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Days ahead of election, Lil Wayne met with President Trump to discuss 'Platinum Plan'

3 years 5 months 3 weeks ago Friday, October 30 2020 Oct 30, 2020 October 30, 2020 9:23 AM October 30, 2020 in News
Source: ABC News

Award-winning rapper Lil Wayne met with President Donald Trump on Thursday to discuss the President's proposed ' Black Economic Empowerment "Platinum Plan,' according to ABC News

The 38-year-old New Orleans native took to social media after his meeting with Mr. Trump and spoke highly of their discussion, calling it "great."

The rapper met with the President at the Trump National Doral Miami resort, according to White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere.

As a business mogul, Trump was an icon in hip-hop music for more than three decades and rappers, including Lil Wayne, praised his wealth and power in their lyrics.

But when Mr. Trump became a politician, his status in the hip-hop industry took a nosedive.

Lil Wayne, who name dropped Trump in songs like "Racks on Racks," rapping, "get money like Donald Trump," vocally supported Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.

And despite Thursday's meeting with the current Commander in Chief, Wayne did not say he's voting for Trump in the upcoming election.

As stated at the outset of this article, Wayne's discussion with Mr. Trump centered around the President's plan for Black America, which the President made public in late September. 

Mr. Trump touched on certain aspects of the plan during a rally in Atlanta, explaining that among other things, it would build up "peaceful" urban neighborhoods with the "highest standards" of policing, bringing fairness to the justice system, expand school options, increase Black home ownership, and create a "national clemency project to right wrongful prosecutions and to pardon individuals who have reformed their (lives)."

The plan proposes making lynching a national hate crime and recognizing Juneteenth, which is the widely observed holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, as a federal holiday.

The Trump Administration, hoping to garners support from Black voters, has been using the plan to illustrate the distinction between his interest in the African American community and Joe Biden's proposals.

According to CNN, during a September rally in Atlanta, Mr. Trump spoke about the benefits of his Platinum Plan and argued that, in contrast, Biden has "inflicted" damage on the Black community over the last 47 years he's spent working in Washington.  

But the President's relationship with members of Black America may be in need of repair, according to a recently released Monmouth University survey.

The survey revealed that 82% of Black respondents had a negative view of the way President Trump handled the Black Lives Matter protests that unfurled across the US this past summer.

When the police-involved killing of George Floyd sparked demonstrations across the country, with protesters speaking out against police brutality and racism, the President sought to console Black Americans who have lost loved ones as a result of police violence.

But some, unable to take comfort from his words, instead criticized Mr. Trump for using words such as "thugs" and "anarchists" when referring to demonstrators. 

So, while the President's recent meeting with Lil Wayne went smoothly, it remains to be seen how people of color across the nation will respond to the Platinum Plan and its creator at the polls on November 3. 

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