GLAAD has documented Donald Trump’s anti-LGBTQ history, including anti-Black policies and efforts to limit Black progress in America in the decades before and during his presidency. Trump’s full anti-LGBTQ record is available in GLAAD’s Trump Accountability Tracker. GLAAD voter surveys show that racial equality is a top issue for LGBTQ voters and an ongoing concern for Black voters, Black LGBTQ voters and allies, and people of color and faiths. Trump’s record on race includes:
After leaving office:
2024 — Trump claims that black people like him because he has faced discrimination in the justice system, which is something they can relate to. Trump said that black Americans have shown their support for him by accepting merchandise with his face on it. 2024 — Trump promises to encourage mass incarceration, incentivize law enforcement to engage in unconstitutional policing practices, and expand the death penalty if re-elected. These expected policies would disproportionately impact marginalized communities, especially black communities, who are far more likely to suffer police abuse. 2023 — Trump repeatedly states that illegal immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” a term reminiscent of the rhetoric of white supremacists and Adolf Hitler. The phrase “poisoning the blood of our country” has a deep racist and anti-Semitic history and comes as some Republicans openly support the once-minority and racist “white replacement theory.”
Presidency (2017-2021)
2020 — Thousands of protesters calling for justice for George Floyd and against racism and police brutality were removed from the park in front of the White House in a coordinated military crackdown. President Trump used police officers from multiple agencies to provide security as he walked to St. John’s Church and held up a Bible surrounded by five white advisers for a campaign photo op. Religious leaders described the act as hypocritical and obscene. 2020 — According to current and former U.S. government officials, President Trump has argued in off-guard moments with senior aides that black Americans are primarily to blame in their fight for equality, hindered more by a lack of initiative than by social obstacles. 2020 — After a call with Jewish lawmakers, according to officials, President Trump tweeted that Jews were “just doing it for themselves” and were “united” in ethnic loyalties over other loyalties. 2020 — He ordered aides to review racial sensitivity training at federal agencies and to refrain from mentioning “white privilege.” 2020 — Trump denounced Black Lives Matter as a “symbol of hate” while defending the armed white extremists who broke into the Michigan Capitol, the right-wing activists who brandished weapons from a pickup truck in Portland, and the white teenager who shot and killed two protesters in Wisconsin. 2020 — Georgia election workers “terrorized” with threats after 2020 election — Allies of the then-Republican president were among those who saw a mob gather at the home of Ruby Freeman, a Black woman and former Georgia election worker. Freeman falsely accused her of helping to steal the 2020 election and labeled her a “professional voter fraudster.” 2020 — Trump revived his birtherism President Trump said Kamala Harris, who is Black and South Asian, “does not meet the requirements” to be vice president and running mate for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. 2020 – President Trump called COVID-19 the “China Virus” and the “Kung Fu Flu.” The World Health Organization recommends against linking the virus to a specific geography because it can lead to bias. 2019 – President Trump complained about the impeachment inquiry, likening it to a lynching, infuriating many Black people and Democrats. 2018 – The week after white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, President Trump repeatedly said “many sides” and “both sides” were to blame for causing the violence and chaos, suggesting that white supremacist protesters were morally equivalent to counter-protesters against racism. He also said some white supremacists were “very fine people.” In 2018, Trump spoke about immigration at a bipartisan conference, reportedly asking, “Why are all these people coming here from these shitty countries?” in reference to Haiti and African countries. He also reportedly suggested the US should accept more people from countries like Norway. In 2017, Trump Tweeted He argued that several black and brown members of Congress, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), “come from countries where their governments are completely broken” and should “go home” to those countries. Three of the four members of Congress targeted by Trump were born in the United States. In 2017, Trump called Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) “Pocahontas,” using her controversial, and later retracted, claim of Native American ancestry as a punchline. In 2017, Trump signed an executive order banning Syrian refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries (Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen) from entering the country for 90 days. The ban took effect immediately on Friday afternoon, causing chaos and mayhem at airports across the country, with many people being detained. Large protests took place at dozens of major U.S. international airports. In 2017, President Trump repeatedly attacked NFL players who protested systemic racism in the United States, including by kneeling during the national anthem. In 2017, President Trump reportedly said that people who came to the United States from Haiti “all have AIDS” and lamented that people who came to the United States from Nigeria “will never go back to their huts” if they see the United States. The White House denied that President Trump ever made these comments.
Pre-Presidential:
2016 – Trump appointed Steve Bannon, chairman of Breitbart News, a media website responsible for spreading anti-Muslim content, as CEO of his campaign. He also appointed General Mike Flynn, who has deep ties to organized anti-Muslim hate movements and has previously claimed that Islam is a “cancer,” as his (first) National Security Advisor. 2016 – Trump argued that Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was presiding over the Trump University case, should recuse himself from the case because he is of Mexican descent and a member of the Latino Bar Association. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who supported Trump, later called the remarks “classic racist remarks.” 2016 – In an attempt to highlight his support from African-Americans, Trump pointed to a black supporter in the crowd and said, “Oh, look at my African-American right here. Look at him.” 2015 – Trump called Mexican immigrants “rapists and murderers” during his opening campaign for the presidential election. “Mexico is not sending the best people. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people who have a lot of problems, and we’re bringing them. We’re bringing drugs. We’re bringing crime. We’re bringing rapists. And I think there are some good people out there.” 2015 – During a rally in Newton, Iowa, Trump said he would “definitely put in place” a database system to track Muslims. 2015 – During a rally in Birmingham, Alabama, Trump called for “surveillance of certain mosques” and claimed he saw “thousands and thousands of people” cheering the 9/11 collapse of the World Trade Center. 2015 – During a rally in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, Trump made a statement calling for a “total and complete ban on Muslims coming into the United States until our representatives figure out what the hell is going on.” 2015 – Trump demands that Obama release his college transcripts, claiming that Obama may not have been a good enough student to get into Columbia or Harvard Law School. Trump claims, “I heard he was a terrible student. Terrible. Terrible. How does a terrible student get to Columbia and then Harvard?” Trump has never released his transcripts and has taken significant steps to keep them from being made public. 2015 – In an interview with Fox News, when asked if all Muslims should be barred from the United States, Trump responded, “There’s a disease. They’re a sick people. There’s a disease going on. There’s a population of people who are very sick. We have to find the answers. And Muslims can help us find the answers.” In 2015, Trump pitched his candidacy to African-American voters by asking them tough questions. “What have you got to lose?” “We live in poverty, our schools are bad, we have no jobs, and 58% of our young people are unemployed. What have you got to lose?” In 2012, Trump tweeted his support for the surveillance of Muslims in the United States. “The head of the NYPD acted wisely and lawfully to monitor the activities of some of our Muslim communities. Vigilance keeps us safe.” In 2011, Trump founded the Birthalism movement in reaction to Barack Obama’s historic presidency. Speaking at a conservative conference, Trump falsely claimed, “Our current president came out of nowhere. He came out of nowhere. In fact, if you take it a step further, the people who went to school with him have never seen him or know who he is. That’s crazy.” In 2016, Trump acknowledged that President Obama was born in the United States. 2010 – In an interview with Late Night host David Letterman, Trump spoke about the Park 51 Islamic Community Center in Manhattan and suggested that the United States was at war with Muslims. Letterman asked, “Does this actually suggest that the United States is officially at war with Muslims?” to which Trump replied, “Well, somebody took down the World Trade Center… somebody’s blowing us up. Someone’s blowing up buildings, somebody’s doing a lot of bad stuff.” 2005 – Trump pitches the idea of a “race war” on the then-popular reality show The Apprentice, which would have pitted two winning teams of black contestants against a winning team of white contestants for the title, but a barrage of criticism killed the idea. 2000 – Trump believes that a proposed casino by the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe poses an economic threat to the Atlantic City casinos, so he secretly runs a series of ads implying that the tribe has a “record of criminal activity.” [that] It’s well documented. ” In 1991, Trump’s criticism of black accountants was quoted in a book by John O’Donnell, former president of Atlantic City’s Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino: “A black man counting my money! I hate him. The only person I want counting my money is a short guy who wears a yarmulke every day. I think that guy is lazy. It’s probably not his fault, because laziness is a black trait. I really do. I believe it. It’s not something they can control.” Trump later said in a 1997 Playboy interview, “What O’Donnell wrote about me is probably true.” In 1989, following a horrific rape case in which five black and Latino teenagers, then known as the Central Park Five, were wrongly convicted, Trump took out full-page ads in four New York newspapers, including The New York Times, calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty. In 2002, the convictions were vacated and the death penalty was given a new name: the “Five Innocent.” Trump has refused to apologize. 1973 – Donald Trump and his father, the late Fred Trump, fight a discrimination lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice for refusing to rent apartments in predominantly white buildings to black tenants. The settlement that ended the lawsuit did not require the Trumps to explicitly admit that discrimination had occurred, but the government’s explanation of the settlement stated that Trump and his father “failed and neglected” to comply with the Fair Housing Act.
According to a GLAAD voter poll:
As the presidential and key congressional elections approach, LGBTQ registered voters are more motivated, with 94% saying they will definitely (83%) or probably (11%) vote in November. 72% feel the current state of political discourse in our country is negatively impacting their mental health and emotional well-being.
