NOVI, Mich. – Donald Trump further denigrated Detroit while appealing for votes Saturday in a suburb of the largest city in swing state Michigan.
“I think Detroit and some of our areas makes us a developing nation,” the former president told supporters in Novi. He said people want him to say Detroit is “great,” but he thinks it “needs help.”
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The Republican nominee for the White House had told an economic group in Detroit earlier this month that the “whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment drew harsh criticism from Democrats who praised the city for its recent drop in crime and growing population.
Trump later headed to Pennsylvania, another crucial swing state, where he appealed to young voters by promising them better conditions as they start their careers.
Trump's stop in Novi, after an event Friday night in Traverse City, is a sign of Michigan's importance in the tight race. Harris held a rally in Kalamazoo Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama, who gave a searing denunciation of Trump and questioned why it was close, saying, “I lay awake at night wondering, ‘What in the world is going on?’”
The candidates in the final stretch of the campaign have made frequent visits to Michigan, a state Trump won in 2016 but Democrat Joe Biden carried four years later.
Michigan is home to major car companies and the nation’s largest concentration of members of the United Auto Workers. It also has a significant Arab American population, and many have been frustrated by the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza after the attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
During his rally, Trump spotlighted local Muslim and Arab American leaders who joined him on stage. These voters “could turn the election one way or the other,” Trump said, adding that he was banking on ”overwhelming support” from those voters in Michigan.
"When President Trump was president, it was peace,” said one of those leaders, Mayor Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights. “We didn’t have any issues. There was no wars.”
While Trump is trying to capitalize on the community's frustration with the Democratic administration, he has a history of policies hostile to this group, including a travel ban targeting Muslim countries while in office and a pledge to expand it to include refugees from Gaza if he wins on Nov. 5.
A Trump ally, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the grandson of Lebanese immigrants, told reporters that Trump was winning over support from more Arab Americans and has cultivated relationships with leaders in the Middle East that would bring more stability to the region.
In lengthy remarks to supporters, Trump went after Harris and the media with familiar barbs and promoted immigration and energy policies that are campaign staples. For example, he said immigrants are “taking the Black population jobs and they’re taking the Hispanic jobs.” Government data contradicts this claim, showing that immigrant labor contributes to economic growth and provides promotional opportunities for native-born workers.
Later Saturday, Trump traveled to State College, Pennsylvania, the home of Penn State University. He told a crowd that included more young people than usual that under his leadership, they will "inherit the freest, strongest and most powerful nation on Earth.”
“If you vote for me, I will ensure that you begin your careers, young people, in a roaring economy at a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity," he said.
He repeatedly praised the university's national championship-winning wrestling team, inviting several of its athletes onstage to shake his hand.
In both campaign stops on Saturday, Trump called attention to how an influx of Haitian migrants have impacted Springfield, Ohio. But he stopped short of repeating false claims about immigrants eating pets, a narrative that had drawn pushback from members of both parties and prompted bomb threats on some schools and government buildings.
Trump took the stage an hour and 40 minutes after he was originally billed to speak. An hour into his remarks, the crowd had become noticeably bare in the back of the arena, especially as the kickoff of Sunday night’s Penn State game at Wisconsin neared.
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Swenson reported from New York.