The awkward moment underscored the racial tensions in the room as Representative Rashida Tlaib, of Michigan, a Palestinian-American Democrat, accused her colleague of trotting Ms. Patton out as “a prop,” which she deemed racist. It also underscored the divisions among Mr. Trump’s very few black, conservative supporters.
Mr. Trump’s most active black surrogates have formed something of a support group, talking everyday to discuss policy or lament their critics, said Katrina Pierson, who is black and a senior adviser on Mr. Trump’s 2020 campaign. One of those conversations came after Ms. Patton’s appearance at the hearing, Ms. Pierson said.
“We know that black media is going to tear us down and try to take away our credibility, although we’re probably the most credible for the community,” she said.
Other African-American conservatives are not so sure of that. Several black Republicans said their own credibility has been hurt by the actions of some of the president’s most visible black surrogates.
Harold Doley, 71, is a longtime wealthy Republican who opposes Mr. Trump. Mr. Doley pointed to the rapper Kanye West’s appearance with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office last year, calling it a “bad and embarrassing minstrel show” that served to only drive black people away from the G.O.P.
“People look at that and say, ‘I don’t want to be a part of that,’” said Mr. Doley.
Mr. Trump received 8 percent of the black vote in 2016, according to some estimates. During a 2016 campaign speech, he pledged to win 95 percent of black voters by 2020.
Over the years, Mr. Trump has faced increasingly public charges of racism for his comments on “shithole countries” in Africa, his doubling down on the guilt of the Central Park Five, a group of young men convicted of assaulting and raping a white woman but were later exonerated, the housing discrimination complaints leveled against him and his father, promoting birtherism and calling for violence against Black Lives Matter protesters.
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