Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a church service at Great Faith Ministries, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in Detroit.
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Setting aside his usual stridency, Trump adopted a humble tone, telling his audience at the Good Faith Ministries International church that he came to listen, expressing sympathy for the out-of-work young men he had seen on boarded-up Detroit streets.
“I believe that Trump coming to Detroit is a joke, and I’m ashamed of the pastor who invited him”, she said.”In my opinion, he stabbed everyone in the back”.
“This is the first African-American church he’s been in, y’all!” He stayed on script, spoke reverentially about the black church and managed not to say anything overtly inflammatory.
Seated next to him in the front row was Omarosa Manigault, a former contestant on Trump’s reality television series, who has helped to guide his outreach to the black community.
While protesters were a vocal presence outside, Trump made a pitch inside for support from an electorate strongly aligned with Democrat Hillary Clinton. So to try to say that more Mexicans means more Mexican food, if anything, that’s the one thing all Americans like. But Simpson said he doubts the mogul will make large gains with black voters “overnight”, saying it will take a while to erase the perception that African-Americans have of Trump.
Trump promised those in the Detroit church that his presidency will bring unity, cohesion, peace and prosperity, as well as a civil rights agenda for our time.
Before the speech, protesters chanting “Dump Trump” and “We’re going to church” tried to push through police barriers to gain entrance.
“Here I am an African-American in the United States and he doesn’t have my best interest in hand”, said Northington, who works in auto sales and was among the protesters outside.
“He’s already told us what he thinks of us”, Jackson said. “The fact is, you got to have honest dialogue in order to change your circumstances”. “Anybody who is in this church should be appalled”.
Inside, parishioners said they were willing to hear Trump’s message. But, she says, it takes a lot of nerve for him to visit Detroit.
Many black people here, she says, are still stung by the Republican presidential nominee’s visit to MI last month, when he went before a mostly white audience and declared, “You live in your poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed”. Trump asked black voters at a rally last month, trying to persuade them to vote for him.
“I’m here today to learn”, said Trump, who is Presbyterian.
“He generalized the total black community”.
“I love that we let him know where we stand”, said Foster, 62, a massage therapist.
Carson told The Associated Press before the trip that it would serve as an opportunity for Trump to see the challenges residents face as he refines his policy plans.
Jackson told CNN on Friday that he “didn’t see anything wrong” with clearing his questions with the campaign and hadn’t offered softballs.
The Republican nominee has been criticized throughout his campaign for not reaching out to African-American voters in their communities, an issue Jackson said Trump was looking to remedy.
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Among the members of the clergy denouncing Trump’s visit was the Rev. Lawrence Glass, who said Trump’s heart was not into helping blacks.
