Diversity Coalition for Trump Includes Asian Americans

Miki Booth (second from right) with members of Chinese Americans for Trump.

People of color who support Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, have formed the National Diversity Coalition for Trump.

The group states on its website, “We support Donald Trump and his solutions that address economic disparities, foster job creation, support small businesses, preserve faith and family principles, and strengthen communities with conservative action.”

Board members include Executive Director Bruce LaVell, former chairman of the Gwinnett County Republican Party in Georgia, who has defended Trump against charges of racism; Chairman Darrell Scott, senior pastor of New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights; and Vice Chair Omarosa Manigault, former star of Trump’s NBC Show “The Apprentice,” who has just been named the campaign’s director of African American outreach.

The website lists 55 advisors identified by ethnicity or religion. They include Kevin Do (Vietnamese American), Narendar Reddy (Indian American), Lovilla Santiago (Filipino American), Chandhok Jasdip Singh (president of Sikh Americans for Trump), Dr. Lisa Shin (Korean Americans for Trump), Dr. Quinn Nii (Chinese American), Dr. Kun Kim (Korean Americans for Trump), Rev. Charles Huang (Asian American pastor), Herman Martir (Filipino American pastor), Tariq Rehmat (Pakistani Christian American), and Miyuki “Miki” Booth (Japanese Americans for Trump).

Vietnamese, Chinese and Filipino American members of NDC Trump, including Do and Martir, were among 65 people who participated in a three-hour meeting of the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee in Washington, D.C. on July 1. Asian Americans who sat in on the meeting told NBC News that participants discussed a blueprint for winning over the minority vote for Trump, including voter registration, phone calls, and one-on-one talks with members of the community.

Shin, a Los Alamos, N.M. optometrist, is scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on Thursday, the same day that Trump will accept the party’s nomination.

NDC Trump welcomed Booth via Facebook and Twitter on July 11. She said she was recruited by Shin and Nii.

Booth said she does not work directly with the Trump campaign, but as an NDC advisor she is available as a liaison to the campaign.

Booth is the author of “Memoirs of a Community Organizer for Hawaii,” which she describes as “a record of Obama’s crime by his nemesis from Hawaii.” Formerly international and domestic wholesale contractor at Hilton Waikoloa Village, she lives in Wyandotte, Okla.

A former candidate for Congress in Oklahoma, Booth is an outspoken “birther” — one who believes that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S. and is therefore ineligible to be president. A native of Hawaii, she claims that Obama was not born there.

In a Facebook post on July 12, she said, “I’m very honored to be chosen by the National Diversity Coalition for Trump to represent the Japanese community in our support for Donald Trump, America’s 45th president. I will … be attending the GOP convention in Cleveland, Ohio, and will be doubly credentialed in that I represent the NDC for Trump and a guest of the California delegation.”

Booth has been providing updates on her convention activities through Facebook and Twitter, including an “America First” rally on Monday and an Asian American brunch with Republican National Committee Chairperson Reince Priebus on Wednesday, and noted that she, Shin and other Asian American Trump supporters are trying to get an appearance on Sean Hannity’s talk show.

In response to the controversy over Melania Trump’s address to the convention on Monday, which included passages from Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Booth tweeted, “One thing you’ll never hear Malania plagiarize, ‘All this for a damn flag.’” (Republicans have alleged that Mrs. Obama whispered that to her husband during a 9/11 commemoration ceremony in 2011, based on lip-reading from a video.)

“I have been a Trump supporter from the beginning,” Booth said. “I was very happy that someone outside the corrupt political establishment stepped up to lead our country out of the decline that Obama has caused over the last 7-1/2 years. Obama has ruled like a dictator and those of us that are not politically connected are fearful of retaliation if we speak out.

“Donald Trump is not afraid to speak out against Obama and says things that the rest of us are fearful to say. Donald Trump is a man of integrity and compassion, and like most Americans, cherishes family values. He has the intelligence and business acumen to go to work and break up the gridlock of our bloated, inefficient government bureaucracy. We the people have been pillaged by the political elite class, and although Obama didn’t create it, he accelerated the damage and continues pushing unconstitutional mandates that further strip our rights and individual liberties.

“Japanese Americans share the same values that hard work and determination will allow us to realize our dreams, but we are all shackled with regulations that don’t even make sense … I am in contact with Japanese in Hawaii and overwhelmingly they support Donald Trump. Small business owners and professionals have shifted from the liberalism of Democrats to conservative principles of the Republican Party.

“Border security, strong national defense, fiscal sensibility, economic growth, respect for our military, vets and police, smaller government and the rule of law are the desire we all have in common. With these values, new trade contracts with Japan and China will be more fair and equitable when negotiated by businessmen instead of political hacks …

“We need Donald Trump, a leader we can put our trust in that he will do what’s right for this country he loves.”