Are Black voters in Detroit embracing Trump?

Donald Trump traveled to Detroit last month for a conservative conference. Before his keynote speech at Huntington Place, he went to a church on the city’s west side for a campaign stop and an attempt to reach out to Black voters.

At first glance, the walk up to 180 Church had a similar feel to other Trump rallies. There were tables of pro-Trump merchandise and some light tailgating — but what set it apart was the people.

There weren’t many. You could easily find parking, and the wait to get inside took at-most five minutes. The pulpit was set up to host a roundtable of conservative Detroiters. Rows of chairs flanked the long table where Donald Trump sat. Each seat filled with an African American voter. Some local star power too with Detroit rappers Peezy and Icewear Vezzo among them, helping to drive the message that ‘yes, the former president has Black supporters.’

But the folks in the pews — with plenty of open seats around them — were mostly white.

After speeches by local dignitaries — including former Presidential Candidate Dr. Ben Carson – things really got going, with Donald Trump hitting familiar talking points.

“We’re going to seal the border, and we’re going to stop the invasion of your jobs and the invasion of our country. It’s an invasion of your jobs,” he said.

There are no statistics that back up Trump’s claims, and border security remains a point of interest for both Republicans and Democrats. But anxiety over jobs and the economy was hit hard by people in attendance.

“People can’t buy food, can’t pay their rent, they can’t buy homes. That’s what draws me to Donald Trump.”

—Lee Williams, 82, of Romulus.

“People can’t buy food, can’t pay their rent, they can’t buy homes,” said 82-year-old Lee Williams, of Romulus. “That’s what draws me to Donald Trump.”

Williams says he is looking forward to voting for Trump for a third time.

“I trust that he loves this country. He loves America. I’m not going to say anything about Biden, except that Biden hasn’t done anything for the Black community,” he said. “He really hasn’t, and and I think Trump is for the whole, the whole country.”

Farmington Hills resident Pastor Arthur Cryor shares those economic concerns too.

“I’m voting for Donald Trump. That’s my president, and we already know he gonna make the economy bounce back so and we just pray that he is led by the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that he has godly men and women around him. You know to lead him and give him Godly wisdom, and the country will flourish,” Cryor said.

That too was a recurring theme, Trump being a ‘godly’ man. It might seem strange for a man with 34 felony convictions ostensibly for using campaign funds as hush money to cover up an affair with a porn actress.

But that mattered little to those in attendance, including 180 Church’s Pastor Lorenzo Sewell.

“Let us bow our heads, Heavenly Father. We thank you for the 45th president of the United States of America. He was charged with 34 felonies, then he raised $53 million in 24 hours,” he said at the campaign event.

Listen: Are Black voters in Detroit embracing Trump?

Brittney Moxley of Shelby Township was there with her husband and two kids. She says her faith led her to Donald Trump.

“I don’t consider myself a Republican. I’m a conservative, a hardcore conservative, and I vote what most aligns with the Bible,” said Moxley.

Trump’s rise to power has included a rise in Christian Nationalism, the idea that America’s laws should be based on a conservative interpretation of the Bible. It’s seen most often with Trump’s views on the LGBTQ community, and led to the biggest applause line of the event when he said: “And I’ll keep the radical left wing gender ideology away from our youth.”

Of course the GOP platform is not all social issues. Martell Bivings is the Republican candidate for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District. He spoke at the roundtable. He says Detroiters want something they’re not getting from city, state and national Democratic leadership.

“Access to home ownership, better jobs, the ability to be able to climb the economic ladder,” he said

In Bivings’ run for the same seat two years ago, he was picked on a quarter of the ballots, but still lost by 110,000 votes to Democrat Shri Thanedar.

Bivings maintains there are Black voters ready and willing to embrace conservative ideals.

“Walk the streets with me, and we can pick any streets you want, and you can identify any group of people. If we talk to 10 people, eight of them would be ready to vote for a conservative or Republican,” he said.

With so many attendees from outside of the city, and the pews below capacity and largely filled with white people, the streets around 180 Church near Grand River and Schaefer – at least on that day in June – weren’t filled with voters clamoring for Republicans.