It’s being called a “miscommunication.”
In 2011 Donald Trump infamously said, “I have a great relationship with the blacks. I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks.”Â
That seems to have been wishful thinking. And given what many are calling the racist tone of his presidential campaign, that “great relationship” claim seems to be even less credible today.
Trump today was scheduled to meet with about 100 Black pastors, and then hold an important press conference announcing their endorsement. It would have been a coup if he could have pulled it off.
He couldn’t. Last night as news broke the press conference was scrapped, Trump posted this tweet:
After the meeting was scheduled, an open letter from other Black pastors appeared in Ebony magazine, urging the pastors to reconsider, as Gawker reported.Â
“Trump’s racially inaccurate, insensitive and incendiary rhetoric should give those charged with the care of the spirits and souls of Black people great pause,” the letter, signed by 114 Black pastors, accuses.
“What theology do you believe Mr. Trump possesses when his politics are so clearly anti-Black? He routinely engages in the kind of rhetoric that brings out the worst sorts of white racist aggression, not only toward Black people, but also toward Mexican-Americans and Muslim-Americans, too. Surely, we can agree that this kind of unloving and violent language does not reflect the politics of the Christ we profess?”
Trump has now canceled the press conference but will still meet with the pastors.Â
Gawker quips, “A Trump campaign spokesperson says Trump will still meet with the group, in private. Sometime later he will get into an argument on ‘Meet the Press’ in which he insists there is video of them endorsing him.”
By the way, in May, Trump promised, “if I run and I win, I will be the greatest representative of the Christians they’ve had in a long time.”
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Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license
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