LANSING — Former President Donald Trump has made repeated trips to Michigan this year as he attempts to win back the White House after losing to Joe Biden in 2020.
Thursday’s visit to Potterville, the home of former State Sen. Tom Barrett, a Republican now running for the U.S. House in the 7th District, will be Trump’s eighth to the Mitten State this election cycle.
Trump and running mate J.D. Vance now are facing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after Biden dropped out of the race.
In Potterville, Trump’s event will take place at Alro Steel, 5859 Alro Park Drive. Trump is expected to begin his remarks at 3:30 p.m. and discuss how he “will Make America Affordable Again and make sure that more of our money stays in our pocketbooks. He’ll stop the war on energy and protect Michigan’s auto industry, preserving the jobs that are the backbone of the Great Lakes State,” his campaign said in a Saturday morning press release.
Trump previously visited Waterford on Feb.17, Grand Rapids on April 2, Saginaw on May 1, Detroit on June 15, Grand Rapids on July 20, Howell on Aug. 20 and Detroit on Monday.
Here’s a look at what the Republican had to say during his stops:
Detroit
Trump told a crowd of National Guard officers on Monday, Aug. 26, that the world faces unprecedented dangers and positioned himself as uniquely capable of preventing threats he said the U.S. faces in a speech to the National Guard Association of the United States’ annual business meeting on Monday.
Howell
Trump cited inflated crime numbers during a visit on Aug. 20 to a sheriff’s department in Howell and deflected criticism over his choice to hold an event about crime and public safety in a city with a Ku Klux Klan history where white supremacists demonstrated as recently as last month.
Trump, speaking to a small crowd of invited guests that included many law enforcement officers, pledged to increase overall police numbers while shifting federal policing resources to border enforcement. He accused Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, of supporting “defund the police” — an accusation the Harris campaign denies — and being generally soft on crime.
Before Trump spoke, several Michigan sheriffs at the event went to the microphone to describe recent crimes they are investigating or are being prosecuted in which the suspects are undocumented immigrants. Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, also spoke at the event.
Grand Rapids
Headlining his first public rally since a failed assassination attempt against him, and two days after formally accepting the GOP’s nomination, former Trump on July 20 told a raucous, enthusiastic crowd at Van Andel Arena that Republicans will win Michigan this year, having reestablished themselves as “the party of the people.”
Trump repeated several false assertions about creating auto jobs in Michigan when he was president and that he was given a “Man of the Year” award in Michigan several years ago, which did not happen. He also blamed immigration for an increase in crime; violent crime has been down across the U.S.
He also excoriated efforts to push automakers to produce and sell electric vehicles while praising Tesla’s Elon Musk, who has committed to giving a pro-Trump Super PAC $45 million a month toward reelection. He said he would get rid of federal emission rules that have been characterized as a mandate by Republicans to force the sale of electric cars and trucks.
Trump also falsely suggested an impending invasion of Chinese-run automotive plants operating in Mexico in an effort to flood the U.S. market.
Trump was introduced by his running mate, 39-year-old Vance, R-Ohio. U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, also attended the event.
Detroit
Former President Donald Trump conducted a roundtable discussion on June 15 as his campaign attempted to court Black voters away from Biden.
Trump spoke about myriad topics in a speech that lasted about 20 minutes, including subjects he’s repeatedly addressed in his campaign, including inflation, Biden’s handling of the U.S. southern border with Mexico and his general opposition to an embrace of electric vehicles. Following the speech, a 20-minute roundtable discussion with small business owners and other community members moderated by U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Florida, took place.
The event included hundreds of people at 180 Church in Detroit. Attendees included U.S. Rep. John James, R-Shelby Township; former Police Chief James Craig; Detroit rapper Sada Baby; and others.
Freeland
Speaking at a Saginaw County airport on May 1, Trump promised his campaign would mount “a historic effort” to prevent cheating in the 2024 election, working with the Republican National Committee and state parties “to ensure what happened in 2020 will never happen again.”
He didn’t provide details about the effort, including how it would be organized and what exactly it would be tasked with doing. Trump has repeatedly said he lost in 2020 because of fraud, claims that have been debunked thoroughly. Trump is currently facing criminal charges brought by the Justice Department for efforts to overturn the election.
Trump called to the stage former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, who was running for (and has secured) the Republican nomination for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat.
In the meandering speech, Trump kept returning to his criminal trial, which he attempted to delegitimize as a political effort to undermine him and his false assertion that Democrats stole the 2020 election from him.
Trump’s speech included many familiar falsehoods — on electric vehicles and suggestions that crime, especially that caused by immigrants, is rampant among other issues — that he has repeated at other Michigan rallies.
But he also let supporters know that even if they are in favor of stricter regulations in Michigan or nationwide, they have to look past that divisive issue in order to win.
Grand Rapids
Trump made a campaign swing through Grand Rapids on April 2 to talk about record levels of migrants coming across the southern border without prior authorization and the impact it’s having on communities ― especially in terms of crime ― more than a thousand miles away in Michigan.
As usual, Trump in many instances didn’t hew to the facts or left out important context while characterizing his own record or making claims about Biden’s policies.
Waterford
Trump delivered a speech on Feb. 17 to about 2,000 people at an Oakland County airport hangar, beginning by chiding New York Judge Arthur Engoron, who fined him some $450 million for financial fraud the day before, and blasting his critics and a judicial system he claimed is corrupt and set up against him for political reasons.
In a speech that lasted more than an hour and Trump brought an autoworker on stage with him, listed a series of grievances against Biden and the current administration, blaming him for open borders and crime and saying only he can secure the borders, enforce trade deals and stop a move to force automakers to sell more electric vehicles.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Here’s where Donald Trump has been in Michigan this year
