NEW YORK (AP) — donald trump says he wants to hold a major campaign event at New York’s Madison Square Garden featuring black hip-hop artists and athletes. His aides talk about making appearances in Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta with black leaders and realigning American politics by flipping Democratic constituencies.
But five months before the first general election vote, the former president’s campaign little apparent organization to show your ambitious plans.
The Trump campaign removed its coalition manager and did not announce a replacement. Republican Party minority support offices across the country have been closed and replaced by businesses that include a check cashing store, an ice cream shop and a sex toy store. And campaign officials admit they are still weeks away from launching any targeted programs.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has struggled to navigate a confusing transition to the general election plagued by personnel issues, his personal legal problems and the “Make America Great Again” movement’s disdain for so-called “ identity politics.” There are signs of frustration on the ground, where Republicans believe Trump has a real opportunity to change the election by cutting President Joe Bidenadvantages with black voters.
“To be honest, the Republican Party doesn’t have a cohesive engagement plan for communities of color,” said Darrell Scott, a Black pastor and longtime Trump ally who co-founded the National Diversity Coalition for Trump in 2016. “What There are conservatives in communities of color who have taken responsibility for leading our own initiatives.”
Political organizing on the ground has long been a hallmark of successful presidential campaigns, which typically invest enormous resources in identifying potential supporters and ensuring they vote. The task may be even more critical this fall, given the how few voters are enthusiastic about the Biden-Trump rematch.
But in Michigan, a critical battleground that went from Trump to Biden four years ago, several party officials confirmed that the Republican National Committee, reshaped by Trump’s allies after he won the nomination in March, has not yet created any community centers for minority awareness. . Office space to house the centers has been offered by community members, but staffing has been an issue, said Oakland County Republican Party Chairman Vance Patrick.
“We have all these wagons, but we don’t have any horses yet,” Patrick said. “So it’s about making sure we have staff when we open those offices.”
In Wayne County, where Detroit is located, local Republican officials say they are currently trying to figure this out on their own.
“It’s me organizing events, or people just contacting me,” said Rola Makki, vice president of outreach for the Michigan Republican Party, noting that she hasn’t seen any minority outreach centers open, despite claims to the contrary from of the Trump government. national campaign team.
In recent years, the Republican National Committee has invested heavily in community centers and minority outreach, based on the belief that real relationships with voters, even those who don’t typically support Republicans, would make a difference on Election Day. Since taking command of the RNC in early spring, however, Trump’s team has drastically scaled back those efforts.
“Traditionally, Republicans have not been effective in their efforts to persuade black and Hispanic voters to vote for our party,” said Lynne Patton, a senior campaign adviser who oversees coalition work and who has worked closely with the Trump family. for decades. “But this is all the more reason why President Trump was adamant that his hand-picked leadership team take control of the RNC and lead a unified effort to embrace the historic defection being witnessed in the black and Hispanic communities of the Democratic Party and ensure it is permanent. ”
Trump’s campaign hired a national coalitions director in October 2023, nearly a year after he launched his campaign. But the employee, Derek Silver, left in March without explanation, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to share internal discussions. Silver did not return multiple requests for comment and no replacement has been announced.
Trump advisers reject criticism that they are not organizing or spending enough to reach minorities. James Blair, the campaign’s political director, said the campaign would not “broadcast” its spending or staffing levels, “but I assure you it is enough to ensure that President Trump’s historic increase in support among black voters and Hispanics remain in November and beyond.”
Patton said Trump’s political team is laying the groundwork for a robust minority outreach program, albeit largely in private.
“We’re talking to black leaders, we’re talking to small business owners, we’re talking to famous athletes, hip-hop artists, some of whom I think you’d be surprised to know who are talking to us right now,” Patton said in an interview. “These are people expressing openness to supporting President Trump, both publicly and privately.”
She admitted that the campaign is still weeks away from launching any specific outreach programs to minorities. The delayed timeline contrasts sharply with the initial outreach during Trump’s 2020 re-election bid. He then launched his coalition efforts, including the “Latinos for Trump” and “Black Voices for Trump” programs, in the summer and fall of 2019, respectively.
Trump’s team insists the former president will improve his standing with voters of color, perhaps the most steadfast segment of the Democratic base, regardless of his strategy. They believe the campaign has momentum among both African-Americans and Hispanics, especially younger men. And they note that Trump has proven that he can win his way, disregarding traditional political rules.
Polls show that many black and Hispanic adults are dissatisfied with Biden. According to AP-NORC polls, Biden’s approval rating among black adults fell from 94% when he began his term to just 55% in March. Among Hispanic adults, it fell from 70% to 32% over the same period.
And an April poll by the Pew Research Center confirms that the problem is especially acute among younger adults: Just 43% of black adults under 50 said they approved of Biden in that poll, compared with 70% of those 50. or more. Among Hispanics, 29% of younger adults said they approved, slightly less than the 42% who said so among those 50 and older.
The Trump campaign’s evolving outreach strategy is based on using his celebrity and bombastic personality to create viral moments in communities of color that his advisers believe will have more impact than grassroots organizing or paid advertising alone. Advisors point to Trump appearances at an Atlanta Chick-fil-AThe New York Bodega it is a New York police officer’s wake as examples of the strategy.
His allies argue that rising frustration over crime, inflation and immigration could win over some voters of color who were previously less receptive to Trump’s divisive record and rhetoric.
“Communities of color are not leaning right, they are leaning Trump,” said Scott, the pastor and close Trump ally who is calling on the RNC to step up and reform its efforts. Scott said black voters support Democrats because of the party’s long-standing outreach to the community, which the Republican Party has not matched, and said the current campaign presents an opportunity the party should not waste. “Trump is the draw; Trump is the magnet.”
Biden has spent millions of dollars on ads targeting Black and Latino voters in presidential swing states. This is on top of dozens of new office openings in minority neighborhoods. At the same time, Biden’s team has frequently sent Vice President Kamala Harris, the nation’s first Black vice president, and other prominent Black leaders to key states.
The Democratic president’s campaign points to minority unemployment rates and record low education policies, such as funding for historically black colleges and universities and student loan forgiveness, as well as Biden’s stance on civil rights policy.
“Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans proudly admitting they have no real strategy for reaching black voters because they believe all they need are rap shows and free chicken is only surprising if you haven’t paid attention to Trump’s fraudulent relationship with Black America for years,” said Jasmine Harris, Black media director for the Biden campaign, who described Trump as “a fraud” who “seizes every available opportunity to demean our community.”
Trump’s personal legal problems may also be complicating his plans.
Campaign officials believe they should wait to reveal new initiatives until the conclusion of Trump’s criminal trial in New York, which is expected to last until May, if not longer.
However, there are visible signs of a lack of investment in swing states. Associated Press reporters visited the sites of several former community centers that have now been closed.
In Allentown, Pennsylvania, the Republican Party vacated its Hispanic outreach office in January 2023, a few months after the midterm elections, according to the owner, Hem Vaidya. He said the office, which he remembers as a busy place, was staffed by Hispanic employees.
Republican officials recently approached him about renting the same space again, but he refused because they only wanted it for eight months. The storefront is now occupied by his own check cashing business.
In Wisconsin, the Republican National Committee closed a Hispanic outreach center in Milwaukee after the 2022 midterms and will soon house an ice cream shop, according to Daniel Walsh, the property’s leasing agent.
Matt Fisher, spokesman for the Wisconsin Republican Party, said the state Republican Party continues to operate a black outreach center in Milwaukee. As for reaching Hispanic voters, the state party and the RNC are still considering how to approach that task.
In suburban Atlanta, an RNC community outreach center focused on reaching Asian-American voters closed and later reopened as a sex shop. AP reporters confirmed the venue’s ownership change, which was originally reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Republican strategist Alice Stewart, a veteran of several Republican campaigns, said she is confident the Trump campaign will ultimately do what is needed.
“But the key is they can’t just talk about minority outreach,” she said. “They have to do it.”
___
Brown reported from Washington. AP public opinion research director Emily Swanson in Washington and Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan; Michael Rubinkam in Allentown, Pennsylvania; Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin; Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio; and Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, contributed.
