Former President Donald J. Trump rallied among black voters at a west Detroit church on Saturday, tapping into their hostility toward immigrants crossing the border and promoting himself as the best president for black Americans since Abraham Lincoln.
Trump spoke to a crowd of about 200 people but largely ignored his history of racist rhetoric and the decades-old calls for increased policing that have fueled his three presidential campaigns.
Instead, in a brief speech before a panel of black Detroit residents at 180 Church in Detroit, Trump sought to paint Biden as anti-black, focusing intently on the president's role in leading the writing of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a comprehensive bill that criminal justice experts say laid the groundwork for mass incarceration and disproportionately harmed black communities in America.
At one point, Trump seemed determined to ensure that Biden's role in the crime bill was the main talking point of the event, falsely accusing Biden of coining the term “super predators” before arguing that the audience should not forget Biden's role as a senator in supporting the bill and helping to pass it.
“He was a super predator,” Trump said of Biden, “so if you're voting Democrat, remember that, because you shouldn't be voting Democrat.”
Trump's visit was part of a larger effort by his campaign to undermine the Democratic Party's traditional support among black voters in an effort to overturn his loss to Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Black voters have overwhelmingly supported Democrats since the civil rights movement, but recent polls have shown the party losing some of its support. A New York Times/Siena College poll in battleground states in May found that 23% of black voters backed Trump, a record high. Trump won the support of just 8% of black voters nationwide in 2020.
Trump frequently cites his record as president to court black voters, but the reality is more complicated than he often presents.
In Detroit, Trump highlighted the bill he signed into law to provide funding for Black institutions of higher education, and he also praised his role in his signature criminal justice reform bill, the First Step Act of 2018.
But critics say Trump's frequent pro-police rhetoric during his presidency has undermined efforts at criminal justice reform, and he has often claimed credit for low black unemployment during his presidency, often exaggerating his own role and ignoring other economic indicators.
The roundtable in Detroit on Saturday drew a more diverse crowd than is typical for a Trump campaign event, with a higher proportion of Black attendees, though a significant number of the roughly 200 attendees were white.
Angelo Brown, 61, a black independent voter, said he attended the event because he was undecided about which candidate to vote for, adding that “the chances of an independent being able to get out to vote are, you know, almost zero.”
Brown, who is retired, said that while he did not support Trump in the past two elections, he would support a candidate who could help improve the economy and end the war in Ukraine.
At the church, Trump stuck to the themes that have galvanized his outreach to black voters, again tapping into economic pessimism by blaming Biden for rising inflation and rent prices.
Trump also sought to stoke anti-immigrant sentiment, arguing that Biden allowed a surge in immigration to the US that hurt the economic prospects of Black Americans, and falsely claimed that “100%” of job growth under Biden came from illegal immigrants.
“They're coming into your communities and taking your jobs,” Trump said, recycling an idea that successfully mobilized his base of white working-class voters in 2016.
Trump's appeals to black voters in recent months have been aggressive and direct, if at times clumsy.
Shortly before Trump's arrival at the church, his campaign launched a new outreach initiative for black Americans, “Black Americans for Trump,” which includes endorsements from black politicians, former professional athletes and celebrities, including model and singer Amber Rose and rapper Kodak Black, who was pardoned by Trump.
Trump has promoted his gold sneakers to young people of color this year and suggested black people felt closer to him after his arrest in Atlanta last year. He told a group of black Republicans that black people like him because he, too, has been unfairly targeted by the criminal justice system. He also frequently accuses the black prosecutor investigating him of “reverse racism.”
After the church event, Trump spoke at a rally organized by Turning Point Action, a division of Turning Point USA, an increasingly influential conservative group that draws on young voters. Turning Point's founder, Charlie Kirk, has been criticized for expressing anti-immigrant and racist views and postings on social media.
The contrast reflects the extent of the Trump campaign's efforts to piece together a complex and sometimes conflicting coalition beyond his conservative base as he tries to retake battleground states he lost in 2020, including Michigan.
“It's an honor to be here,” Trump said after taking the stage at the church. “This is a very important area to us.”
The sentiments are a stark departure from years of Trump's disdain for majority-Black Detroit, where he previously called it one of the most corrupt political places in the United States and made broad, unfounded claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.
And during the 2020 campaign, Trump frequently played up suburban fears about urban violence and crime, saying in an interview that living in Detroit and other cities was “like living in hell.”
Jasmine Harris, Biden's Black media director, criticized Trump for glamorizing both his past comments and his record in office that “disparage and demean black Americans.”
“We haven't forgotten that black unemployment and uninsurance rates soared while Trump was in the White House,” Harris said in a statement, “and we haven't forgotten that Trump has repeatedly courted white supremacists and demonized black communities for his own political gain — because that's exactly what he will do if elected to a second term.”