The Congressional Black Caucus is not here for Donald Trump and his antics.
According to Politico, the political organization is expected to decline an invitation to meet with the celebrity-in-chief, as they refuse to be part of a photo-op for the media.
“No one wants to be a co-star on the reality show,” a Democratic aide said of the invitation.
Sources say, the CBC feels the administration has done nothing to further the priorities of the organization, which were highlighted back in March when the executive board first met with Trump.
What really put the nail in the coffin was an invitation that the 49-member group each received from Omarosa Manigault, Trump’s White House aide.
“As requested by the President, we would like to schedule a follow-up meeting with the entire membership of the Congressional Black Caucus to discuss issues pertinent to your members,” the invitation read, signed “the Honorable Omarosa Manigault.”
Several members of the CBC were not amused by Manigault’s decision to regard herself as “the Honorable” as “she hasn’t earned the title. According to the Washington Post, “Honorable” is usually used to refer to sitting members of the Congress, Cabinet officials and federal judges, not reality-star-turned-White-House-aides. Though Trump has chosen Manigault to reel in the black folks, the CBC feels she does little to nothing to bring forth their issues to the Donald, Politico reports.
On Wednesday, in the wake of the invitation and subsequent reports of the rejection, the organization’s chairman, Rep. Cedric Richmond wrote a letter to Trump formally decline their invitation.
“We took advantage of every opportunity to educate you on the needs of the Black community and provide you with the information and solutions necessary to act on them in good faith,” Richmond wrote. “Through an objective assessment, we have seen no evidence that your Administration acted on our calls for action, and we have in fact witnessed steps that will affirmatively hurt Black communities.”
“In fact, based on the actions taken by you and your Administration since that meeting, it appears that our concerns, and your stated receptiveness to them, fell on deaf ears,” he continued, detailing every action that directly affected the Black community.
“The CBC and the millions we represent have a lot to lose under your Administration,” Richmond said.
