Pastor Lorenzo Sewell of Detroit’s 180 Church is being criticized for his choice words when he told former President Donald Trump he was “humbled” that he came to “the hood.”
During a Blacks For Trump rally hosted at the large church, Sewell moderated a roundtable discussion on June 15 to engage with Black voters in the Motor City. To start things off, Sewell thanked the four-time indicted politician for coming to “the hood,” highlighting that former President Barack Obama or President Joe Biden failed to do so. “President Obama never came to the ’hood, so to speak, right? President Joe Biden, he went to the big NAACP dinner, but he never came to the ’hood,” he said to thunderous applause.
“So thank you.”
After his comments went viral on social media, Sewell was interviewed on “Fox & Friends First” to discuss how Trump’s visit “means so much” to the community — since he couldn’t remember the last time a President laid out a concrete plan, like Trump’s Platinum Plan, for Black voters. “Those metrics matter to us,” he said. “So we’re going to ask him, we’re going to hold him accountable to the Platinum Plan that he produced.”
According to Fox News, the plan, created in 2020, included close to $500 billion for Black businesses and churches. It also had plans to “prosecute the KKK and ANTIFA as terrorist organizations and make lynching a national hate crime.”
Under the plan, the former president allegedly vowed to make Juneteenth a national holiday — done by President Joe Biden in 2021.
Social media wasn’t too happy about Sewell’s celebration of Trump, including a lengthy prayer and wearing a shirt saying,” Make Black America Great Again.” They dug into the pastor’s past and found his congregation once voted him out as pastor. During a long legal battle regarding control of the 180
Church, in 2023, Wayne Circuit Judge Kathleen McCarthy granted Sewell a temporary restraining order to continue holding services at the church after he said the locks were changed by members illegally who wanted him out as pastor.After the rally, which hosted a majority of white participants, Trump was the guest of the hour at the Turning Point Action Convention. He used his time at the podium to suggest Biden doesn’t know what the word “inflation” means and challenged Biden to take a cognitive test — one he is said to have “aced.” “I think he should take a cognitive test like I
did,” Trump said. “Ronny Johnson, he was the White House doctor, and he said I was the healthiest President he feels in history.” According to CNN, Trump mixed up the doctor’s name and was referring to Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson.The cognitive test detects early signs of memory loss and other mild cognitive impairments. Trump took a test in 2018 on his own terms.