction — what he generates tweets about, considering to the minimal amount of condemnation for these African-American men who are being killed. It seems like he’s much more interested in himself and his narcissism than he is about the people, particularly disenfranchised groups.”
When asked about what he meant by “oppression,” the protester further explained that Trump’s “minimum wage” policy was an example and that the president’s “system thrives on a low-wage earning class.”
Minimum wage policies may, in fact, be a barrier to minority success, but not in the way that this protester was describing.
Raising the federal minimum wage would actually hurt many poor people, according to a 2019 Congressional Budget Office study, which determined that while raising it could help lift some low-wage workers out of poverty by increasing their earnings, other low-wage workers would lose their jobs, and in some cases, their family incomes would drop below the poverty threshold.
That wasn’t the only criticism levied against Trump in Phoenix on Tuesday, however.
Another protester claimed that Trump is an “anti-gay president.”
“He has done more to reverse gay rights in this country than any president in years,” the protester, who was holding a sign that read “Trump Hates gays,” told The Western Journal. “He has made one big issue of his campaign just reversing all of the anti-discrimination policies that Obama put in place and it’s really disheartening to see that he has spent so much energy in his campaign just undoing the successes of his predecessor.”
“He is angry because the Supreme Court ruled that my boss can’t fire me for being gay,” she added, referring to the court’s ruling earlier this month that federal law protects LGBT employees from discrimination.
But the president of the Broward Log Cabin Republicans, Andrew R. Brett, feels differently about the president.
In a January Op-Ed for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Brett, who is gay, explained why he believes “Trump is the most pro-gay president in U.S. history.”
Brett listed several examples of how Trump’s presidency has been “pro-gay.” As Brett noted, the Trump administration launched a global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality across the world; the president chose Richard Grenell, a gay man, to be ambassador to Germany; during his 2019 State of the Union Address, Trump called for Congress “to make the needed budget commitment to eliminate the HIV and AIDS epidemic”; the president promised to supply 200,000 Americans with access to free HIV-preventative medicines; and Trump nominated Patrick Bumatay, an openly gay Filipino man, to be a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Trump has made it clear, however, that he does not support restrictions on religious freedom.
For instance, his administration has proposed a new rule recognizing that if an adoption agency believes a mother and father are equally important to a child’s development, that agency should not be forced to compromise its values.
Trump highlighted the importance of religious freedom in an executive order he signed earlier this month.
“[O]ur Founders understood religious freedom not as a creation of the state, but as a gift of God to every person and a right that is fundamental for the flourishing of our society,” the order read.
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