It’s customary for state officials to give a little pushback when the presidential nominee of an opposing party visits their state, but Detroit mayor Mike Duggan went into full attack mode while speaking to reporters about Donald Trump’s visit to a black church in his city on Saturday.
“I feel like I’m watching the next season of ‘The Apprentice,’” Duggan, who is a Democrat, said during a press conference across from Great Faith International Ministries, the church where Trump spoke.
“This is the most phony major party nominee that I’ve seen in my lifetime, and that’s why we’re skeptical,” he added.
“Are you here just to use Detroiters as props in a re-imaging campaign, or are you here to have a real conversation where you’re finally going to give us the specifics on what you’re going to do to make American cities better?” Duggan wondered.
“We want to hear your plans for reducing poverty,” Duggan continued, diretcly addressing Trump.
Standing alongside Duggan was Democratic Rep. Brenda Lawrence, who also had a few words for the GOP nominee.
“[Trump] said when he sees an African American that I am broke, I am unemployed, I’m uneducated, and whenever I walk out my door I’m being shot. What do I have to lose?” Lawrence said. “I don’t want my grandchild to listen to the rhetoric that she, as a woman and as an African-American, is classified and stereotyped as uneducated.”
U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence & Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan speak ahead of Trump visit. pic.twitter.com/PRgrOOb568
— Emily Lawler (@emilyjanelawler) September 3, 2016
“You are not qualified to be president of the United States that includes me as an African-American woman.”
[The Hill/Detroit Free Press] A previous version of this article mistakenly said that Duggan was “governor” of Detroit. It has since been updated.
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