Washington: There has been no bigger advocate of the Asian-American community than Donald Trump, the former president and Republican presidential candidate, his campaign has said.
The statement came on Wednesday, a day after a survey revealed that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris was leading against him by 38 points among the Asian-American voters.
“There has been no bigger advocate for the AAPI community than President Trump, as he created an environment where diversity, equal opportunity, and prosperity were afforded to everybody,” Steven Cheung, communications director of the Trump Campaign, told PTI.
Asian Americans, the fastest growing segment of the electorate, are expected to make up more than 6% of the eligible voters in November, including 1,44,503 eligible voters in battleground states. But in some particular swing states, like Nevada, where they constitute 11% of the population, they could make up the margin of victory.
The ad “The Seal,” which began airing Monday, criticizes Republican nominee Donald Trump’s using language like “kung flu” at the height of the pandemic — language that has been condemned by many in the Asian American community as “anti-Asian.” The ad compares his words to those of Harris, who says in a speech featured in the ad that Trump’s language promotes “xenophobia” and that he shouldn’t be allowed to again stand behind the “seal of the president of the United States.”
“When Trump called Covid the ‘kung flu,’ he unleashed a wave of hate against our community,” Terry Vo, Nashville Metro Council member and an Asian American community leader, says in the spot. “I was scared. People didn’t feel safe.”
A 2020 report by the nonprofit Stop AAPI Hate shows that 1,843 incidents were reported to the group from March 19 to May 13 of that year, the last of Trump’s term. In more than a quarter of such incidents, assailants invoked the words “China” or “Chinese” in their acts of discrimination. And in 17.5 percent of cases, they parroted the term “Chinese virus.”
In a statement, Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign senior adviser, said there has been “no bigger advocate for the AAPI community” than Trump.
“He created an environment where diversity, equal opportunity, and prosperity were afforded to everybody. Anyone who says otherwise is disgustingly using the AAPI community to play political games for their own benefit,” Cheung said. “The 2024 campaign is poised to build upon the strength and successes of Asian Americans during President Trump’s first term to propel him to a history second term victory.”
