Donald Trump to Minority Voters: ‘What Have You Got to Lose?’

During his speech Tuesday night in Austin, Texas, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump intensified his attacks on the Clinton Foundation while also addressing border security in the broader sense of what it means for Americans’ job security.

It turned into a pitch to African-American voters:

All citizens deserve to be protected. No American left behind.

I want every African-American parent in this country—and all parents in this country—to be able to raise their kids in safety.

And I want to ensure every African-American child in this country—and all children in this country—are put on the American ladder of success: a good education, and a good-paying job.

We are going to have school choice, charter schools, and merit-pay for teachers. My opponent, Hillary Clinton, discriminates against African-American students by opposing school choice because she is owned and paid for by the education bureaucracy.

No one owns me. I answer only to the American people.

In a New York Post column, Deroy Murdock published data confirming what I’ve been saying about the devastating economic conditions in the African-American communities. Murdock confirms these facts:

“The overall labor force participation rate for black Americans has slipped from 63.2 percent to 61.2 percent — down 3.2 percent.

This metric also slumped for black teenagers, from 29.6 percent to 27.7 percent — down 6.4 percent.

The percentage of black Americans in poverty has grown under Obama, the Census Bureau reports, from 25.8 percent in 2009 to 26.2 percent in 2014—up 1.6 percent.

The number of blacks on Food Stamps soared under Obama—from 7.4 million in 2009 to 11.7 million in 2014—up 58.2 percent.

Also, from Obama’s arrival through last June 30, the percentage of black Americans who own homes plunged from 46.1 to 41.7 percent, the Census reports—down 9.5 percent.”

Nearly four in 10 African-American children live in poverty. Fifty-eight percent of young African Americans are not employed.

Homicide is up nearly 50 percent in Washington D.C. and up more than 60 percent in Baltimore. Violent crime rose 17 percent in the fifty largest U.S. cities.

This is the legacy of President Obama and Hillary Clinton.

To those suffering I say: What do you have to lose by trying something new?

Let me also tell you what you have to gain: more jobs, higher wages, and a massive reduction in the terrible crime plaguing our inner cities.

We are going to turn it all around. Success must be created for everyone, and available to everyone.

That is how we are going to create a new American future.

Trump dovetailed those comments into a critique of Hillary Clinton on immigration, an issue that is important to Texas—the state with the largest portion of the U.S. border with Mexico. He also discussed his opponent’s plans to expand Syrian refugee access to the U.S.:

According to the Texas government, nearly 200,000 illegal immigrants were booked into Texas jails between 2011 and 2016. Collectively, those arrested were responsible for more than half a million criminal offenses, including 1,055 homicides, 5,516 sexual assault charges and more than 50,000 charges of either burglary or theft.

Yet, Hillary Clinton wants a totally, completely open border.

She wants catch-and-release.

Obamacare for illegal immigrants.

Massive amnesty in her first 100 days.

She wants to gut immigration enforcement.

She supports Sanctuary Cities.

She wants to let people overstay their visas without removal.

One lawless order after another.

We must not let it happen.

Hillary Clinton also wants a 550% increase in Syrian refugees. There have been hundreds of immigrants and their children charged with terrorism inside the United States since 9/11, and a number of terrible attacks like the Boston Bombing, San Bernardino and Orlando. Yet Hillary Clinton wants to fling open the floodgates even wider.

I want to create safe zones in the Middle East. My plan suspends visas when we can’t perform effective screening, and it puts forward a new ideological screening program to keep out people from our country who don’t support our values. After all, that is what taking the oath of citizenship is all about.

This election will decide whether or not we have a border.

This election will decide whether or not we have a country.

Trump then pivoted to the issue of Clinton’s perceived pay-for-play tactics involving the Clinton Foundation during her tenure as secretary of state. Once again, he was able to connect the issue of immigration with his criticisms of Clinton:

Today I met with the moms of American children killed by illegal immigrants as a result of the policies Hillary Clinton supports. Hillary Clinton will never meet with these families, she will never hear these stories.

These are all forgotten Americans—they are not Hollywood or media stars, or big money special interest donors.

She is bought-and-paid-for by the special interests.

This corruption relates closely to another corruption scandal that strikes at the heart of our Democracy. Every day more and more alarming facts come out.

The scandal I speak of is the State Department’s Pay-For-Play Scandal under Hillary Clinton.

If our Secretary of State can be bought, or bribed, or sell or trade government favors, then the whole American system is threatened.

It is a threat to the foundation of Democracy itself. This is what happens in a Third World country. It’s the failed conditions people flee when they come to America.

America can never elect a candidate who, like Hillary Clinton, did government favors for those giving her family and her foundation massive amounts of cash.

The new revelations about Hillary Clinton’s email scandal make clear we have only seen the tip of the iceberg.

Hillary Clinton is desperate to cover-up her crimes. That’s why she deleted 33,000 emails. That’s also why she lied repeatedly to Congress and the American public.

She said she never sent or received classified materials.

That was a lie, proved over and over again.

She claimed she used an insecure email server for the convenience of using only one device. But she used multiple devices.

Another lie.

Under penalty of perjury, she said she turned over all of her work-related emails. But the FBI found thousands she never turned over, and now just found another 15,000 more.

Another Clinton lie.

She said she sent nothing marked classified.

A total lie, unmasked to the world. And more to come.

She said her server was secure, and had no breaches. But we know now it was completely unsecure, and the FBI Director said it could easily be hacked by our foreign enemies.

More Clinton lies.

Clinton said her lawyers reviewed all of her emails before destroying them.

One more Hillary Clinton lie.

Lie after lie after lie.

Hillary Clinton is unfit to hold public office.

The speech was notable because it happened in front of a packed house—in a state where he was handily defeated in the GOP primary by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texan who has yet to endorse the New York businessman. Several thousand people filled the arena to capacity.