Longtime pastor Jamal Bryant claims the African-American religious leaders who met behind closed doors with Donald Trump are “prostituting themselves … and the black church.”
Bryant, a Baltimore-based reverend and Democrat who announced a congressional bid in mid-September only to nix his campaign eight days later, slammed dozens of his fellow clergymen Tuesday for accepting an invitation to meet with the Republican presidential hopeful at his gilded Manhattan skyscraper.
“They are prostituting themselves and, in essence, the black church,” Bryant said in an interview with the New York Daily News.
“I really felt that their contingency was really selling out their vote for nothing. We’ve heard nothing from [Trump] about bridging the gap of economic inequality, mass incarceration, public schools, trade with Africa and other issues important to the black community,” he added.
According to Bryant, those who met with the billionaire were simply seeking their “15 minutes of fame.”
“It gave them a chance to be on television, and in the newspaper, where otherwise nobody would have ever known their names,” he said.
The 44-year-old minister also noted he opposes Trump not because they belong to different political parties but because the leading GOP hopeful “is flagrantly against humanity.”
“He’s spoken out against blacks, Latinos, women. It doesn’t line up with anything that is reflective of ministry,” Bryant said.
Despite Bryant’s criticism, Trump and Ohio-based pastor Darrell Scott, who helped organize the meeting Monday, described the gathering as “absolutely amazing.”
“We made lots of progress and we look forward to the next one,” Scott told reporters at Trump Tower Monday during an impromptu press conference following the meeting.
Trump remains atop the Washington Examiner’s presidential power rankings. He is scheduled to arrive in New Hampshire Tuesday evening before joining his GOP rivals in Washington, D.C., Thursday for a presidential forum hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition.
