Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump encountered protests led by community leaders and Democrat politicians when he arrived Saturday in Detroit to appeal for support from black voters.
The protesters and Democratic leaders took aim at the New York businessman for depicting black communities as blighted and impoverished when he asked them to reconsider their longtime loyalty to the Democratic Party.
They carried signs and chanted: “Dump Trump!”
A block from the church where Mr. Trump planned to address the congregation and sit down for a taped interview with the pastor, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Rep. Brenda Lawrence, both Democrats, held a press conference touting the successes of the city, according to the Detroit News.
A group of community and religious leaders staged a five-block protest march to Great Faith Ministries International Church, where Mr. Trump will attend a service and sit for the interview.
The demonstrations underscored the risk Mr. Trump took with a foray into the Democratic stronghold of Detroit. 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.
As Mr. Trump began courting minority voters in recent weeks, Mrs. Clinton launched a series of attacks, including a TV ad, alleging that he was aligned with white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis.
Mr. Trump’s interview with Bishop Wayne T. Jackson will air Thursday on the church’s African-American Christian cable channel, the Impact Network. The network originally planned to live stream the interview but changed the plans.
The New York Times reported Thursday that it obtained the Trump campaign’s script for the questions and answers for the interview.
In response, Mr. Jackson told CNN that he didn’t see anything wrong with having pre-approved questions, which is a common practice in TV interviews.
He said Mr. Trump wanted to meet and speak with the minority community “because he’s been criticized for preaching to African-Americans from a backdrop of white people.”
Mr. Trump will be accompanied at the church by Detroit native Ben Carson, a former GOP primary opponent who has become a top surrogate for the party’s nominee. Mr. Carson also will lead Mr. Trump on a tour of the neighborhood in the city where he grew up and escaped poverty to become a world-renowned pediatric brain surgeon.
“It always makes much more of an impression, I think, when you see things firsthand,” Mr. Carson told CNN.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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