Today’s the day. Who’s backing who?
Summary
In the days before the election, several controversial Trump endorsements have emerged.
- Pennsylvania newspaper The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette endorsed Donald Trump on Saturday. This is the first Republican candidate the paper has endorsed since 1972. The newspaper cited Trump’s progress on economic and clean energy issues, and said that Biden was “too old” and “fragile” to handle the job as president.
- In the past month, Trump has also secured endorsements from celebrities including Brett Favre and Michael Orr.
- Trump’s “Platinum Plan” for race produced an endorsement from several hip-hop stars, including Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, Ice Cube, and Lil Pump. The Platinum Plan includes policies for Trump to create jobs and opportunities for people of color in the United States. Despite backlash from African Americans, these celebrities have stated that it is important to put Trump’s explicit efforts to support race issues are more valuable than politics. NBC Montana reports that the Trump campaign has spent more than $20 million during this election cycle to recruit prominent black voices as spokespeople for the GOP.
- Yesterday, Beyonce, Eminem, and Lebron James endorsed Joe Biden. Both celebrities have implicitly endorsed the Biden in the past, but avoided an official endorsement until yesterday.
- As of election day, 47 major newspapers have endorsed Biden and 7 have endorsed Trump.
- Blasts the Post-Gazette for its endorsement of Donald Trump, calling it “a sad day…for the Free Press.”
- Raises questions about other celebrity endorsements of Trump. CNN reports that Michael Orr, who endorsed Trump last week, may not be an American citizen and implies that he has no business endorsing a presidential candidate.
- Pushes back against black celebrities who have endorsed Trump. Newsweek amplified a post by 50 Cent which poked fun at Eminem’s support of Biden and Lil Wayne’s of Trump, while Daily Beast and Rolling Stone report that Trump accepted an endorsement from Lil Pump without knowing or respecting him.
- Supports the Post-Gazette‘s endorsement. Fox News writes that Trump has consistently put America first, and lauds the newspaper for putting politics aside to give its first GOP endorsement in decades.
- Blasts left-wing celebrities who undermine black Trump supporters, including John Legend, Chelsea Handler, and 50 Cent (who changed his tune shortly after endorsing Trump last month).
- Amplifies Trump endorsements. The Blaze wrote a long-form article about Michael Orr’s endorsement, which said that Trump is “the kind of teammate” he would want to play with.
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© Evelyn Torsher, 2020
