President Trump expressed skepticism that reparations for the descendants of slaves would be successfully implemented, despite the latest push by some Democrats.
“I don’t see it happening,” the president said to Saagar Enjeti and Jordan Fabian, in an exclusive interview with The Hill.tv.
“I think it’s a very unusual thing,” Trump continued. “You have a lot of — it’s been a very interesting debate. I don’t see it happening, no.”
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties held a hearing last week about H.R. 40, a reparations bill. The topic has earned attention in the 2020 presidential race, with Al Sharpton having asked Democratic candidates if they support them.
When he testified at the hearing that reparations would render young black people “victims without their consent,” 23-year-old black columnist Coleman Hughes drew some boos from the audience and was called “presumptive” by Democratic Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen.
“We would insult black Americans by putting a price on the suffering of their ancestors,” Hughes said, “and we would turn the relationship between black Americans and white Americans from a coalition into a transaction, from a union between citizens, into a lawsuit between plaintiffs and defendants.”
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren went so far as to promise reparations for LGBT couples last week.
