Posted on 11/30/2015 11:06:53 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
NEW YORK (AP) - Donald Trump says he thinks a group of black pastors meeting with him Monday had planned to endorse him for president but were pressured out of it because he "believes all lives matter."
"Probably some of the Black Lives Matter folks called them up and said, 'Oh, you shouldn't be meeting with Trump because he believes all lives matter,'" Trump said Monday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," referring to the movement protesting against police brutality and the killing of unarmed African-Americans.
Trump predicted some of the 100 black evangelical leaders would endorse him after the meeting, nonetheless.
Many of the religious leaders invited to the meet-and-greet with Trump were surprised that the gathering was being advertised by his Republican presidential campaign as an endorsement. After they objected, the Trump campaign decided to keep the meeting private and quietly canceled a press conference afterward meant to announce their support.
"It's a miscommunication," said Darrell Scott, the senior pastor of New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, who helped to organize the meeting scheduled for Monday afternoon in New York - one of several Trump has convened in recent months with black religious leaders.
Trump's campaign had issued a press release last week that read: "Mr. Trump will be joined by a coalition of 100 African-American evangelical pastors and religious leaders who will endorse the GOP front-runner after a private meeting at Trump Tower."......
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
There was a short presser after the meeting.
MSNBC reported on the meeting and showed most of the presser in the 4 pm hour:
Over 100 black ministers in attendance
Trump said meeting was over 4.5 hours long
Meeting was long not because of problems but because of love in the room and the desire to find answers
Trump said balck unemployment, especially of teens was way too high
Trump said black lives matter, white lives matter, all lives matter
Black ministers with him nodded in agreement
Omarosa was standing next to Trump and in agreement with everything he said
Trump said he was getting on a plane and heading to MAcon GA right now
Yes, by all accounts the meeting was a total failure./s
Hey “Dude” - I find YOU wholly unconvincing and utterly foolish.
“He has a chance to make serious inroads in the black community but not by playing these kinds of juvenile games and setting the people up against their own ministers”
That’s where I respectfully disagree with you. What is so unique about Trump, is he says, the hell with political correctness and the hell with conventional wisdom. The truth is the truth. He talks around all these supposed obstacles to telling the truth. He speaks the truth directly to the people and has enough faith that people are intelligent enough to handle it. When the pundits scratch their heads and wonder why Trump is defying all predictions and succeeding by doing ‘all the wrong things’ this is why. The people respect someone who talks directly to them and who says the truth.
Then Trump should have confronted the black ministers directly about being influenced by BLM or making their attendance contingent on a later endorsement. If he can’t tell it as he sees it face to face he shouldn’t be making insinuations in the press that throw potential supporters under the bus.
I don’t know all the facts as to what he said to the pastors ahead of time and when he said it, but your assumption that his actions are a case of throwing these potential supporters under the bus is just that, an assumption. Perhaps his actions were a result of not thinking things out ahead of time. The other possibility is the he handled things exactly the way he wanted to to try to achieve the best outcome.
Looking at this as a deal in the making, as I’m sure Trump did, his actions were probably based on calculation. Trump has an uncanny knack for sizing up the dynamics of such situations so my guess is that the outcome of this situation is not as bad as you assume. Perhaps his comments actually help many of the pastors communicate something that they would like to communicate but which they are uncomfortable communicating. It’s very possible that Trump’s statement got them off the hook.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.