President Trump blamed the news media for a poll released Tuesday that found that 80 percent of African-Americans surveyed consider him a “racist.”

“The fake news doesn’t report it properly, people like you. Fake news does not report it properly,” Trump told reporters gathered outside the White House.

Trump was asked for his reaction to the Quinnipiac University poll taken in the wake of the president’s latest Twitter attacks against Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. Cummings is black and represents a mostly black district, which Trump described as “a rat and rodent infested mess.” Overall, the poll showed 51 percent of Americans believed Trump to be racist while 45 percent said he was not. The president was asked to comment on the polls’s finding that only 11 percent of African-Americans agreed he as not a racist.

“If the news reported properly, you know, the right way, like instead of a statement like you just made,” Trump told the reporter who asked about the poll, “if the news reported it properly of all of the things I’ve done for African-Americans, of all of the things like criminal justice reform, like opportunity zones, I think I’d do very well with the African-Americans and I think I’m doing very well right now and frankly if I didn’t do very well relatively speaking as a Republican, I mean, we should be way, way over 50 percent, but if you look back over 40 years it just doesn’t work that way. If I didn’t do well relatively speaking, I wouldn’t be president right now. But if you look at what I’ve done for African-Americans it’s more than almost all presidents.”

In the 2016 presidential election 88 percent of African-Americans voted for Hillary Clinton and just 8 percent supported Trump.

27 PHOTOSPresident Trump's North Carolina Rally on July 17, 2019See GalleryPresident Trump's North Carolina Rally on July 17, 2019El presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, señala a la multitud a su llegada para hablar en un mitin de campaña en el Williams Arena de Greenville, Carolina del Norte, el miércoles 17 de julio de 2019. (AP Foto/Carolyn Kaster)El presidente Donald Trump llega al escenario de la Arena Williams en Greenville, Carolina del Norte, el miércoles 17 de julio de 2019. (Foto AP/Carolyn Kaster)President Donald Trump gestures to the crowd as he arrives to speak at a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)A baby is held high in the audience as President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)A protester yells while President Donald Trump speaks a a campaign rally in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)A baby is lifted into the air as President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)President Donald Trump is greeted by Vice President Mike Pence as he arrives to speak at a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)A supporter of President Donald Trump waits for the start of a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)People in the audience cheer as President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)President Donald Trump salutes as he arrives to speak at a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C., Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)GREENVILLE, NC – JULY 17: Supporters of President Donald Trump applaud during a Keep America Great rally on July 17, 2019 in Greenville, North Carolina. Trump is speaking in North Carolina only hours after The House of Representatives voted down an effort from a Texas Democrat to impeach the President. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)A supporter of the US president holds a sign reading “women for Trump” as she attends a “Make America Great Again” rally at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, North Carolina, on July 17, 2019. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP)(Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)Supporters of the US president attend a “Make America Great Again” rally at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, North Carolina, on July 17, 2019. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP)(Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)A supporter of the US president takes a photo as she attends a “Make America Great Again” rally at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, North Carolina, on July 17, 2019. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP)(Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)US President Donald Trump speaks at a “Make America Great Again” rally at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, North Carolina, on July 17, 2019. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP)(Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)Supporters of the US president attend a “Make America Great Again” rally at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, North Carolina, on July 17, 2019. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP)(Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)GREENVILLE, NC – JULY 17: President Donald Trump shakes hands with Mike Pence, U.S. Vice President, as he takes the podium before speaking during a Keep America Great rally on July 17, 2019 in Greenville, North Carolina. Trump is speaking in North Carolina only hours after The House of Representatives voted down an effort from a Texas Democrat to impeach the President. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)US President Donald Trump pumps his fists as he arrives for a “Make America Great Again” rally at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, North Carolina, on July 17, 2019. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP)(Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)Supporters of the US president attend a “Make America Great Again” rally at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, North Carolina, on July 17, 2019. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP)(Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)Up Next

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Earlier in the day Trump gave a speech in Jamestown, Va., honoring the birth of democracy in the New World in which he cited the contributions and struggles of the African-American community.

“Today, in honor, we remember every sacred soul who suffered the horrors of slavery and the anguish of bondage,” Trump said in a speech that was interrupted by a heckler protesting his call for Democratic members of congress to “go back” to the countries they descended from. “In the face of grave oppression and grave injustice, African-Americans have build, strengthened, inspired, uplifted, protected, defended and sustained our nation from its very earliest days.”

Trump has repeatedly lashed out against minority office-holders who have criticized him, putting racial politics in the spotlight ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump’s first tweets targeting Cummings came on Saturday, one day after Cummings gave impassioned remarks at an evening news conference with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and fellow Democrats following the testimony given by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Asked Tuesday whether his attacks on Cummings and other minorities in Congress were part of a larger re-election strategy, Trump demurred.

“There’s no strategy, I have no strategy, there’s zero strategy,” Trump said.

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