›› Trump tries to make inroads with black voters.
DETROIT — Donald Trump, who has campaigned for president as a blunt provocateur, dismissing complaints of racial insensitivity as political correctness, took an uncharacteristic step Saturday: He visited a black church for the first time and tried to blend in.
Flanked by a few black supporters, including Ben Carson, a former presidential candidate, and Omarosa Manigault, a former contestant on “The Apprentice,” Trump cut a subdued figure at Great Faith Ministries International.
He beamed as congregants greeted him and swayed to the song “What a Mighty God We Serve.” Speaking softly, he invoked the civil rights movement and Abraham Lincoln. Donning a prayer shawl given to him by the church’s pastor, Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, Trump proclaimed, “I feel better already.”
Trump is unpopular with black voters and perceived by many as hostile to their community. His company has faced accusations of discrimination against black tenants; he has alleged falsely in the past that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States; and a champion of aggressive policing, he has stirred indignation by caricaturing black neighborhoods as blighted by crime and economic despair. Promising better days
In Detroit, Trump did not express regret for, or even acknowledge, the actions and remarks that have opened a gulf be- tween him and black voters. Instead, reading from prepared remarks, he hailed the Christian values and political contributions of black Americans and said he cared about making their lives better.
“I fully understand that the African-American community has suffered from discrimination and that there are many wrongs that must still be made right,” Trump said, adding: “For any who are hurting: Things are going to turn around. Tomorrow will be better.”
Trump’s visit to the church concluded a week of fitful outreach to black and Hispanic voters, capping off a frenzied campaign schedule that took him to Mexico’s presidential palace, to a meeting in North Philadelphia with black leaders, and finally to Detroit.
Far more than even a typical Republican presidential candidate, Trump faces a wall of opposition from nonwhite voters. He records virtually no support from black voters in the polls.
Trump’s appearance Saturday, long billed by campaign aides as a pivotal opportunity to reintroduce himself to black voters, was swathed in uncertainty up to the last minute, as the Trump campaign and the pastor deliberated over whether the Republican nominee would actually speak at the church. Plans for stops in nearby neighborhoods were announced, then retracted.
And a scheduled interview with Jackson, Trump’s host Saturday, became a source of embarrassment when it was revealed that both the questions and Trump’s answers were scripted in advance. Trump taped the television appearance before the church service Saturday, and it is expected to air in the next few days. ‘Lift up the soul’
In his relatively muted address, Trump did not employ his heated language about urban crime or illegal immigration. Instead, he offered praise for black Christians and called for a “civil rights agenda for our time,” including support for charter schools and new job growth.
And Trump, who has not made professions of faith a regular part of his campaign, called on Americans to “turn again to our Christian heritage to lift up the soul of our nation.”
It remains to be seen if Trump will make a more sustained bid to attract black support. His campaign advisers have routinely announced changes in strategy and promised adjustments to Trump’s message and political style, only to have the candidate revert to form. On Wednesday, Trump followed up his surprise trip to Mexico City, where he expressed admiration for Mexican-Americans, with an angry speech in Arizona denouncing illegal immigration and reiterating his pledge to wall off the southern border.
But for Trump, winning the presidency might be all but impossible without a reversal of fortune with black and Hispanic voters. While Republicans usually lose those constituencies by a wide margin, polls suggest Trump is on track for such a historic rout that he may be unable to make up the difference with white voters.