Lorenzo Sewell, Image via PBS NewsHour / Screengrab
The wide-ranging campaign against against Diversity, Equity & Inclusion programs in his second term has seen many critic dub President Donald Trump and his policies racist. Speaking with Mother Jones's "More to the Story" podcast on Wednesday, however, Lorenzo Sewell, a Republican pastor with close ties to Trump, tried to argue that the president was in fact "anti-racist."
Sewell is the leader of 180 Church, a non-denominational Christian church based on Detroit, and has become increasingly connected with GOP and MAGA politics in the last several years. In 2024, he was a guest speaker at the Republican National Convention, and in 2025, he conducted one of the benedictions at Trump's second-term inauguration. Recently, reports have even suggested that he is considering running for public office himself as a Republican.
Sewell spoke with "More to the Story" host Al Letson, with the conversation putting a particular focus on Trump and racism. The pastor argued that despite the common refrains from critics, he actually viewed the president as anti-racist, citing Trump's embrace of him.
I believe that racism is when you close the door of opportunity to people because of their skin color, intentionally or unintentionally,” Sewell says. “And I believe President Trump is a anti-racist because he opened the door of opportunity to somebody like me, in a context where nobody would vote for him.”
The podcast episode also cited a prior interview with Sewell, in which he cited the oft-repeated historical refrain about the Democratic Party supporting slavery and opposing civil rights.
"If a Black person said, well pastor, Donald Trump is racist, the Republican Party is racist," Sewell said. "Well, let's play that theme out throughout history. Let's look at who was the party of slavery, who was the party of Jim Crow, right? Who was the party of slave codes? Well, those are the party of Democrats."
While claims about the Democratic Party, particularly those from the South, being supporters of slavery and discriminatory laws in the past are true, most experts stress that these facts are not applicable to party as it exists today. Since the Civil War, the general policies and stances of the Democratic and Republican Parties have flipped, with the former once being considered much more conservative and the other more liberal.