Trump Won’t Actually Be Speaking To Congregation At Black Church In Detroit

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Donald Trump may be making his very first campaign visit to a black community this week, but he won’t actually be speaking to black voters there.

The Republican nominee will attend a Saturday service at the predominantly black Great Faith Ministries in Detroit, but he will not speak to the congregation there, the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday. He also will be interviewed by Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, but that interview will be closed to both the public and the media and won’t air on the church’s network for at least a week after the event, according to the report.

Jackson told the newspaper that he was okay with Trump’s decision not to directly address his congregants, saying they trust their bishop’s “judgment” on who he invites to visit the church.

“He will be talking to voters just like when he sits down with any news agency, like CNN,” Jackson said about the upcoming interview. “Every time he’s on Fox or MSNBC, he’s talking to voters.”

Jackson, who said he has voted for Democrats his entire life, clarified that the visit was “not a Trump rally” but an “opportunity for a dialogue.”

He told the Free Press he will ask Trump if he considers himself a Christian, and if he is a racist “because so many people think that’s what you are.”

Trump has in recent weeks made overtures to black voters, telling them Democratic leaders have left them to live in crime-ravaged inner cities. Yet he has faced criticism for delivering those overtures in predominantly white communities.

Trump’s team has painted his visit to Great Faith Ministries as an example of the direct “outreach” he’s doing with minorities.

“Republican presidential nominees usually are not bold enough to go into communities of color and take the case to them and compete for all ears and compete for all votes,” campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said last week. “They’ve been afraid to do that.”

“Mr. Trump deserves credit,” she added.

Trump has visited Detroit before but has not met with black voters there.

The city’s Democratic mayor, Mike Duggan, told the Free Press that he believes Trump “marginalizes huge groups in this country who aren’t rich and who don’t look like him.”

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: