Former President Donald Trump spoke to evangelical voters at two campaign events Saturday to strengthen and expand his base, telling them they need to increase their turnout at the polls.
Trump addressed the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington on Saturday afternoon, a conference of evangelical conservatives who have provided a bedrock of support for his three presidential bids. Later, the presumptive Republican president held a rally in North Philadelphia as part of his effort to make inroads with black voters in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania.
Trump told his supporters that to defeat President Joe Biden they needed to “turn out in the largest numbers ever.”
“Evangelicals and Christians, they don’t vote as much as they should, I don’t know if you know that,” Trump said. “They go to church every Sunday, but they don’t vote.”
Trump complained that gun rights activists also did not vote in large enough numbers, and said boxes to cast ballots should be placed inside churches.
“You’ve got to get out, just this one time,” Trump added. “I don’t care in four years — you don’t have to vote, OK? In four years, don’t vote, I don’t care.”
Trump received a hero’s welcome from the organization, founded by conservative activist Ralph Reed, even though he took little action during his presidency on many of the group’s key priorities, from tackling gay marriage to ending the legalization of medical marijuana.
Still, Trump’s efforts to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade — as well as his embrace of culture-war conflicts — have strengthened his appeal among evangelicals and his position as a leader of the Republican Party.
Trump’s sometimes-jolted effort to translate enthusiasm at the Washington event into votes at the ballot box underscores that his hopes for a second term depend on motivating devoted supporters. Surveys show a large share of middle-class voters are disappointed with both candidates and are considering third-party options or are reluctant to vote.
“I think it’s a form of protest. You’re very angry about what’s happening,” Trump said. “Do you know how much power you would have had if you had voted?”
Even though Trump’s political campaign is focused on bringing out dedicated conservatives, he is also looking to appeal to Black and Latino voters – who have traditionally supported Democratic presidential candidates – but have borne the brunt of the post-pandemic inflation. Trump’s rally at Temple University in Philadelphia came just days after he visited a Black church in Detroit.
“We will also work to advance Black, Hispanic and other communities in Philadelphia and throughout the United States,” Trump said.
Surveys show Biden’s standing among minority voters has weakened, potentially handing an opportunity to Trump and Republicans hoping to build up enough support to win in close states.
Trump’s efforts have been further complicated by his characterization of cities with large black populations as crime-ridden and failing, as he did last week when discussing Milwaukee, which will host the Republican National Convention, and in discussions with GOP lawmakers there.
In Philadelphia, Trump lamented that “convenience stores are closing” and dismissed statistics showing a sharp drop in the city’s murder rate as “fake news.” By April, murders in Philadelphia were down by more than a third from the previous year.
Trump also demonstrated his penchant for stirring up controversy at both venues, telling attendees that he had set up Ultimate Fighting Championship chief Dana White for an event that would pit the winner of his league against an “immigrant league of fighters.”
Trump has regularly highlighted cases of illegal immigrants committing violent crimes and warned that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” while critics — including Biden — have argued that rhetoric is racially coded.
“I think the immigrant guy could win,” Trump said. “They’re so tough. They don’t like the idea very much, but it’s actually not the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”
Biden won Pennsylvania in 2020, and his hopes of carrying the state in a rematch with Trump in November will depend in part on his ability to turn out Black voters and keep working-class voters in the state on his side. A Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll in May found Trump leading Biden 46% to 48% in Pennsylvania.
The state has become a focal point of his re-election campaign. According to an internal memo from Make America Great Again Inc., a Trump-allied super-PAC, the group has and will continue to focus its efforts and funding in Pennsylvania.
More broadly, Biden has also struggled to include vital blue-collar workers in states including Michigan in his economic agenda.
Trump has ramped up his campaign after becoming the first former president to be convicted of a felony in his hush-money trial in New York. He has also used the conviction to boost his campaign, raising $141 million in May, more than the $85 million Biden raised that month.
Trump’s visit to Washington on Saturday is his second this month. Last week, he returned to Capitol Hill for the first time since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters to stop the certification of the 2020 election, where he met with House and Senate Republicans.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
