With a controversial past and compelling pitch, Paris Dennard defends Trump — and himself. The many churches in northwest Philadelphia post flyers talking of revival, next to scarred murals and gutted row homes with boarded-up doors. But inside First Immanuel Baptist Church, another revival is underway: a political one. At least that’s what Paris Dennard hopes. “The marker of success is this turnout tonight,” the 37-year-old Republican tells me on a recent January night. He’s referencing the 60 or so (mostly) Black folks in the pews, looking for deliverance … and willing to see if President Donald Trump can help them get it. A White House veteran under President George W. Bush and a board member for Black Voices for Trump, Dennard is a key player in the president’s seemingly quixotic quest for 2020: to win the support of Black voters, who backed his opponent with around 93 percent of the vote in 2016. Dennard “is a jack-of-all-trades,” says Harrison Floyd, executive director of Black Voices for Trump, one who will prove pivotal on the organization’s trips to swing states from Georgia and North Carolina to Ohio and Florida. And yet, he is controversial even with fellow Republicans, carrying a dubious past that in some ways mirrors the president’s own sexual indiscretions. |