DETROIT (AP) — Donald Trump used back-to-back stops Saturday to court Black voters and a conservative group that has been accused of attracting white supremacists as the Republican presidential candidate works to stitch together a coalition of historically divergent interests in battleground Michigan.
Trump hosted an afternoon roundtable at an African American church in Detroit. Later he will appear at the “People’s Convention” of Turning Point Action, a group that the Anti-Defamation League says has been linked to a variety of extremists.
“It’s a very important area for us,” Trump told the crowd at the 180 Church, a modest brick building with “Black Americans for Trump” signs affixed. Derelict vehicles sat nearby, while rap music and barbecue smoke wafted from a pre-event gathering organized by the Black Conservative Federation group. The former president promised to return “some Sunday” for a sermon.
Roughly 24 hours before Trump planned to address the Turning Point convention, meanwhile, well-known white supremacist Nick Fuentes entered the hall surrounded by a group of cheering supporters. Security quickly escorted him out.
Fuentes created political problems for Trump after attending a private lunch with the former president and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West at Trump’s Florida estate in 2022.
Still, Trump’s weekend schedule underscores the evolving political forces shaping the presidential election this fall as he tries to deny Democratic President Joe Biden a second term.
“He’s been the worst president for Black people,” Trump said at the church. He also argued that the Black community “is being hurt” by people in the country illegally, adding, “They’re invading your jobs.”
Few states may matter more in November than Michigan, which Biden carried by less than 3 percentage points four years ago. And few voting groups matter more to Democrats than African Americans, who made up the backbone of Biden’s political base in 2020. But now, less than five months before Election Day, Black voters are expressing modest signs of disappointment with the 81-year-old Democrat.
Michael Whatley, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, told Michigan Republicans at a dinner Friday that the state could not be more important.
“Let me be more blunt: If we don’t win Michigan, we’re not going to have Donald Trump in the White House,” Whatley said, adding, “We are going to determine the fate of the world in this election.”
Trump argues he can pull in more Black voters due to his economic and border security message, and that his felony indictments make him more relatable. At the church on Saturday afternoon, he repeatedly vowed to “bring back the auto industry” while also noting, “The crime is most rampant right…
