White Crowds Fill the Pews for Trump’s Visit to Black Church

Donald Trump visited Detroit on Saturday, a city he once called a “living hell,” and staged a surprise “roundtable” at 180 Church, a predominately Black congregation on the city’s outskirts. While the event was ostensibly about issues facing Black voters, and some Black pro-Trump personalities like Peezy and Icewear Vezzo showed up, social media lit up at footage showing the pews packed with white crowds. “It’s all lies, smoke, and mirrors,” Jeff Timmer, a senior adviser for the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, wrote on X. Axios reporter Sam Robinson said much of the “roundtable” featured Trump talking to the crowd, largely about opposing LGBTQ causes. Still, one participant praised him for visiting and said Barack Obama and Joe Biden “never came to the hood.” The church’s pastor, Lorenzo Sewell, told Reuters he initially thought he was “being punked” when the Trump campaign reached out. “That began to move my heart because people that are disenfranchised, pushed aside, and marginalized typically don’t have a voice at the table,” he said.