Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump met with minority Republicans in New York on Thursday (August 25), a day after calling his rival Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton as a “bigot”.

Trump says his campaign is connecting with African Americans and Hispanics, although few in New York City’s Harlem community suggested the feeling was mutual.

“Since he plummeting in the polls, now he’s reaching out to Hispanics and Afro-Americans and he’s trying to use us as a stepping stone in order for him to get to the White House so he could put us in the dog house,” said one man.

“I think he don’t like the blacks and Latinos, he’s just using them now because he needs their votes,” said another. “He’s a very racist man.”

Trump has been heavily criticized by minorities so far in the campaign for his proposals on immigration, which include deporting millions of undocumented foreigners, building a wall along the Mexican border, and suspending Muslim immigration to shore up national security.