“I’m here today to learn”, he said to the congregants at Great Faith International Ministries church.
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“Our whole country loses out without the energy of these folks”. “Or are you here to have a real conversation when you’re finally going to give us the specifics on what you’re going to go to make American cities better?”
Blacks account for 12 percent of the United States electorate, and Trump, who trails in the polls, recently has sought gingerly to widen his base.
Blacks account for 12 per cent of the U.S. electorate, and Trump, who trails in the polls, recently has sought gingerly to widen his base.
Some protesters tried to push through a barrier to the parking lot but were stopped by church security and police.
“The devil’s in the pulpit”, shouted Wyoman Mitchell, one of about 150 protesters who were pushed back by police on foot and on horseback in the tense encounter.
Detroit native Ben Carson was in the audience. “Please. He’s never said anything like that before”, said Moore. “Why are we supposed to believe him now?”
Trump was invited to the church by Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, to take part in an taped interview, to be shown publicly at a later date.
Jackson has confirmed he submitted questions in advance, but said they were liable to change – and strongly denied he was working hand-in-hand with Team Trump.
“I believe we need a civil rights agenda for our time”, he said. African-American community leaders, in particular, have railed against Trump’s dire depictions of minority life and dismissed his message as intended more to reassure white voters that he’s not racist than to help communities of color.
The African-American electorate traditionally leans heavily Democratic.
“I’d say to Mr. Trump, ‘We want to hear your plans to fix poverty, ‘” said Duggan, who has endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Speaking in a measured tone, Trump lamented what he said was a nation that was “too divided”.
“We talk past each other not to each other”, he said.
“I want to get things done, that’s one of my strengths”, Trump said.
The visit to Detroit follows a major address geared towards America’s inner-cities in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 17 where the GOP nominee lampooned Clinton for representing the same failed Democratic policies that have wrecked havoc on the black community in the United States.
Many neighborhoods have been hollowed out by decades of “white flight”, in which Caucasian families left downtown and midtown for more affluent suburbs.
“This has been an fantastic day for me”, Trump said, calling the African-American Christian community “one of God’s greatest gifts to America”.
They also point out that Trump spearheaded the dubious “birther” movement, which sought – with backing from the Republican Party’s right wing – to cast doubt on the nationality of Obama, America’s first black president.
In fact, Trump’s own business has contributed to that suffering. But others, like Ryan Boyer of the city’s Labor District Council, rebuked him, saying Trump “has no prescription to help inner-city America”. On Tuesday, he called Democrats the “party of slavery” during a rally in Everett, Washington.
LaTonya White also attended the service.
Thorn said the event felt like a national backdrop.
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Seated in the front row was Omarosa Manigault, a former contestant on Trump’s reality television series who has been helping guide his outreach to the black community.
