Donald Trump ventures to Detroit on Saturday to attend a roundtable discussion at a Black church, the latest in an effort to peel away Black voters from President Joe Biden ahead of November’s election. Trump’s visit to a church nestled in the heart of Detroit’s west side has received fierce pushback from local Democrats and the Biden campaign who argued Trump did little as president to improve Black communities nationwide. Trump has denigrated Detroit in the past as “corrupt,” but both he and Biden have identified Michigan as a must-win state, and the vote there is expected to be as close or closer than it was four years ago. Detroit, one of the nation’s largest Black-majority cities, will be pivotal in Michigan’s electoral outcome. While parts of the city have seen an economic resurgence, many neighborhoods continue to struggle with structural inequities and historic disinvestment. Experts say inflation and pocketbook issues are top of mind for voters.
Quick Read
- Donald Trump used back-to-back stops Saturday to court Black voters and a conservative group accused of attracting white supremacists as he works to build a coalition in battleground Michigan.
- Trump hosted an afternoon roundtable at an African American church in Detroit and later planned to appear at the “People’s Convention” of Turning Point Action, a group linked to extremists by the Anti-Defamation League.
- At the 1800 Church in Detroit, Trump told the crowd, “We have done more for the black population than any president since Abraham Lincoln.”
- A day before Trump’s appearance, white supremacist Nick Fuentes was escorted out of the Turning Point convention hall by security.
- Trump’s weekend plans highlight the evolving political forces shaping the presidential election as he tries to deny Democratic President Joe Biden a second term.
- Trump criticized Biden’s presidency at the church, claiming Biden is the worst president for Black people and arguing that illegal immigration is hurting the Black community.
- Michigan, a key battleground state, was carried by Biden by less than 3 percentage points in 2020. Black voters are expressing modest signs of disappointment with Biden, a crucial part of his base.
- Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley emphasized Michigan’s importance for the 2024 election, stating that without Michigan, Republicans won’t win the White House.
- Trump argued he can attract more Black voters with his economic and border security message, and that his felony indictments make him more relatable.
- Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II criticized Trump, calling him dangerous for Black people and offensive for addressing the Turning Point conference.
- The Turning Point conference venue was the site of a 2020 protest where Trump supporters chanted “Stop the count!” amid ballot counting.
- Despite the ADL’s warning, Trump’s popularity with Black voters remains significant, although Biden’s approval among Black adults has dropped since the start of his term.
- Trump won 8% of the Black vote in 2020, and even a modest shift in 2024 could be consequential.
- Maurice Morrison, a Black Detroit resident, plans to vote for Trump again despite his unpopularity in the community.
- Thousands of conservative activists awaited Trump’s keynote address at the Turning Point conference, which has been criticized by the ADL for attracting racists.
- Turning Point spokesperson Andrew Kolvet dismissed the ADL’s criticism, calling it “smears and lies.”
- The Turning Point conference featured several established Republican politicians and Trump allies, including Vivek Ramaswamy, who urged conservatives to reject the Democrats’ focus on diversity.
The Associated Press has the story:
Trump visits Detroit church as part of courting Black voters in Michigan
Newslooks- DETROIT (AP) —
Donald Trump was using back-to-back stops Saturday to court Black voters and a conservative group that has been accused of attracting white supremacists as the Republican presidential candidate works to stitch together a coalition of historically divergent interests in battleground Michigan.
Trump hosted an afternoon roundtable at an African American church in Detroit. Later he will appear at the “People’s Convention” of Turning Point Action, a group that the Anti-Defamation League says has been linked to a variety of extremists.
“It’s a very important area for us,” Trump told the crowd at the 1800 Church, a modest brick building outside the city’s downtown core where “Black Americans for Trump” signs were affixed.
Trump promised to return “some Sunday” and stay for a sermon. Returning to a frequent boast the former president added, “We have done more for the black population than any president since Abraham Lincoln.”
Roughly 24 hours before Trump planned to address the conference, well-known white supremacist Nick Fuentes entered Turning Point’s convention hall surrounded by a group of cheering supporters. He was quickly escorted out by security.
Fuentes created political problems for Trump after Fuentes attended a private lunch with the former president and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West at Trump’s Florida estate in 2022.
Trump’s weekend plans underscore the evolving political forces shaping the presidential election this fall as he tries to deny Democratic President Joe Biden a second term.
“He’s been the worst president for Black people,” Trump said Saturday afternoon at the church. He also argued that the Black community “is being hurt” by people in the country illegally, adding, “They’re taking your jobs” and “they’re invading your jobs.”
Few states may matter more in November than Michigan, which Biden carried by less than 3 percentage points four years ago. And few voting groups matter more to Democrats than African Americans, who made up the backbone of Biden’s political base in 2020. But now, less than five months before Election Day, Black voters are expressing modest signs of disappointment with the 81-year-old Democrat.
Michael Whatley, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, told Michigan Republicans at a dinner Friday that the state could not be more important.
“Everybody knows if we don’t win Michigan, we’re not going to have a Republican in the White House,” Whatley said. “Let me be more blunt: If we don’t win Michigan, we’re not going to have Donald Trump in the White House.”
“We are going to determine the fate of the world in this election in November,” he added.
Trump argues he can pull in more Black voters due to his economic and border security message, and that his felony indictments make him more relatable. At the church on Saturday afternoon, he repeatedly vowed to “bring back the auto industry” while also noting, “The crime is most rampant right here and African American communities.”
Democrats are offering a competing perspective.
“Donald Trump is so dangerous for Michigan and dangerous for America and dangerous for Black people,” Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, who is African American, said Friday.
He said it was “offensive” for Trump to address the Turning Point conference, which was taking place at the same convention center that was “the epicenter of their steal the election effort.”
Indeed, dozens of angry Trump loyalists chanting “Stop the count!” descended on the TCF Center, now named Huntington Place, the day after the 2020 presidential election as absentee ballots were being counted. Local media captured scenes of protesters outside and in the lobby. Police prevented them from entering the counting area.
The protests took place after Trump had tweeted that “they are finding Biden votes all over” in several states, including Michigan.
The false notion that Biden benefited from widespread voter fraud has been widely debunked by voting officials in both parties, the court system and members of Trump’s former administration. Still, Trump continues to promote such misinformation, which echoed throughout the conservative convention over the weekend.
Speaking from the main stage, Turning Point founder and CEO Charlie Kirk falsely described the conference location as “the scene of a crime.”
Such extreme rhetoric does not appear to have hurt Trump’s standing with Black voters, however.
Among Black adults, Biden’s approval has dropped from 94% when he started his term in January 2021 to just 55%, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll published in March.
About 8 in 10 Black voters have an unfavorable opinion of Trump, with roughly two-thirds saying they have a “very unfavorable” view of him, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in June. About 2 in 10 Black voters have a very or somewhat favorable view of Trump.
Trump won 8% of the Black vote in 2020, according to AP VoteCast. And in what is expected to be a close election, even a modest shift could be consequential.
Maurice Morrison, a 67-year-old lifelong Detroit resident, acknowledged that Trump, for whom he voted twice before and plans to again, is deeply unpopular in his community and even inside his home.
“Once he decided to run for president as a Republican, that automatically made him racist. That’s his middle name now — ‘Trump is racist’ — everybody I talk to, all the people I know, my family,” said Morrison, who is Black. “The man cares.”
Meanwhile, thousands of conservative activists, most of them young and white, were eagerly awaiting Trump’s keynote address Saturday night.
Turning Point has emerged as a force in GOP politics in the Trump era, particularly among his “Make America Great Again” movement, despite the ADL’s warning that the group “continues to attract racists.”
“Numerous individuals associated with the group have made bigoted statements about the Black community, the LGBTQ community and other groups,” the ADL, an international anti-hate group, wrote in a background memo. “While TPUSA (Turning Point USA) leaders say they reject white supremacist ideology, known white nationalists have attended their events.”
Turning Point spokesperson Andrew Kolvet dismissed the ADL’s characterization as “smears and lies.” He added that Turning Point has been blocking Fuentes from attending its events for “years.”
“The ADL is a scourge on America, which sows poison and division. They’ve completely lost the plot,” Kolvet said, describing the ADL’s criticism as “a badge of honor.”
Turning Point, long popular among Trump’s MAGA fringe, is now a central player in mainstream Republican politics. The group’s weekend speaking program featured a long list of established Republican politicians, including U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. It also included former Trump counselor Steve Bannon, who is set to report to prison by July 1 to begin serving a four-month sentence for defying a U.S. House subpoena.
In his remarks Friday night, Vivek Ramaswamy, who has emerged as a fierce Trump ally since unsuccessfully challenging Trump for the GOP presidential nomination, called on conservatives to reject what he said was the Democrats’ embrace of diversity.
“I am sick and tired of celebrating our diversity,” Ramaswamy charged. “It means nothing unless there is something greater that unites us.”
