This article, appropriately titled “Trump had Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert crash the Chicago Cubs’ photo op at the White House in a bizarre scene”, caught my attention due to the connection between Trump and Gilbert. Earlier this week, the Chicago Cubs visited the White House while in DC to play the Nationals. During the photo-op with Trump and the team, Trump called Dan Gilbert, who just happened to be at the White House, into the room to join the photo. While it is no secret that Gilbert was a supporter of Republican candidates during the primaries and Quicken Loans donated $750,000 to Trump’s inauguration, this whole scene was downright confusing. Why was Gilbert at the White House? Why was he invited to be in a picture with the Cubs, the team that beat the Cleveland Indians last year in the World Series? Quicken Loans is currently in a legal battle with the US Department of Justice over Federal Housing Authority violation charges. Quicken originally sued the DOJ and Department of Housing and Urban Development, but the DOJ and HUD countersued Quicken.
Beyond the legal talk, it is just obviously concerning that the richest man in Detroit, easily one of the most powerful in the city, is buddy-buddy with the current President. An pre-election poll in October 2016 found that zero, let me repeat, ZERO percent of Detroit’s residents supported Trump. While the number may have changed slightly, the 82% Black population of Detroit is not likely to start supporting Trump in large numbers anytime soon, considering Trump’s racist and xenophobic ideas and policies (such as the recently reinstated Muslim Ban, re: Alyson’s post). And yes, while Gilbert being in a picture with the Cubs at the White House may not mean much in reality, to me it just stuck out as confusing and negative overall.
I didn’t know about any of this but damn this is confusing. Dan Gilbert says he’s “revitalizing” Detroit but does that just mean turning it into something it isn’t? This is so frustrating too because Trump clearly doesn’t have the people’s best intentions in mind, and Detroit has already been beat up and bashed by federal and state policies I don’t know what Gilbert and Trump will do next, but I’m not eager to find out. I guess that’s why grassroots movements are so important… makes me feel sad and discouraged.
With all the things happening in this administration, it’s hard to know what things to be truly concerned about and things that are bad, but probably not a big deal. I’m not sure what category this falls into but it says a lot about the agenda of those holding so much investment in downtown Detroit. Just like Trump wants to get rid of minorities, Gilbert is attempting to push people of color into the shadows of their own city. Everything is about capital, not people. Just reminds us all the importance to vote not only on a federal level, but for our local government officials too. It’s easier to change things in our own communities.