The Metro: Trump rallies for Black voters’ support in Detroit

This past weekend, former President Donald Trump made a stop in Detroit for a small engagement with Black voters. 

Four years ago, only 5% of Black voters in Detroit casted ballots for the former president. Although, Trump was notably more popular with Black and Latino men in 2020 compared with his 2016 run.  

So, will we see more Black voters turnout for Trump this year? And why were so many Detroit rappers specifically out supporting the former president?  

WDET’s Russ McNamara and Sam Robinson of Axios Detroit joined The Metro on Tuesday to talk about Trump’s campaign stop at 180 Church in Detroit to court Black voters.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

McNamara said he was surprised by the lack of Black attendees as well as by the overall vibe of the event.

“This didn’t feel like a church event,” he said. “It was really unclear just how many people were parishioners of this particular church.”

In addition to Trump’s speech, the event featured a roundtable of Black voters from Detroit, but McNamara said it “wasn’t much of a roundtable.”

“It was clearly canned questions; people would tell their stories, and then ask a question that had been agreed to in advance,” he said. “There was no audience participation.”

Robinson said Trump discussed many topics in his speech that typical Black conservatives in Detroit care about.

“They’re focused on the things that Trump hit on. Certainly anti-LGBTQ, certainly anti-immigration, illegal immigration,” he said.

Robinson noted that several well-known Detroit rappers, including Sada Baby, Icewear Vezzo and Veeze, attended the event. Though not all attendees at the event were Trump supporters, he said.

“I came back to the Biden voter that I talked to before the event began, he said he was just there for Martell [Bivings], supporting his friend,” Robinson said. “And by the end of it, he said that he thinks he’s pretty comfortable enough now that he can actually vote for Donald Trump. And that would be the first time he said he will ever vote for a Republican.”

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with McNamara and Robinson.

More headlines from The Metro on June 18th:

• Data from the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments suggests the top three most accident-prone intersections in metro Detroit were roundabouts. It’s also true that these accidents were more likely to be non-fatal. That being said, what should we make of roundabouts as they expand around southeast Michigan? Transit experts Craig Bryson, senior communications manager for the Road Commission for Oakland County, and Bryan Santo, director of the Macomb County Department of Roads, joined the show to discuss.
• Movie Nights in the D returns Wednesday with a free showing of the musical drama “The Color Purple” at Campus Martius Park, in observance of Juneteenth. Movie nights extend through the end of August. To talk more about the events, Chief Public Spaces Officer for the Downtown Detroit Partnership David Cowan joined The Metro. 
• Tomorrow is Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States, and specifically the historic date of June 19, 1865 — when African Americans in Galveston, Texas learned about the emancipation proclamation, declaring all enslaved people free. In Detroit, there will be many events celebrating the holiday, including a special event on the Dequindre Cut.  Janice Burnett is an experienced children’s librarian who, since retirement, has committed to training as a storyteller. She has been part of InsideOut’s Writing program at the Hannan Center for several years. Burnett and Aiyana Bowden, who has been a participant with InsideOut Literary Arts during all of her high school years at the Detroit School of Arts, joined The Metro to discuss the Dequindre Cut event, hosted by InsideOut Literary Arts in partnership with the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy and other organizations.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.