Reporting From the Black Leadership Summit

Yesterday my wife and I attended Turning Point USA’s Black Leadership Summit, including a visit to the White House and a small dinner afterward. Like last year’s event, which I reported on here, it was an inspiring day.

The White House event took place in the East Room. It took an hour or so to get through security, but it was a beautiful afternoon in D.C. and the crowd was in a festive mood.

Candace Owens warmed up the crowd of several hundred African-Americans, predominantly young. She was her usual fiery and fact-filled self. Here, she denounces CNN and other media who lied about last year’s Summit, falsely describing those who participated as “paid puppets.”

Press coverage of this year’s Summit was predictably warped, as well. Jake Tapper is perhaps the best of the feeble Washington press corps, but like the others he is loyal to his party. His comment on the Summit was a foolish, snarky tweet to which Candace responded appropriately:


Do you remember Jake complaining about “your tax dollars at work” when Barack Obama held similar events at the White House? No, I don’t either.

Next, of course, came President Trump. He received a thunderous welcome–hundreds of young black Americans chanting “USA! USA! USA!” I don’t think any conservative–I wish I could say any American–could be part of that scene and keep a dry eye. I ineptly fumbled my attempt to video the president’s entrance, but here you can hear a small part of the president’s speech and the crowd chanting “Four more years!”

President Trump was joined on stage by a half dozen or so young African-Americans, whom he called on to speak at various points. The president was his usual ebullient self. In the East Room, you can see a speech’s script on three teleprompters, so it is easy to know when Trump goes off-script. Not that it is hard to tell, anyway–his riffs are funny and often irreverent.

In his speech, Trump made a powerful case for more black support. He reeled off the statistics that show how his administration has benefited blacks, as well as other minorities–record levels of employment, record low unemployment, rising wages, efforts to fight illegal immigration. But his case isn’t only statistical. Trump relates well to blacks, too. Watching his easy give and take with the audience yesterday, one can understand why Democrats worry that he could make serious inroads into their black vote totals next year.

At dinner later in the evening, we met a number of the young people who spoke during the East Room event. I sat next to the lovely young lady whom you can see over the president’s right shoulder in this photo:

She heads the Turning Point chapter at Texas State University, which the university’s student government voted to ban from the campus. We didn’t talk much about politics, however; mostly about food, learning to cook, and fishing.

My wife sat next to a young man from Cameroon, a legal immigrant, who served in the armed forces, is now in college and desperately wants to be a lawyer. He hopes to attend Harvard Law School. Also at our table were Rob Smith and comedian Terrence Williams. They are all outstanding young people.

If you want to feel better about our country’s future, attending a TPUSA Black Leadership Summit is a good place to start.

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