While accepting the presidential nomination on the final night of the Republican National Convention, President Donald Trump touted his work with the Black community.
However, Valerie Jarrett, former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, took issue with his assertions about being a unifying figure, particularly his claim that he has "done more in three years for the Black community than Joe Biden's done in 47 years."
"I don't think there's any doubt if you look at the polling of his standing with the Black community, that they appreciate that actually what he has done is to fuel the separation of the Black community from the rest of our country," she alleged.
Trump's divisiveness predates his days as president, Jarrett said. The now-president had been a major proponent of the "birther" conspiracy theory claiming, without evidence, that Barack Obama, the first Black president, had not been born in the United States. She also noted other alienating behavior such as questioning the Black Lives Matter movement, taking an aggressive stance toward protesters, and telling four Democratic congresswomen of color "to go back to where they came from."
"We are smarter than that. No one's going to fall for that false rhetoric," Jarrett said.
The former official added that the president's attacks on his opponent Joe Biden do not address the divisiveness and purported failures he has created in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
"The challenge, I think, that President Trump has is, is that he's now running on a record. He's not the outsider anymore," Jarrett said.
Jarrett has been outspoken on Twitter, criticizing the president for holding part of the GOP convention at the White House and having officials perform their duties as part of the political event. For instance, Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf presided over a naturalization ceremony on the second night of the convention.
"When you're in the White House, you are the president for all of America, not just those who supported you," she said, while also expressing dismay at the large audience visible during the convention. "And to see that crowd without masks, without social distancing, violating all of the rules of the road from their own scientific advisers, just added insult to injury."
