“The future of the Trump hotels company depends on how they do with their four hotels in the Mississippi Delta,” he wrote in a previously unreported email exchange with the governor last year. “Unreal!!!”

The governor, Phil Bryant, cheered the Chawlas on and extended an invitation to Trump hotel executives to visit the governor’s mansion, emails obtained through a records request show. In 2016, the governor had introduced Suresh Chawla to Mr. Trump, then a presidential candidate, during a campaign stop in Mississippi.

The Chawlas, who arrived in the United States as children and are naturalized citizens, shrugged off questions about their politics, saying they play by the rules and focus on projects that will uplift their economically depressed region. Dinesh Chawla said that their company had had no contact with Mr. Trump since he became president — “I didn’t think he had a chance in hell of winning,” he said — and that their dealings with the president’s sons were largely limited to business and pleasantries.

“The ups and downs of President Trump are just theater,” said Dinesh Chawla, in his work attire of black slacks and a checked shirt unbuttoned at the collar. “I have my family’s finances at stake here. I cannot worry about Twitter postings and investigations.”

Image V. K. Chawla, Dinesh and Suresh Chawlas’ father, dreamed of owning a hotel and called Donald J. Trump in the 1980s to ask for a loan.

For the Trump Organization, the unconventional partnership with the Chawlas signals a sharp turn from its heady days of global expansion and five-star luxury; the nearest Trump hotel to Mississippi is in a skyscraper in Chicago, and room rates there can be multiples of what the Chawlas are likely to charge.

The company, which the president still owns, has said it will not pursue new foreign deals and will subject many domestic ones to outside ethics vetting, shrinking the pool of potential partners. The Chawlas signed a deal to open three budget-friendly properties under the Trump Organization’s new American Idea brand and one four-star hotel here in Cleveland as a Scion, the company’s other new brand.