About three weeks from the 2024 U.S. presidential election, online users discussed a 13-second video showing former U.S. President Donald Trump speaking to a crowd. According to posts on X, Trump purportedly asked whether the crowd preferred a Black president or a white president, then remarked, "I think they want the white guy." However, those posts lacked some context.
For example, in one post on Oct. 14, Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign shared the clip on the @kamalahq rapid response account on X (archived). The text caption read, "Would you rather have the Black president or the white president? I think they want the white guy." Other users on X also shared the same video. The posts — including previous Harris campaign posts on Instagram (archived), Facebook (archived) and TikTok (archived) — included no details about where or when Trump made the remark.
Trump did not outright say, as the Harris campaign's onscreen caption read, "Would you rather have the Black president or the white president? I think they want the white guy." Instead, the brief video featured him speaking the same words but also mentioning a dollar figure, saying, "Would you rather have the Black president or the white president who got $1.7 billion off the price? I think they want the white guy right now."
The brief video lacked some context from a story Trump had told seconds before. Also, the setting of the speech was in front of a Black conservative group. Further, as of October, the clip was months old and did not directly reference Harris. At the time Trump made the comment, President Joe Biden was still seeking reelection.
The Context of Trump's Words
Trump originally delivered the remark during a speech at the Black Conservative Federation Honors Gala. The BCF website describes the group as "the premier hub for Black conservatives throughout the country." The event took place at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center in Columbia, South Carolina, on Feb. 23, 2024.
While telling a story about Air Force One and the call sign for when a U.S. president is aboard the aircraft, Trump referenced its age and also former President Barack Obama, telling the BCF audience, "I love this great equipment. Although the plane's 32 years old, I ordered new ones, and I saved $1.7 billion from what Obama was willing to pay. I have to tell you, [he's a] Black president, but I got $1.7 billion less. Would you rather have the Black president or the white president who got $1.7 billion off the price? I think they want the white guy right now. Got $1.7 billion off the price."
On the same day as Trump's speech, the @kamalahq account on X — previously named @bidenhq — posted (archived) the same 13-second clip, only captioning it with the truncated quote, "Trump: Would you rather have the Black president or the white president? I think they want the white guy."
The comments begin at the 3:32:58 mark in this full speech video from Right Side Broadcasting Network on YouTube:
In 2023, CNN reported Boeing lost $1 billion on each of the two 747 jets the aircraft manufacturer agreed to retrofit for future presidential flights, following a fixed-price deal made with Trump in 2018.