Rochelle Riley

Detroit Free Press Columnist

Nobody was fooled.



Everything happened as it was supposed to.



Donald Trump showed up in Detroit and got what he came for: He sat in a black church service for the first time ever. He stood along with a mighty choir and did the white boy sway, occasionally watching Omarosa to see when to clap.



He later kissed a baby and held it up high, Lion King-like, toward a congregation and community that had gathered to hear what Trump would say to black people, folks he’d been talking about — but not talking to — for weeks.

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He later allowed a black bishop to put an anointed prayer shawl around his shoulders. And then he left so former GOP hopeful Ben Carson could show him where he used to live.



Yep, it was just as expected.



Except this: Even though this was a perfect infomercial to show white voters that Donald Trump cares about black people, Trump wasn't wrong for coming. If he had ignored black voters, people would be setting their hair on fire — even though fewer than 1% of black voters are expected to support him. With Hillary Clinton getting hit by bad news regarding e-mails and investigations almost weekly, it would be folly to continue to pretend that Trump isn't actually running, no matter how offensive he is.

►Related: Duggan blasts Trump as phony candidate without solutions

►Video: Protests outside Donald Trump appearance at a black Detroit church



And Bishop Wayne T. Jackson wasn't wrong for saying yes to Trump coming to Great Faith Ministries International and doing an interview on his Impact Network. It could be a ratings coup for the network, which he founded in 2010 and, he said, reaches viewers via Dish TV, Direct TV and Comcast (regionally). And unlike critics, he doesn't believe his congregation is so easily swayed — even though he says he is still deciding for whom to vote.

The Trump visit put a spotlight on a church that sits in what was once an abandoned Shoppers World, looking on the inside like a well-appointed megachurch and on the outside for all the world like it is still abandoned.

It put a spotlight on a pastor, a savvy operator who may never talk this much again to CNN, MSNBC and the New York Times.

It put a spotlight on Detroit because Motown needs every spotlight it can get, even one whose glare is a reminder that someone who has never set foot in a black church could be inaugurated in January.



But more important than all of that, it put a spotlight on pandering, how little tolerance there must be for it from now on and how little respect we have for some black people that critics and politicians think they could be so easily swayed.

I heard reality in the voice of the woman having the loud phone conversation in the church bookstore: "Yeah, girl. I saw him reading from that paper."

I saw it in the looks that went around when Trump announced that most people don't know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. Black people know, Mr. Trump, because he freed the slaves, back when his party cared about people.

►Related: For Trump, wooing Detroit may be Mission Impossible

►Related: Detroit pastor on Donald Trump visit: 'I owe this to my viewers'

And I felt it while talking with 30-year-old Keli Donald, a pre-med student at the University of Michigan, who walked into Great Faith Saturday morning with every intention of voting for Hillary Clinton — and left Saturday afternoon committed to voting for Clinton.



Like most people, Donald, who lives in Inkster and grew up at Great Faith, said she was shocked when she learned that Trump would be coming to her church “because of course Donald Trump has not always been positive.

"But after I heard why he wanted to bring him here, it made sense," she said. "I saw it in a positive light instead of a negative light. If Donald Trump were to become our president, there are things that we need to know as African-American people, as black people. He’s been addressing black matters in Caucasian crowds. It’s time for him to address these matters in black crowds.We need to know these answers straight from the horse’s mouth.”



And therein lies the rub. The congregation didn't get them. Neither the congregation nor most of America will know what Trump said until next week when the Impact Network airs The Interview (unless it is leaked).



In the days leading up to The Interview, speculation about it dominated television news. When the Trump campaign leaked a script it created for Trump from questions the bishop had submitted in advance, critics cried that the fix was in, that Trump was creating an infomercial and Jackson was a costar. The campaign even said that Trump would have some editing control over what viewers would see.



Jackson denied that, saying that Trump would see the final footage when America does next week. He also said he added questions to the chat that were not submitted in advance to ensure that Trump didn’t have all the answers up front.



“I did the best I could. It was from the heart. I’m not a journalist but I did the best I could. The questions I posed were to get answers on behalf of the African-American community if he was elected president and he was very relaxed and not intimidated."



Jackson said Trump did not have a script.



“It was a conversation. He wasn’t reading from a paper.”



The only thing that surprised Jackson, he said, was that Trump said he cared about Detroit.

"He said he’s not a politician. He's a businessman. And he wants to help Detroit," Jackson said.



Detroiters may not want him. Mayor Mike Duggan spoke across the street from the church before The Interview took place and said Trump is "the most phony major party nominee that I've seen in my lifetime."



Before he left, Trump did do something that Jackson said was unplanned — although Trump's campaign told the New York Times that it would happen. He stood at a podium dragged from the sidelines (not from the pulpit) and read from a script.

After entering to trumpets blaring and greeting parishioners with hugs and kisses, after lifting babies heavenward and praising the singing, Trump seemed almost sedate, standing and quietly reading remarks that he said "came from the heart."

"For centuries, the African-American church has been the conscience of our country... so true." (I love when he does that as if hearing the words for the first time). "It's from the pews and pulpits and Christian teachings of black churches all across this land that the civil rights movement lifted up in song and lifted up the soul (of this country).... The African- American faith community has been one of God's greatest gifts to America and to its people. There is perhaps no action our leaders could take ... than to provide a greater platform to black churches and churchgoers. You do right every day by your community."

Trump quoted scripture, which drew cheers, and talked of his pride in being the nominee of the party of Lincoln without mentioning that the GOP hasn't been a friend to black America for decades.



Jackson offered equal-opportunity pandering — and an almost tacit endorsement of Trump — embracing him, calling on the congregation to welcome him (which they did enthusiastically) and draping him with a prayer shawl.

Jackson said he was showing the candidate the same pastoral love he'd show anyone.

"I’m a pastor. I must show love. I show love to you. I show love to a murderer ... I show love to whomever thinks they should be shown love. Jesus said 'Blessed are the peacemakers.' All I’m trying to do is broker peace. I’m not asking Donald Trump to do anything for me.”

But the question is: Should black America be asking Trump for anything, or should they be working like hell to make sure he's not elected?

That was the line dividing protesters of all colors outside the church and parishioners and guests of all colors inside the church. Many think you can't have it both ways.

But one 30-year-old pre-med student disagreed.

"I vote for who I feel is best. I follow my heart," Keli Donald​ said. "I think Donald Trump should be held responsible for the things that come out of his mouth. And it's possible to hear from him and not be swayed."

Spoken like someone for whom we should have more respect than to think because the circus came to town, she bought a ticket.

Contact Rochelle Riley: rriley99@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @rochelleriley.









