Photo by Danny Fulgencio
President Trump’s visit to Dallas Thursday centered on Preston Hollow, with the presidential motorcade visiting Gateway Church, followed by a $10-million fundraiser at the home of billionaire Kelcy Warren on Strait Lane.
Trump raised a fist for the cameras at Love Field Airport, where he was greeted by Texas’ top Republican officials, and later repeated his vow to “dominate the streets.”
The President’s visit resulted in protests at the church, with shouting matches between Trump’s fans and Black Lives Matters protesters. Protesters also disrupted the Preston/Forest Whole Foods.
Here’s what you need to know about Trump’s visit to Preston Hollow:
Air Force One arrived at Love Field Airport at about 2:50 p.m., and departed at 7:45 p.m.
Gateway Church hosted Trump’s forum on race and policing. The church, founded 20 years ago in Southlake, is one of the largest and fastest-growing churches in the United States, with 71,000 active members. The church drew 300,000 viewers online during the coronavirus pandemic, and its pastor, Robert Morris, says God told him that he will one day have 300 million followers worldwide. Gateway has a 4,000-seat auditorium in Southlake, plus four other campuses in the region, including the one near Forest and Hillcrest, the site of Trump’s visit. The church, which preaches prosperity doctrine and influences how members vote, also has a 500-member church inside of a Texas prison.
Trump snubbed three of Dallas’ top law-enforcement officials, who are black. Trump invited the police chief of exurb Glenn Heights, population 13,000, but did not extend that courtesy to Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall, Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown or Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot. On the other hand, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson declined Trump’s invitation.
The forum included words from Trump, U.S. Attorney General William Barr, former Texas state Rep. Scott Turner and Dallas Police Association first vice president Fred Frazier. Here’s a quote from Frazier, via the Dallas Morning News:
“If I could trade places with Mr. Floyd, I would, because I would die for everyone in this room, because that’s our job. And if I could trade places with any one of those officers who were there, I would have done that, too, because I wouldn’t have let that happen. And I have to say this to the citizens that we serve and the citizens that are listening: We see you. We hear you. We are with you. And we’re going to make this better.”
Hundreds of supporters cheered the President inside Gateway Church, where he “forcefully rejected complaints about widespread police brutality and mocked ‘radical efforts to defund, dismantle and disband the police,’” the Dallas Morning News reports.
Kelcy Warren is the chief executive officer of pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners, who personally donated $103,000 to Trump’s 2016 campaign. His company is the principal owner of the Dakota Pipeline. He has given at least $30 million to Klyde Warren Park, which he named after his son. Dallas’ bronze statue of Robert E. Lee that a lawyer bought for $1.4 million last year now sits at a golf resort that Warren owns in the remote West Texas town of Lajitas.
