Donald Trump is set to visit a predominantly black church in Detroit on Saturday, but his campaign advisers have already scripted the Republican nominee’s planned question and answer session with the ministry’s pastor.
The meeting at Great Faith Ministries International will be closed to the public and media, with the questions submitted beforehand and Trump’s answers already written, according to an eight-page draft script reported by the New York Times on Friday.
The script details a dozen questions that Bishop Wayne T. Jackson plans to ask the GOP nominee during the taped meeting, along with the lengthy responses Trump was instructed to deliver by campaign advisers and Republican National Committee aides who consulted black Republicans for approval.
"If we are to make America great again, we must reduce, rather than highlight, issues of race in this country," Trump is advised to say. "I want to make race disappear as a factor in government and governance."
The script shows a prewritten question from Bishop Jackson asking Trump whether his campaign is racist. Campaign aides recommended Trump avoid repeating the word and instead pivot the conversation toward education and welfare reforms.
"Coming into a community is meaningless unless we offer an alternative to the horrible progressive agenda that has perpetuated a permanent underclass in America," advisers told Trump to say.
A Public Policy Polling survey released Monday showed Trump’s favorability rating among black voters at zero percent while his unfavorable rating registered at 97 percent.
Trump and his campaign staff are hoping his trip to Detroit will help salvage his image among African-Americans across the United States.