On his trip to Flint, Michigan, where he toured a water plant and addressed local residents gathered at a church, Donald Trump was interrupted when he began criticizing his opponent Hillary Clinton, remarks he usually delivers at campaign rallies. Just like she’s failed on foreign policy.
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‘Mr. Trump, I invited you here to thank us for what we’ve done in Flint, ‘ Timmons said.
But the interruption seemed to embolden those in the sparse crowd.
“Oh, okay”, Trump responded. More heckling followed him out.
Trump’s questioning has fanned rumors surrounding Clinton’s health, but the real estate mogul has also received scrutiny about his own health.
The visit was part of the campaign’s effort to persuade voters that the celebrity businessman can appear empathetic and presidential in a crisis. It also highlights his aims to compete in the industrial Midwest, thought polls have him down in MI, which last went Republican in 1988.
Trump also visited the city’s water plant, but in his remarks at the church, he focused on the decline of United States manufacturing and outsourcing that he claims has hurt Flint’s economy.
“Churches and volunteer organizations are struggling to keep up with the demand for services-bottled water, filters, and more-as money and volunteers dry up and leave us to fix this mess on our own”, Pastor Overton said, adding that the guarantee of safe water “is still a long way off in Flint”. Join us in a conversation about world events, the newsgathering process or whatever aspect of the news universe you find interesting or important.
Trump was in Flint to tour the city, which has been plagued by lead-contaminated drinking water since Gov. Rick Snyder switched the city’s water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River in 2014 as a cost-cutting measure.
Trump was visiting the city to view its water crisis first-hand and extend his recent outreach to African-American voters ahead of the November 8 election.
“Flint is focused on fixing the problems caused by lead contamination of our drinking water, not photo ops”, she said in a statement Tuesday evening, Gray reports.
Trump’s misstep comes after the town’s mayor asked him to stay away.
Others began to heckle the GOP presidential nominee. “Nothing. Now Hillary Clinton -“, Trump said before he was cut off by the church’s pastor.
“Trump’s presence at Bethel United Methodist in no way represents an endorsement of his candidacy”, Timmons wrote. “We can not let this story drift from national attention for any reason”.
“First of all, it would have never happened [under a Trump administration], because it was so ridiculous”.
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Donald Trump came to Flint, Michigan today, a move decried (and accurately described) by most as a photo-op.
