ABOVE ILLUSTRATION: Donald Trump (foreground by Arthur Balitskiy/shutterstock.com)
Members of the Pennsylvania Delegation are getting fired up for presumptive nominee Donald Trump at this week’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
By Denise Clay
For Calvin Tucker, a businessman in West Philadelphia, Donald Trump is just what the doctor ordered for places like Philadelphia where poverty and unemployment are high,
“He has a record of building in urban communities,” Tucker said of Trump. “Places like Philadelphia need more entrepreneurs and less unemployment. I think he’ll do that.”
The Pennsylvania Delegation to the Republican National Convention may be only 71 people large, but it hopes to be mighty enough to help presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump win the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in November.
For many of the delegates, delegates attracted to Trump’s take no prisoners rhetoric, this year is their first time coming to a political convention. But what they may lack in experience, they’ll more than make up for with passion,, said Rob Gleason, chair of Pennsylvania’s Republican Party.
“All of our delegation is in support of Donald Trump,” Our whole delegation is in support of the nominee. Once the Rules Committee voted not to change the rules, Trump was in as the nominee.”
(Delegates on the Rules Committee, members of the #NeverTrump movement, tried to get the GOP to get rid of Rule 12, the rule that delegates the authority make rule changes to the RNC instead of allowing individual votes, but they were unsuccessful.)
That’s music to the ears of Carolina Harris, an alternate delegate that is also chair of Yeadon’s Republican Party. She’s hoping that with the help of her fellow delegates, people will be so well-versed in Trump that they can give the scoop to their friends.
“What I’m hoping is that the platform is made clearer,” Harris said.
But even with a clearer platform, Trump is still a tough sell to a Black community that has heard him use racist rhetoric against Blacks and Latinos and whose first endorsement came from a noted White Supremacist leader.
Blacks should be willing to overlook the rhetoric and Trump’s associations to see the possibilities, saidTucker, the lone Black voting delegate in the Pennsylvania Delegation.
“Don’t pay attention to the rhetoric,” Tucker said. “Pay attention to unemployment. [The Black Community] needs to create wealth. That’s where the focus should be.”
The convention kicked into high gear Monday morning for Pennsylvania delegates with an appearance from Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.
Later on Monday, they’ll be a spate of speakers on Trump’s law and order policies that includes former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and the candidate’s wife, Melania.
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