DETROIT (AP) — On Saturday, Donald Trump courted distinct groups of Black voters and extreme conservatives in battleground Michigan, accusing immigration of taking jobs and government resources.
The Republican former president also made several fresh false allegations against the country’s voting system.
However, Trump’s angry words on illegal immigration, which have long been a feature of his unabashed rhetoric, served as a unifying issue in downtown Detroit as he sought to form a delicate political alliance at both a Black church and an organization known to attract white supremacists.
“The people coming across the border — all those millions of people — they’re inflicting tremendous harm on our Black population and our Hispanic population,” Trump told a cheering audience of thousands of conservative activists jammed into a massive convention center. “They are not human beings.” “They’re animals,” he stated later, referring to members of violent immigration gangs.
Trump’s diversified weekend schedule highlights the shifting political factors influencing the presidential election this autumn, as he seeks to deny Democratic President Joe Biden a second term.
Few states may matter more in November than Michigan, which Biden won by less than three points four years ago. And few voter groups are more important to Democrats than African Americans, who formed the foundation of Biden’s electoral base in 2020. But now, fewer than five months before Election Day, Black voters are showing symptoms of dissatisfaction with the 81-year-old Democrat.
Trump, who turned 78 on Friday, is attempting to capitalize on an apparent opening.
When he visited the 180 Church earlier in the day, the congregation was much smaller, but they were still quite welcoming. Derelict vehicles waited outside the tiny brick building, with “Black Americans for Trump” banners attached. Rap music and grill smoke floated from a pre-event party hosted by the Black Conservative Federation.
“It’s a very important area for us,” Trump told the predominantly white church gathering. He vowed to return “some Sunday” with a sermon.
He claimed that illegal immigrants were “hurting” the Black community.
“They’re invading your jobs,” he explained.
Later that day, Trump delivered a similar message at the “People’s Convention” of Turning Point Action, a group tied to a number of radicals, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
About 24 hours before the former president spoke, well-known white nationalist Nick Fuentes entered the ballroom, flanked by a crowd of roaring followers. Security soon ordered him out, but Fuentes caused political problems for Trump by attending a private lunch with the former president and the musician then known as Kanye West at Trump’s Florida resort in 2022.
Turning Point has developed as a power in Republican politics under Trump, particularly among his “Make America Great Again” movement, despite the Anti-Defamation League’s warning that the organization “continues to attract racists.”
“Numerous individuals associated with the group have made bigoted statements about the Black community, the LGBTQ community, and other groups,” the ADL, an international anti-hate organization, said in a background memo. “While TPUSA (Turning Point USA) leaders say they reject white supremacist ideology, known white nationalists have attended their events.”
Turning Point spokesperson Andrew Kolvet called the ADL’s characterization “smears and lies.” He further stated that Turning Point has been preventing Fuentes from attending its gatherings for “years.”
“The ADL is a disease on America, spreading poison and divisiveness. “They’ve completely lost the plot,” Kolvet added, describing the ADL’s criticism as “a badge of honor.”
Meanwhile, Democrats provided a contrasting viewpoint from afar.
“Donald Trump is so dangerous for Michigan, America, and Black people,” stated Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, an African-American. He deemed it “offensive” for Trump to address the Turning Point conference, which was being held at the same convention facility that was “the epicenter of their steal the election effort.”
Indeed, the day after the 2020 presidential election, when absentee ballots were being processed, dozens of enraged Trump supporters chanted “Stop the count!” at the TCF Center, now known as Huntington Place. Local media captured footage of protests outside and inside the lobby. Police stopped them from entering the counting area.
The protests came after Trump tweeted that “they are finding Biden votes all over” in multiple states, including Michigan.
The false allegation that Biden profited from extensive voter fraud has been widely discredited by voting officials from both parties, the judiciary, and former Trump administration officials. Still, Trump continues to spread similar falsehoods, which was heard throughout the conservative gathering over the weekend.
Turning Point founder and CEO Charlie Kirk, speaking from the main platform, erroneously identified the conference location as “the scene of a crime.”
Moving the debate ahead, Trump mentioned the likelihood of electoral fraud this autumn.
“We need to monitor the vote. “We need to protect the vote,” Trump charged. “It’s so corrupt, the whole election process.”
Such aggressive rhetoric does not appear to have harmed Trump’s support among Black voters.
According to a March study by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, Biden’s favor among Black adults has declined from 94% when he began his term in January 2021 to 55%.
According to an AP-NORC poll done in June, over 8 in 10 Black voters had a negative opinion of Trump, with roughly two-thirds stating that they have a “very unfavorable” view.
Trump received 8% of the Black vote in 2020, according to AP VoteCast. And in what is expected to be a close race, even a small shift might have a significant impact.
Omar Mitchell, a Detroit restaurant owner who attended the church gathering, said he supported Trump because “money was pumping” during his presidency.
“In the old days, how we grew up was just because you’re Black means you’re a Democrat,” Mitchell stated. “That’s out the door nowadays.”
Trump claims that his economic and border security agenda would attract more Black voters and that his felony indictments make him more sympathetic. At the church on Saturday afternoon, he repeatedly threatened to “bring back the auto industry” while also adding, “The crime is most rampant right here and in African American communities.”
Kimberly Taylor, who was welcomed on stage at the church by the Trump campaign, commended Trump for “coming to the hood,” while pastor Lorenzo Sewell claimed Biden attended an NAACP banquet in the city “but never came to the hood.”
The pastor questioned Trump about how to “keep the Black dollar in the Black community.”
Trump stated that the Black community “needs to stop the crime.”
Source: apnews.com