Former President Donald Trump surprised some conservatives by trumpeting an endorsement from a Black Lives Matter leader.
On his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump promoted the support of Mark Fisher, a BLM leader in Rhode Island.
Fox News this week highlighted Fisher’s comments from an interview he gave earlier this month. Fisher referred to the Democratic Party as a “racist party,” and added that Trump was the “opposite.”
“Trump has done more for the black community than any president I can think of in my lifetime,” said Fisher.
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Fisher added that many voters are “misinformed” about Trump. “Personally, I love the man,” said Fisher. [If you’re a] real man, how could you not relate to someone like that?”
In response, Trump, in a post including video of Fisher’s comments, said on Wednesday, “Spoke with Mark Fisher yesterday, a great guy, very honored to have his and BLM’s support.”
“I have done more for Black people than any other President (Lincoln?), including 10-year funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, where they had none, Opportunity Zones, Criminal Justice Reform, and much more. Thank you to Mark!”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized the frontrunner in the GOP primary, saying BLM’s backing of Trump “makes perfect sense.”
“BLM praising Donald Trump — and Trump celebrating it — makes perfect sense,” DeSantis said on X (formerly Twitter). “When BLM was burning down cities and assaulting police officers in cities across this country, Trump did nothing but sit in the White House tweeting ‘LAW & ORDER!’
“We did it differently in Florida. I didn’t just tweet. I took action and called up the National Guard. We were not going to let our cities burn. As President, I will not sit idly by and watch rioters torch American cities,” DeSantis added.
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Other conservatives were perplexed.
RedState columnist Bonchie posted on X: “Honored to have BLM’s support? Nothing matters. Remember when we used to cancel politicians like [Sen.] Mitt Romney who spoke well of BLM?”
Conservative journalist Jordan Schachtel added, “At this point he can come out as a full blown communist and will still maintain a 50 point lead.”
Podcaster and former NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch said on X, “So you welcome the support of BLM, the same group that spent a couple years looting and burning, the group that just celebrated the attacks on 10/7?”
The BLM chapter in Rhode Island also immediately distanced itself from Fisher.
The group claimed on X that Fisher was not and never was affiliated with BLM, and added his comments “do not reflect the values or beliefs” of BLM.
Gary Dantzler, the current head of BLM in Rhode Island, told the Providence Journal that he was “really disgusted” by Fisher’s endorsement of Trump. He also claimed Fisher was “trying to hijack the BLM movement of RI.”
“Mark Fisher stated he was one of the co-founders of BLM,” said Dantzler. “Absolutely not. He was a respected advocate for BLM. That’s it. And he was paid and somewhere he got fired and demoted.”
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