Right now President Donald Trump is on his way to Texas, where he will hold a roundtable discussion on policing and race at a Dallas megachurch, nearly three weeks after the police killing of an un armed Black man, George Floyd. Not invited: Dallas’ top three law enforcement officials – a police chief, sheriff and district attorney – all of whom are Black. The White House also refused to invite three U.S. Congressmen who represent the area, all of whom are Democrats and Black.
“The White House defended the snub, insisting the president will still hear a diversity of views before heading to a $10 million campaign dinner with two dozen donors who pony up at least $580,600 each for a meal and souvenir photo,” The Dallas Morning News reports.
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot told the Dallas Morning News, “of course [Trump] would not be getting the full picture of advice from law enforcement. I don’t know who he’s going to get it from. I mean, we are the people on the ground.”
The city of Dallas is the nation’s ninth largest, with over 1.3 million people. It is also more diverse than the national average. About 62 percent are white, and 24 percent are Black.
Despite Dallas’s demographics, Trump has chosen a predominantly white church for his discussion, which will be “hosted at Gateway Church’s campus in North Dallas on Hillcrest Road near Forest Lane, one of the city’s more affluent areas.”
Dallas’s mayor Eric Johnson, who is Black, was invited but cited a scheduling conflict and will not attend.
U.S. Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Colin Allred of Dallas, and Marc Veasey of Fort Worth were not invited. All are Democrats, and all are Black.
While this is technically an official White House visit paid for by the taxpayers, the Trump administration is using the Trump campaign’s slogan and language, calling it a “Roundtable on Transition to Greatness: Restoring, Rebuilding, and Renewing.”
Trump more than any president in modern history has blurred the lines between official White House business and his campaign’s business, leaving taxpayers to pick up the tab.