Welp, Donald Trump again visited a black church and, once again, had an awkward encounter. The Republican presidential nominee spoke at a church in Flint, Michigan to discuss the ongoing water crisis in the city and was brilliantly shut down by the pastor as he began to attack Hillary Clinton.
Trump was invited by Rev. Faith Green Timmons of Bethel United Methodist Church on Wednesday (Sept. 14). However, he really thought the negative bully tactics he’s become accustomed to was going to fly in the house of the Lord with about 50 black people sitting in the audience.
He began to criticize Clinton’s positions on economy and foreign policy. “Everything she touched didn’t work out. Now, Hillary Clinton…” he says until the pastor interrupts.
Flint pastor interrupts Trump: I didn't invite you to "give a political speech" https://t.co/EC0J9AozPY pic.twitter.com/L0pvY7sw9K
— CNN (@CNN) September 14, 2016
“Mr. Trump, I invited you here to thank us for what we’ve done for Flint, not to give a political speech”
Go on, Pastor!!
Of course Trump’s feelings were a little hurt, so he ran to Fox News to slam the pastor for interrupting his speech. Appearing on Fox & Friends, he says he knew “something was up” from the beginning.
“When she got up to introduce me she was so nervous, she was shaking. I said, wow, this is kind of strange. Then she came up. So she had that in mind, there’s no question … She was a nervous mess, and so I figured something — I figured something was up, really.”
But according to NPR reporter Scott Detrow, who was at the church covering Trump’s appearance, Rev. Timmons did not seem nervous. In fact, Rev. Timmons reportedly even defended the candidate against hecklers.
“The audience was saying, ‘Let him speak, let him speak,’ Trump told Fox and Friends.
That isn’t true. In fact, several audience members began to heckle Trump, asking pointed questions about whether he racially discriminated against black tenants as a landlord.
And that’s when Timmons — who Trump said Thursday had planned to ambush him — stepped in to defend Trump, saying the Republican nominee was ‘a guest of my church, and you will respect him.’
‘Thank you. Thank you, Pastor,’ Trump responded.”
Rev. Timmons has also taken to Facebook to share her thoughts on the situation.
Despite slamming the black pastor and his low favorability ratings with African-Americans, Trump still hopes to capture the black vote. “What do [African-Americans] have to lose?” he said during his Fox & Friends interview.
