• Trump is attempting to make gains in the solidly Democratic city because Michigan could be decided by a few thousand votes
• Trump attended a church rally, then a conservative conference at TCF Center
• The visit comes as polls show support for Biden among Black voters, while still overwhelming, is slipping

DETROIT — Seeking to make inroads in a city whose violence he once said was  “like living in hell,” former President Donald Trump returned to Detroit on Saturday to make the case that he’s “done more for the Black population than any president since Abraham Lincoln.”

Speaking at a Detroit church and a conservative conference at TCF Center, Trump’s campaigning in the predominantly Democratic city shows that Michigan is crucial in the race for the White House — and Republicans’ belief that he can make inroads in Black voters skeptical of President Joe Biden.

Recent polls suggest some slippage in Black voter support for Biden. In a close race, a few thousand votes could make a big difference, experts say.

“We're not going to turn Detroit red, but I do believe, and the campaign also are beginning to see that there are enough Detroit votes that will aid him in taking the state of Michigan,” said Martell Bivings, a Republican from Detroit who is running for Congress in the 13th District for the second time.

RELATED STORIES: 

• Dems to fly sky banner over Trump boat parade in Detroit
• Joe Biden comes to Detroit as Black voter apathy imperils re-election
• Trump warns of tax hikes, EV doom in Michigan rally. Here are the facts

Trump was the star of a roundtable discussion at 180 Church in Northwest Detroit. Some seats were empty, few major community leaders were there, and about half of the attendees were white.

Trump’s speech focused on crime, blasting Biden for his role in the 1994 crime bill that led to mass incarceration and calling the incumbent “the worst president for Black people.”

On a question from the church’s pastor, Lorenzo Sewell, about keeping money earned by Black Michiganders within their communities, Trump turned to crime.

“They have to stop the crime. If you stop the crime, you’re going to see more and more stores sprout,” said Trump, who addressed the church for about 20 minutes.

 “You see big stores they moved in 10 years ago, they spent millions of dollars to build it, and now they're leaving. These are not necessarily Black communities, in many cases they're not at all, but where there’s crime there's empty stores, and you don’t keep the money.”

Violent crime in Detroit has decreased in the past two years, according to police statistics, but the city routinely ranks as one of the most violent in the nation.

Trump’s biggest applause from the crowd at the church roundtable came when he promised to ban “radical left wing gender ideology” and clamp down on illegal immigration.

In his remarks, he falsely claimed, “we achieved the lowest African American unemployment rate and the lowest African American poverty rate ever recorded during my four years. 

Unemployment for Black Americans fell below 5% for the first time in April 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and a record-low poverty rate, 17.1%, was hit in 2022, per the U.S. Census Bureau.

Battle for Detroit

Detroit has become a focal point for the campaign for both Trump and Biden.

Biden most recently spoke at the Detroit Branch NAACP’s Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner in May.

On Friday, Democrats held a media event to denounce Trump’s visit. One pastor, Cindy Rudolph, said that “instead of meaningfully engaging with us, Trump is making a mockery of the church, and he continues to lack the moral clarity necessary for the office of the president.”

"Donald Trump has the nerve to waltz into our city and act like he wants to understand the struggles Black Detroiters face, but the reality is he doesn’t care,” pastor James Perkins, said in a statement from Biden’s campaign. 

“Every time Trump opens his mouth to talk to Black folks, he demonizes us, insults us, and makes empty promises he’ll never keep.” 

In 2016, Trump earned 7,700 votes in the city, compared to nearly 235,000 for Democrat Hillary Clinton, while in 2020 he improved to 12,700 as Democrats had just 234,000 for Biden.

After the 2020 election, Trump alleged on social media that the city counted “far more votes than people.” In reality, turnout was less than 50% in both 2016 and 2020.

Trump won Michigan by 10,700 votes in 2016, while he lost it by 154,000 votes in 2020.

Black Americans for Trump

Polls show the Michigan race is a dead heat, and Trump would likely benefit from a lower turnout in Democratic bastions like Detroit or Saginaw (whose airport Trump held a rally at last month.)

Marcel Turner, who led Trump’s Black voter outreach in Michigan in 2020, was in the crowd at the church event Saturday.

While having no formal role with the campaign this year, he noted Trump is focusing more on urban centers and believed it would pay dividends for the former president.

Ahead of the event Trump also announced the “Black Americans for Trump” coalition, which contained a long list of endorsees including former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. 

Kilpatrick, who served as mayor from 2002 to 2008, is like Trump a convicted felon. Kilpatrick resigned from office during a sex scandal, and later was sentenced to 28 years in prison on felony charges related to bid rigging accusations.

Trump commuted his sentence in 2020.

“I can never thank President Trump enough for what he's done for me and my family by giving me freedom,” said Kilpatrick, who did not attend the church event. 

“But I believe this election and the issues involved are personal to every family and every person in America.” 

Before Trump spoke at the church, the crowd was addressed by  Michigan’s only Black member of Congress, Rep. John James, R-Shelby Township, and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, a Detroit native.

Some of the city’s biggest rappers, including Peezy, Icewear Vezzo and Sada Baby, also attended the event.

“I love Donald Trump,” Peezy told Bridge. 

“What I'm here for is because I wanted to see some of our community speak for us, because you know, everybody in the Black community don't represent everybody in the Black community.”

After the church visit, Trump appeared at a convention in Huntington Place held by conservative activist group Turning Point Action. There he attacked electric vehicles, the United Auto Workers and promised to revitalize the domestic automotive industry without electrification.