The remarks on the eve of the GOP primary echoed those in which he compared himself to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

On the eve of the South Carolina primary, Donald Trump made a direct appeal to Black voters, not just by touting his record on issues they’ve prioritized but by comparing his own criminal indictments to the decades of legal discrimination they’ve faced.

“A lot of people said that that’s why the Black people like me because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m discriminated against,” Trump claimed.

He insisted that Black voters had flocked to him because of the mugshot photo from his booking in the Fulton County jail. “When I did the mug shot in Atlanta, that mug shot is No. 1,” Trump claimed. “You know who embraced it more than anyone else? The Black population.”