Detroit As he wooed black voters at a Detroit church and conservative supporters at a rally in Huntington Place, former President Donald Trump warned that a second term for Biden would lead to increased illegal immigration, weaker international policies and a weaker economy.
The former president criticized United Auto Workers leader Sean Fain as doing an “absolutely terrible” job and warned about green emissions regulations that will be implemented under the Biden administration.
“We can’t let these people destroy our country,” Trump said. “They’re crazy.”
Trump made the remarks Saturday at a conservative political group’s convention in Huntington Place, where Republicans protested four years ago as absentee ballots in Detroit were still being counted and chanted “Stop the count.” His Turning Point Action convention speech came after a roundtable discussion with black Detroit voters at 180 Church at Stansbury Avenue on Detroit’s west side.
Trump’s attacks on electric vehicles and Fain have featured in many of his campaign speeches in Michigan. The UAW endorsed Biden earlier this year, but the support of Macomb County’s blue-collar union members is seen as key to Trump’s victory in Michigan in 2016.
Mr. Fain led the union to a series of crucial negotiation victories last year with Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Stellantis Inc. The Michigan UAW has about 134,000 members, but a court-appointed watchdog tasked with policing corruption within the UAW said in a court filing last week that Mr. Fain is under investigation.
President Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency in March finalized a rule requiring automakers to determine the mix of gasoline-powered and electric vehicles they will need to comply with greenhouse gas emissions limits for light-duty vehicle fleets from the 2027 to 2032 model years onward.
Separately, Michigan’s Democratic-led Legislature and Whitmer administration approved hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives for EV battery projects.
President Trump said Saturday that if he is re-elected, he would abandon emissions limits and his push for electric vehicles.
“We’re going to bring the auto industry back to a higher level than it was 30 years ago,” he said.
At a press conference Friday ahead of Trump’s visit, Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and some Detroit residents criticized the former president’s record in Detroit and among black voters.
“We cannot take one step back from the Trump reality that is so focused on everyone but us,” Gilchrist said.
The Biden-Harris campaign also released a statement ahead of Trump’s roundtable at 180 Church from James Perkins, the longtime pastor of Greater Christ Baptist Church, where four years ago Trump described the city as “totally corrupt.”
“Donald Trump comes to our city and acts as if he wants to understand the struggles black Detroiters face, but he doesn’t care about the reality,” Perkins said in a statement. “Every time Trump speaks to black people, he demonizes us, demeans us, and makes empty promises that he never keeps.”
Supports Kilpatrick amid pressure from black voters
Prior to Trump’s visit to 180 Church in Detroit, the Trump campaign announced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s endorsement of Trump and the formation of a coalition of Black Americans Supporting Trump.
Kilpatrick, whose sentence was commuted by Trump before he left office in January 2021, was listed as one of Trump’s allies and was briefly quoted in the announcement as a former mayor and state legislator.
“I can’t thank President Trump enough for the freedom he’s given me,” Kilpatrick said, “but I believe this election and the issues it touches are personal to every family, every person in America.”
Kilpatrick, who was convicted in 2013 of 20 counts of using his positions as mayor and state representative to commit crimes over a decade, also attended a Trump rally in Saginaw County last month.
At the time, Kilpatrick did not say who he would vote for in the November election, but told The Detroit News he would not vote for Biden, the incumbent Democrat. Kilpatrick is a longtime Democratic politician who served as Detroit’s mayor from 2002 until he resigned in September 2008 amid a City Hall scandal and was convicted in federal court in a wide-ranging corruption scandal.
Trump’s event at 180 Church was designed to help undermine Biden’s support among black voters in Detroit, the nation’s largest majority-African American city.
The former president gathered with local black leaders at a table in front of the church’s sanctuary to discuss issues affecting African-Americans and other people of color, including Congressman Byron Donald, a black Republican from Florida.
“He’s the worst president for black people,” Trump said of Biden.
Detroit, Michigan’s largest city and a longtime Democratic stronghold, is 78% Black, according to census data. Biden’s 51%-48% victory over Trump in Michigan in 2020 was bolstered by his 240,936 votes in Detroit, beating Trump there 94%-5%.
The Biden campaign has focused its efforts in Detroit following reports of declining support among black voters. The president spoke at the NAACP’s Detroit chapter’s 69th Fight for Freedom Fund dinner at Huntington Place on May 19, and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at a Michigan Democratic Party fundraiser at Huntington Place earlier this month.
But Trump is also seeking to win over African-American voters in his third presidential run, and in March, he urged the Michigan Republican Party to reach out to black voters in Detroit and other majority-black parts of the state, according to the Associated Press.
Black voters speak out about Trump’s candidacy
During Saturday’s roundtable, Pastor Lorenzo Sewell of Church 180 asked Trump how to keep “black money” in black communities to foster entrepreneurship within those communities.
The businessman-turned-politician said crime needs to be curbed in Detroit.
“If you stop the crime, more stores will pop up,” Trump said.
Omar Mitchell, executive chef at Table No. 2, an upscale restaurant in Detroit’s Greektown neighborhood, said “money was pouring into” black, Hispanic and Arab communities during Trump’s presidency, which lasted from 2017 until January 2021.
Carlos Chambers, a military veteran and postal worker, criticized the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and called for military personnel not to be allowed to “walk around in red high heels” if President Trump returns to office.
“He’s got a point,” Trump replied, before adding, “Our soldiers are real soldiers. They don’t wake up.”
Ahead of Trump’s visit, several speakers told the crowd at Church 180 that Democrats have long taken the Black vote for granted.
Rep. John James, a Republican and Michigan’s only black member of the House, pointed to the number of white Democratic elected officials and argued that they are not interested in the black community, but in votes that help them control power.
“Trump is only a threat to the liberal elites who want to stay in power, and they know it,” said James, who represents Rochester and Rochester Hills in southern Macomb County and Oakland County.
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, a Detroit native, said the president is a “serious threat to the status quo.”
Inflation and immigration take center stage
At the Turning Point convention later that day, Dee Davey, 73, a Republican precinct representative from Washtenaw County, said she was worried about illegal immigration and the state of the economy as the November election approached.
“I live in a very privileged community, but people are still struggling with inflation and the economy,” Davie said.
Noelle Davidson, a political science major at City University of New York, attended the Huntington Place meeting despite disagreeing with most of the convention’s political views.
“I came to the conference because, as a Black man, I felt that by engaging with not just the right but the Black right, I would be able to better understand those with whom I disagree,” Davidson said of the right wing of American politics.
For Chris O’Brien, a Wisconsin representative who attended Saturday’s caucus, abortion is the most fundamental issue on the ballot this fall.
“I strive to be pro-life, and I’m looking to see if my candidate will champion that and speak out on those issues,” O’Brien said.
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ewhitaker@detroitnews.com
Staff writers Craig Mauger and Marnie Munoz contributed.
