Trump in Detroit: ‘I’m here today to learn’

Today he tried to make amends with a visit to a black church.

Toni McIlwain believes that as a candidate for president, Donald Trump has a right to go anywhere he wants.

Mr. Trump arrived around 10:30 a.m. and was promptly ushered into Great Faith Ministries International. His visit, however, was greeted by protests outside of the church ahead of his arrival.

Trump stood in the front row, swaying to the music as a woman on stage led the church in song. “This is the first African-American church he’s been in, y’all! So true”, Trump said, reading from prepared remarks.

He told the church that he is “determined” to do something about falling wages and disappearing jobs. “I am here to learn”. “I’m going to get things done”.

Trump said the country is very divided and the political system has failed its citizens.

Apparently, Trump, like other conservatives, did not take Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun’s wisdom to heart when he said, “In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race”.

“I’m here today to learn so we can together remedy injustice in any form and so we can also remedy economics so that the African American community can benefit economically thought jobs and income”, he added.

Trump said he “fully understands” that black Americans have suffered from discrimination.

Jackson presented Trump with two gifts: a prayer shawl and a ‘Jewish Heritage Study Bible.’ Trump (above) put the shawl on, draping it around his back and over both his shoulders.

‘This is a prayer shawl straight from Israel. “I want to work with you to renew the bonds of trust between citizens and the bonds of faith that make our people strong”.

He was accompanied by Ben Carson, the former Republican presidential hopeful who grew up in the city.

“I wanted to hear what he had to say; he’s entitled to that”, she said. Donald Trump’s faux outreach campaign to black and brown voters is the worst type of cynical and dishonest ploy.

“To have this type of scripted event at this church is appalling”, he said.

Taurus Simpson, a pastor from Saginaw, Michigan, said he saw a more “humble” version of Trump.

Trump in recent days has shifted his attention toward minority voters, meeting with black religious and business leaders in Philadelphia on Friday and with black and Latino Republicans in NY the week before.

“Perception is everything. What we had seen is that he had no care about the blacks at the beginning of this”, he said, referring to Trump’s campaign.

There was no apology, she said.

“Nothing is more sad than when we sideline young black men with unfulfilled potential, tremendous potential”, Trump said, speaking from notes. “Not just for people of color, but all people”.

The bold appeal could win over some black voters across the country who are skeptical about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, but the optics of Mr. Trump confronted by black protesters threatens to reinforce the image of him as a racially divisive figure. “The four white officers on horses in that crowd were unnecessary”. Some of the protesters urged others to remain peaceful.

In 2012, about 93 percent of black voters backed Obama – an overwhelming enthusiasm that Clinton appears to have kept alive, taking 90 percent of the black vote in her primary contest against Bernie Sanders.

“He acknowledged the history of the black church? Crime at levels that nobody has seen”, and asked them “what the hell do you have to lose?” by voting for him.

“You do right every day by your communities and your families”, he said.

“Becoming the nominee of the party of Abraham Lincoln – a lot of people don’t realize Abraham Lincoln, the great Abraham Lincoln, was a Republican – has been the greatest honor of my life”, Trump said.

“If we don’t have love then we’re not Christian”, he said.