Rev. Charles Williams is among those warily bracing for a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. This time around, he believes at least one thing is different: Biden can’t win through voters’ fear of Trump alone.
“We saw something that scared us all, but here we are now, four years after that,” said Williams, the pastor of Historic King Solomon Baptist Church. “You realize, maybe this guy ain’t the boogeyman.”
Williams, who had a front-row seat to the soaring Black voter turnout in Detroit that helped propel Biden to victory in Michigan in 2020, said he believes exhaustion at the prospect of another Biden-Trump contest could complicate efforts to generate enthusiasm among young voters.
“The challenge that Joe Biden has is that he speaks to an entirely different generation,” Williams said. “He speaks to the greatest generation. He speaks very well to the baby boomers, but he does not speak to a generation that had a president that listened to Jay-Z on his playlist.”
Four years ago, Biden built a diverse coalition of supporters – from all ages and races – to win the White House. But whether that vast, fraying network can be rebuilt will help determine whether Trump returns to power.
Here in Michigan, which the president visited Thursday, rests one of the biggest tests of his campaign. Trump narrowly carried the state over Hillary Clinton in 2016 – by 10,704 votes – and four years later Biden defeated Trump by about 154,000 votes.
Michigan, along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which the president also flipped in 2020, is a part of Biden’s “blue wall” around America’s Great Lakes, which will be just as essential this year to his chance of winning a second term.
Dearborn distrust and discontent
Biden’s…
Read the full article here