Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is headed back to Michigan today. Earlier this month he visited a black church in Detroit, and today he plans on taking a tour of Flint, which has been assaulted by a contaminated water crisis for the last couple of years. Trump’s exact itinerary is being kept under wraps, but he had initially planned on visiting a water plant in the city.
But Mayor Karen Weaver discouraged that plan and said Trump had never contacted her about the tour.
"Flint is focused on fixing the problems caused by lead contamination of our drinking water, not photo ops," she said in a statement Tuesday evening, adding that the employees and staff at the water plant "cannot afford the disruption of a last-minute visit."
A disruption would be especially galling from someone representing the political party that has barely said the word “Flint” this election season.
Republican candidates during the primary and after Trump became the nominee have scarcely mentioned the Flint water crisis — much less visited. It came up briefly during the Republican debate held in Detroit, and Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette talked about the crisis during his speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.