Republican likely President nominee Donald Trump’s sagging campaign is getting a boost from ethnic leaders, especially the Greek and Cypriot American communities.
The National Diversity Coalition for Trump — a group of leaders from several ethnic groups — is holding a closed-door meeting with the Republican National Committee (RNC) on July 1 and will include 35 ethnic leaders.
“We’re meeting with the strategic initiatives team to discuss how we can better represent the community and get Donald Trump’s support on behalf of the entire communities,” Christos Marafatsos, Founder of Blue Sky Capital and Financier, who is overseeing the outreach to Greek and Cypriot Americans said according to the Breitbart news agency.
“The RNC invited the NDC for Trump to meet with us,” an RNC official told TIME earlier this month, confirming the meeting.
Marafatsos said the National Diversity Coalition for Trump “was designed to help show support (and) that Donald Trump supports these ethnic communities and would be the right President.”
“We support Donald Trump and his solutions [to] strengthen communities, foster job creation, support small businesses, and support faith and family principles with conservative action,” he added.
Marafatsos said he is the Trump panel advisor to the Greek-American community and that he will handle all of its issues related to the campaign and US policy for an ethnic group of nearly three million voters.
According to Marafatsos, officials from the Trump campaign will be communicating with the coalition, Breitbart said.
He added: “Each of us are individuals that are well represented, we’re well-known and can really make a difference if we get a President that will be supportive in understanding each community’s need.
“I think he’s one of the first (Presidential candidates) that has actually done something like this — being open to an initiative and coalition of each community telling him what they’re going through, what they want and also letting them come together and show they’re support.
Other ethnic groups represented in the coalition include: African Americans, Latinos, Muslims, Asian-Americans, and Koreans but Marafatsos said he thinks Greeks and Cypriot will come out big for Trump who’s taking a pasting in the polls from the imminent Democrat nominee, Hillary Clinton.
“It’s going to be good and there’s a lot of Greeks out there … and especially within American politics, there hasn’t been a representative like this,” he said, lauding Trump, who has pulled in some of his provocative stances after securing enough delegates to get the nomination next month despite defections from mainstream Republicans such as former President George Bush and George W. Bush and noted former GOP commentator George Will, who’s now backing Hillary.
Marafatsos said he’s planning on launching the hashtag #Greeks4Trump, which will feature a series of Greek fundraisers.
“They’re ecstatic about it,” Marafatsos added, in reference to several people who have already expressed interest in the coalition.