A leaked script obtained by the New York Times on Thursday revealed the word-for-word answers written for Donald Trump to deliver in his upcoming interview with a black bishop in Detroit, Michigan.
Aides for the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee helped come up with the responses laid out in an eight-page draft script intended to prevent the Republican nominee from putting his foot in his mouth during his first campaign event in a black community on Saturday, according to the Times.
While politicians occasionally ask for questions ahead of interviews, having staffers draft the answers wholesale is unusual. According to the Times’ report, Bishop Wayne T. Jackson of Great Faith Ministries International will ask Trump about a range of topics including his Christian faith and lack of support among black voters.
In response to a question about whether he is a Christian and believes the Bible is the word of God, scriptwriters told Trump to couch his response in references to his family.
“As I went through my life, things got busy with business, but my family kept me grounded to the truth and the word of God,” the script obtained by the Times reads.
Trump was told to avoid repeating the word “racist” in response to a question about whether the Republican nominee, who has asserted that black Americans live in crime-ridden, poor communities and suggested that President Barack Obama was not actually born in the U.S., was racist.
“The proof, as they say, will be in the pudding,” Trump was told to say, according to the Times. “Coming into a community is meaningless unless we offer an alternative to the horrible progressive agenda that has perpetuated a permanent underclass in America.”
Trump will also reportedly advocate for a diminished focus on race in the U.S., saying he hopes to “make race disappear as a factor in government,” and will remind undecided black voters that his single-digit support among them “is now up to 8 percent and climbing.”
Trump’s campaign has altered his schedule for the Detroit trip after the Detroit Free Press revealed that the GOP nominee would not address the congregation or meet with community members during his visit, instead opting for a one-on-one interview with Bishop Jackson.
Now Trump will address the congregation for five to 10 minutes after the interview and chat with churchgoers informally for about thirty minutes afterwards, according to the Times. He will then visit Detroit neighborhoods with campaign advisor Ben Carson, who grew up in the area, the newspaper reported.
