NOVI, Mich. (AP) — Donald Trump continued to denigrate Detroit as he appealed for votes Saturday in a suburb of the largest city in the swing state of Michigan.
“I think Detroit and some of our areas are making us a developing country,” the former president told his supporters in Novi. He said people want him to say Detroit is “great” but he thinks it “needs help.”
The Republican candidate for the White House told a business group in Detroit earlier this month that “the whole country is going to end up like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment sparked intense criticism from Democrats, who praised the city for its recent drop in crime and population growth.
Trump later traveled to Pennsylvania, another key swing state, where he appealed to adolescent voters by promising them better conditions to 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 close race. Harris held a rally in Kalamazoo on Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama, who sharply denounced Trump and asked why it was close. She said: “I lay awake at night wondering, ‘What on earth is going on?'”
Candidates in the final stretch of the campaign have frequently visited Michigan, a state that Trump won in 2016 but that Democrat Joe Biden won four years later.
Michigan is home to major automobile companies and the nation’s largest concentration of United Auto Workers members. It also has a significant Arab-American population, and many were frustrated by the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
During his rally, Trump spotlighted local Muslim and Arab American leaders who joined him on stage. Those voters “could swing the election one way or the other,” Trump said, adding that he was counting on “overwhelming support” from those voters in Michigan.
“When President Trump was president, there was peace,” said one of those leaders, Mayor Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights. “We didn’t have any problems. There were no wars.”
While Trump seeks to capitalize on popular frustration with Democratic government, he has a history of pursuing policies hostile to that group, including banning travel to Muslim countries while in office and pledging to do so if he wins to include refugees from Gaza on November 5th.
A Trump ally, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the grandson of Lebanese immigrants, told reporters that Trump had won the support of more Arab Americans and cultivated relationships with Middle Eastern leaders that would bring greater stability to the region.
In extensive remarks to his supporters, Trump used familiar remarks against Harris and the media and promoted the immigration and energy policies that are cornerstones of the campaign. He said, for example, that immigrants are “taking the jobs of the black population and the jobs of the Hispanic population.” Government data contradicts this claim, showing that immigrant workers contribute to economic growth and provide advancement opportunities for native-born workers.
Later Saturday, Trump traveled to State College in Pennsylvania, home of Penn State University. He told a crowd that included more adolescent people than usual that under his leadership they would “inherit the freest, strongest and most powerful nation on earth.”
“If you vote for me, I will ensure that you, young people, begin your careers in a booming economy at a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity,” he said.
He repeatedly praised the university’s wrestling team, which won the national championships, and invited several of his athletes to the stage to shake his hand.
At both campaign stops on Saturday, Trump drew attention to how the influx of Haitian migrants has affected Springfield, Ohio. But he stopped low of repeating false claims about immigrants eating pets, a narrative that has drawn opposition from members of both parties and led to bomb threats against some schools and government buildings.
Trump took the stage an hour and 40 minutes after he was originally scheduled to speak. An hour after his address, the crowd at the back of the arena had noticeably emptied, especially as kickoff of Sunday night’s Penn State game at Wisconsin approached.
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Swenson reported from New York.
