Evening Report — Trump takes Black voter outreach to Michigan (2024)

Former President Trump will look to build on polls showing surprising strength among Black voters on a campaign swing this weekend through Michigan, a battleground state President Biden narrowly carried in 2020.

Trump will meet with community leaders Saturday at the 180 Church in Detroit.

In 2020, Biden took 92 percent support among Black voters, against 8 percent for Trump.

No one is expecting a complete realignment among Black voters, but recent polls show a small but meaningful percentage of Black men and younger Black voters moving toward Trump.

In Michigan, those shifts around the margins could potentially swing the outcome in a close race. Democrats were already concerned that backlash to Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war could keep Michigan’s large population of Arab and Muslim voters at home on Election Day. More than 100,000 Democrats voted “uncommitted” in the Michigan primary.

In an interview Friday on Fox Business, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the lone Black Republican in the Senate and a potential running mate for Trump, made the case for Black voters switching.

“Supporting the candidate that will purge the Department of Justice of the political nature of it, supporting the candidate where their wages grew faster at the bottom than at the top, supporting the candidate that closes the border. This border crisis devastates poor communities first. That candidate is Donald Trump. That makes this decision and easier than this decision than it’s been in for decades.”

A roundup of recent polls:

• The latest CBS News/YouGov survey puts Biden’s Black support at 81 percent, compared to 18 percent for Trump.
• A New York Times/Sienna College battlegrounds survey from May found Biden at 63 percent among Black voters and Trump at 23 percent, with 14 percent undecided.
• An April Wall Street Journal survey put Trump at 30 percent among Black men and 12 percent among Black women.

Some Democrats have dismissed these polls due to the relatively small sample sizes. In a Friday interview with Politico, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said “something is amiss with the polling.”

“I don’t know what’s happening here, but I do know this: that anybody who believes that Donald Trump will get 30% of the Black male vote or 12% of the Black female vote, I got a bridge down there on Johns Island I’ll sell you.”

A Pew survey from May of more than 700 Black voters found Biden at 77 percent and Trump at 18 percent. That survey also found Biden leads Trump 68-29 among Black voters between the ages of 18 and 49.

Republicans are hopeful that kind of swing could impact the outcome in Michigan, where Biden defeated Trump in 2020 by fewer than 3 points.

Biden’s surest path back to the White House entails holding on to his Blue Wall in the Midwest, so a Trump victory in Michigan, which he won by the narrowest of margins in 2016, could prove decisive.

The Biden campaign has also focused heavily on Black voter outreach, including in the Midwest.

• Biden traveled to Detroit in May to address the NAACP’s 69th annual Fight for Freedom Fund dinner.
• Vice President Harris was in Detroit last weekend for a Michigan Democratic Party fundraiser.
• Biden addressed graduates last month in Atlanta at Morehouse College, a historically black college.

At the Juneteenth celebration this week at the White House, Biden warned of “ghosts in new garments trying to take us back.”

“[They are] … taking away your freedoms, making it hard for Black people to vote or have your vote counted, closing doors of opportunity, attacking the values of diversity, equity and inclusion.”

More campaign coverage:

• Trump, McConnell bury the hatchet with eye on GOP takeover.
• Harris is Biden’s secret weapon in swing-state North Carolina.
• Biden campaign is going all out to highlight Trump’s disparaging remarks about Milwaukee, where Republicans will hold their nominating convention.

• Demolition underway at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, site of the deadly mass shooting in 2018.

• Obamas expand Netflix partnership.

• Kate Middleton reveals “good days and bad days” in cancer fight: “I am not out of the woods yet.“

NEW THIS AFTERNOON

The Supreme Court on Friday ended the nationwide ban on bump stocks, invalidating a rule put into place under former President Trump.

The six conservative justices ended the prohibition on bump stocks, which came into the public consciousness after a mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017 that left 58 dead and hundreds wounded.

The three liberal justices voted to keep the Trump-era rule in place.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion, saying that rifles equipped with bump stocks don’t qualify as “machine guns” because they don’t allow for multiple bullets to be fired “by a single function of the trigger.”

“A bump stock does not convert a semi automatic rifle into a machinegun any more than a shooter with a lightning-fast trigger finger does.”

Joining the majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito said the “simple remedy” is for Congress to pass a law banning bump stocks.

Congress never addressed bump stocks after the 2017 mass shooting. Rather, Trump used an executive action to reclassify them as “machine guns.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a scathing dissent that the Supreme Court had cast aside longstanding definitions of “machine gun” to “seize upon one that is inconsistent with the ordinary meaning of the statutory text and unsupported by context or purpose.”

“When I see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on Congress to pass a law banning bump stocks while blasting the “far-right Supreme Court.”

“Bump stocks have played a devastating role inmanyof the horrific mass shootings in our country,but sadly it’s no surpriseto see the Supreme Court roll back thisnecessary public safety ruleas they pushtheirout of touchextreme agenda. They’re even further to the right of Donald Trump.”

More coverage:

• Supreme Court bump stock decision hurls gun rights back into the spotlight.

TRIALS

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Friday it would not prosecute Attorney General Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress.

Republicans voted this week to hold Garland in contempt, sending a criminal referral to the DOJ after Garland refused to comply with a subpoena for audio tapes of the interview between President Biden and special counsel Robert Hur.

The DOJ argued that Biden’s claim of executive privilege over the tapes protects Garland from prosecution.

The DOJ also said that administrations under both parties have declined to prosecute attorneys general for refusal to hand over materials to Congress.

Republicans already have the transcript of that interview, but they’re seeking the audio after Hur declined to charge Biden for mishandling classified documents in part because the president came off as “an elderly man with a poor memory” in the interview.

From The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch:

“…while [Republicans] publicly sought to connect the tapes to their impeachment probe, the transcript makes clear no items they marked as important to their investigation were discussed.”

Republicans and some media outlets expect the fight for the audio tapes to be decided by the courts.

More coverage:

• Justice Department loses foreign agent case against casino mogul Steve Wynn.
• Hunter Biden dropping laptop lawsuit against Giuliani.
• Trump shows empathy for Hunter Biden.

The House on Friday passed its version of the annual defense policy bill, although the vote cut almost exclusively along party lines due to culture war amendments Republicans included in the bill.

The $883.7 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed 217-199. Only six Democrats voted in favor, while three Republicans voted to oppose it.

Democrats oppose several riders in the bill:

• Republicans are seeking to block a Biden administration policy to reimburses service members for the travel costs incurred when receiving an abortion.
• The bill would block funding to cover gender transition medical procedures for service members.
• The NDAA wouldslash Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs, including an amendment to place a freeze on hiring DEI jobs at the Pentagon.

The NDAA typically enjoys some level of bipartisan support, but the House bill is now on track for a showdown with the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Here are some of the newsmakers who will be making the rounds Sunday:

FOX “Fox News Sunday”: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R).

CBS “Sunday Morning”: Dr. Anthony Fauci.

CBS “Face the Nation”: Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio).

CNN “State of the Union”: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.); Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).

MSNBC “The Weekend”: Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).

— Compiled by The Hill’s Liz Crisp.

Here’s who’s coming up on theSundayshows:

FOX “Fox News Sunday”: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R).

CBS “Sunday Morning“: Dr. Anthony Fauci.

CBS “Face the Nation”: Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio).

CNN “State of the Union”: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.); Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).

MSNBC “The Weekend”: Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).

Compiled by The Hill’s Elizabeth Crisp

PUNDIT CORNER

“The fake outrage over Justice Alito,” by Jonathan Turley, Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School.

“What we’d lose with a second Trump presidency,” by Donna Brazille, former chair of the Democratic National Committee.

“The abortion pill stays legal, but for how long?,” by Jesse Wegman at The New York Times.

“Democrats should swap out ‘Bidenomics’ for an abundance agenda,” by Ruy Teixeira, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

13 days until the first presidential debate.

31 days until the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

66 days until the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

144 days until the 2024 general election.

220 days until Inauguration Day 2025.

Friday

• President Biden departs Italy for Washington, D.C., then continues on to Los Angeles.
• Vice President Harris travels to Switzerland.

Saturday

• Biden participates in a campaign fundraiser in Los Angeles with former President Obama.
• Harris participates in the Lucerne Summit On Peace about Ukraine in Switzerland.

• Turning Point Action’s “People’s Convention” is underway in Detroit, with featured speakers over the weekend to include former President Trump, Sen. JD Vance(R-Ohio), former White House adviserSteve Bannonand Rep.Byron Donalds(R-Fla.).

• Trump meets with community leaders at 180 Church in Detroit at 4 p.m.

Sunday

• Father’s Day

UNDER THE RADAR