That’s weird for a number of reasons, and also highlights the fact that Christian leaders aren’t always as influential as they hope to be.
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But Trump has been courting the support of evangelical Black clergy members and other African-American leaders as he works to broaden his appeal in a crowded Republican field.
Trump’s campaign on Monday canceled a press conference with 100 spiritual leaders from the African-American community.
Pastor Victor Couzens of Cincinnati, who attended Monday’s meeting and is not endorsing Trump, said the candidate owed the Black Lives Matter protester an apology. But Kovaleski has since said he never heard about “thousands or even hundreds” of people celebrating and that he doesn’t recall the allegations of isolated celebrations ever being confirmed. Later that day, Trump retweeted a graphic that incorrectly showed that black people are responsible for most killings of white people.
Ultimately, Scott admitted that he was all in for Trump.
“How about I tell CNN, who doesn’t treat me properly, I’m not gonna do the next debate, OK”, Trump said.
“I think they want to see victory because it is about we want to win and we want to win together”, he said after the meeting this afternoon. “I think people, in the final analysis, will realize he doesn’t have the skills, the background and the experience he needs to be president”.
Mr Trump flew to Georgia after meeting with dozens of black pastors in his Manhattan offices.
But some of Trump’s loudest ovations – from a crowd that included at least a few supporters wearing Confederate regalia – came as he touted the same positions that prompted concern from some of the pastors he’d met with hours before. At first, the meeting had been spun as one in which black evangelical pastors were endorsing Trump, but Scott later said that there had been a miscommunication and that the meeting was about having some open dialogue.
Thank you Mr. Trump for bringing issues to the forefront, and thank you for engaging many in the discussion who have not been engaged before.
When Roland Martin of NewsOne Now, interviewed Steve Parson, another black minister who was in the meeting with Trump, it seemed like Trump was short on policy and specifics. At that point, Bruce LeVell of Atlanta got on the phone.
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The president of a New Jersey police union that represents almost 33,000 officers lashed out against Christie Monday night after the governor called him a “pension pig”. Trump said he repeated one phrase to his children growing up: “No drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes”.
