FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Timothy K. Rusch, tim@fitzgibbonmedia.com
New York, NY – Last night, the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee, Mitt Romney, appeared with entrepreneur and reality TV star, Donald Trump, at two fundraisers in Las Vegas. These appearances followed a birthday party that Trump held for the presidential candidate’s wife last month. Together the three events were estimated to raise more than $2.5 million for Romney’s campaign.
Given Romney’s effort during the Republican primaries to distinguish himself from his opponents by appearing fair-minded and rational, his recent embrace of Trump is perplexing. Last year, Trump catapulted himself to leadership in the birther movement, demanding that President Obama show him his birth certificate. Trump continues to express doubt about President Obama’s birthplace even now, despite the refusal of all trustworthy news outlets to treat the racially-tinged accusation as a legitimate news story.
The following is a statement from ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson:
“Just last week, Americans viewed photos from Mitt Romney’s visit to a predominately Black school in West Philadelphia. This week we watch Romney clasping hands in Las Vegas with Donald Trump, a man who finds it impossible to believe that President Obama is a natural-born U.S. citizen. In wholeheartedly embracing Trump’s endorsement, Romney is expressing a level of hypocrisy that is disappointing to all voters who value inclusion and the diversity this nation has to offer.
“Trump’s agenda is to drive Americans apart by drumming up race-based fears. As we saw in Trump’s tweets leading up to last night’s fundraiser, he is urging Romney to embrace this racist conspiracy theory as a tactic to win the presidential election. And by bringing him into the fold as a key fundraiser, Romney appears to be actively seeking the support of Trump’s fringe birther followers.
“On one hand, Romney says he wants to serve all Americans in the White House. But by aligning himself with Trump, he’s using his platform to lend credibility to outrageous and offensive questions about President Obama’s citizenship. ColorOfChange calls on Romney to publicly disavow the use of race as a wedge issue and to distance himself from Donald Trump immediately.”
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With more than 800,000 members, ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest Black online civil rights organization.