Donald Trump has ventured where few Republican presidential candidates tread – the city of Detroit, attending a community forum as part of a push to peel Black voters from President Joe Biden ahead of November’s election.

Trump’s appearance at a Black church drew a mix of curious local residents and die-hard supporters, but little in the way of protest.

Both Trump and Biden, a Democrat, have targeted Michigan as a must-win state where every vote may make a difference, and the Trump campaign argues an opportunity exists to win over Black voters, particularly men, who may be attracted to the former president’s economic and border-security policies.

But Detroit is also a place Trump denigrated four years ago as “corrupt” as he argued the 2020 election results there could not be trusted.

Former president Donald Trump with the panel at 180 Church in Detroit. – Reuters

At the 180 Church on the west side of the city, Trump sat on stage at a table flanked by a panel of members of the local community, including small-business owners and activists.

The event was moderated by US Representative Byron Donalds of Florida, a contender to be Trump’s vice-presidential pick.

Trump focused on his core messages, blasting the Biden administration over high inflation, crime and illegal migration, which he said has harmed Black Americans in particular.

“They’re coming into your community, and they’re taking your jobs,” Trump said. “We have to get them out.”

Trump said crime was “most rampant here, in African-American communities,” adding that the “Black population wants law enforcement more than any other."

He also vowed to revitalize the local auto industry in Detroit by slapping tariffs on vehicles built in Mexico and elsewhere.

Former president Donald Trump poses for a photo with a supporter at the church. – Reuters

The church’s senior pastor, Lorenzo Sewell, credited Trump for showing up by comparing him to Barack Obama, America’s first Black president.

“President Obama never came to the ‘hood,” Sewell said. “So, thank you.”

Wearing a “Make Black America Great Again” T-shirt, Sewell spent time in the hours before the event directing and helping visitors find parking in the hardscrabble neighborhood that surrounds the church.

The event felt unlike a typical Trump rally.

While some fervent, MAGA cap-adorned supporters waited for hours to get in, the line numbered in the hundreds, not thousands, and some attendees said they had just happened upon the scene by chance.

As the event began, the church was not at capacity. It held a diverse audience of Black and white people.

People watch as Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign event at 180 Church in Detroit. – AP

The street in front of the church was blocked by police, but there was no sign of protests.

Angelo Brown, 61, of southwest Detroit, said he wanted to come see Trump “close up” and was undecided between Biden and Trump.

“I’m still listening,” Brown said. “I want more of a focus on America, our school system, the medical system."

"I'd like to see them fix the immigration problem and not just bicker about it," he said.

Tamika Markham, 46, of Detroit, said she was open to voting for Trump. “You never know,” she said.

“We are just getting by,” Markham said of her and her teenage son.

“It’s hard for a lot of people. I see a lot of people struggling.”

Not everyone in the neighborhood was happy to see Trump.

Mae Thomas rolled down the window of her SUV as she drove by the scene outside the church and said she was a life-long Democrat and would be voting for Biden.

A quick visit to Detroit by Trump wouldn’t persuade her, Thomas said. He had not done anything for her community as president.

“Now if he walked up to me right now and do for our neighborhood, make everything beautiful, then it’s different, then we might talk about it,” she said.

“But just to come in … I haven’t seen no improvement in the neighborhood.”

Former president Donald Trump speaks at the Turning Point Action conference. – Reuters

He later spoke in Detroit at a conference of Turning Point Action, a right-wing advocacy group that may be instrumental in driving out the vote for Trump.

Black Americans have been credited with helping Biden secure the White House in 2020. Yet, recent polls have suggested some slippage of support among Black voters, who historically have been viewed as the Democratic Party’s most loyal voting bloc.

Trump’s Detroit visit is unlikely to lead to a notable shift in Black support, experts said.

But the visit may appeal to centrist Republicans and independent voters, who would like to see him build a broader coalition beyond his loyalists.

Among Black registered voters, Biden led Trump 57 per cent to 12 per cent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll in May, with 16 per cent saying they aren't sure who they will vote for, 8 per cent saying some other candidate and 7 per cent saying they won't vote at all.

The Biden campaign has been ramping up efforts in Michigan, where Biden defeated Trump by 2.7 percentage points in 2020.

Biden spoke at a NAACP dinner in Detroit last month, while Vice President Kamala Harris visited the state this week.

Local Democratic officials including Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist held a press conference on Friday ahead of the Trump event, denouncing his visit and contending another Trump presidency would be harmful for Black Americans.

“We cannot take a step backwards into a Trump reality that is so narrowly focused on everybody but us,” Gilchrist said.