Former President Donald Trump goes on stage to talk about his presidential campaign and the importance of turning out the vote in Michigan at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan before the polls open on Nov. 5, 2024 (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols)
Donald Trump has run for president of the United States three times as a Republican — and all three times he’s ended the campaign in Grand Rapids, Michigan on the eve of Election Day.
Except this time, there was a two-hour delay before the former president took the stage. So Trump ended up speaking to the crowd of thousands past 2 a.m. Tuesday, just five hours before polls all over the battleground state opened.
And the 2024 campaign has been a long one, Trump said, but it’s love — the love in every rally he speaks at — that propels him forward.
“This isn’t my campaign. This is your campaign. This is a great campaign. It’s now, it’s nine years we’ve been fighting side by side every second,” Trump told the Grand Rapids crowd. “There’s love in this room. I think there’s love in the whole country. I think it’s a much bigger movement than we even understand.”
Kent County, where Grand Rapids is located, is a pivotal area for elections in Michigan, Trump explained. And with his support there, he’s confident he will win, unless Democrats cheat.
Trump reiterated his false claims from his failed run for president in 2020 that the election was stolen and there was mass voter fraud that put President Joe Biden into office.
“They have to cheat, and they do, and they do it very well,” Trump said. “When you have open borders, transgender everything, high taxes … you have men playing in women’s sports, you have to cheat. Who the hell’s going to approve that stuff?”
And Trump said he wants swift election results.
“We want the answer tonight,” he said.
More than 3 million people as of Monday night had voted in Michigan either through early in-person voting or absentee voting. Trump railed against early mail voting after his loss in 2020, but has begrudgingly changed his tune, although he’s still blasted the process on multiple occasions.
Trump touted his allies with Arab Americans, a community Harris faces challenges with over the Biden administration’s Israel policy. During the February Democratic presidential primary, more than 100,000 voters in Michigan voted “uncommitted” over Biden, largely because of the war in Gaza.
Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, which has an all-Muslim City Council, said his endorsement of Trump broke the wall of fear and silence for Arab American and Muslims to seek out alternative allies in politics after Democrats have chosen arrogance, pointing at Harris’ handling of Gaza protesters at her rallies.
“My message to my fellow Arab and Muslim Americans, your votes in the swing states will change the face of America, and your votes will decide the future of America,” Ghalib said.
At her last rally in Michigan at Michigan State University on Sunday night, Harris vowed that she would end the Hamas-Israel war if she’s elected president.
The GOP event also featured former U.S. Rep Mike Rogers (R-White Lake), who’s running against U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) for U.S. Senate, and former state Sen. Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte), who’s facing former state Sen. Curtis Hertel (D-East Lansing) in the 7th Congressional District.
Trump talked about various interactions he’s had over the years with different people talking about the economy, manufacturing jobs, electric vehicles and more, adding that he will not be getting on any flights with donor Elon Musk’s SpaceX anytime soon.
“I would not want to be on that sucker. I don’t care how good Elon is,” Trump said.
While going through his greatest hits from the last decade, Trump took the opportunity to take a swing at former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who launched an inquiry in 2019 that led to the first of Trump’s two impeachment.
“She’s a crooked person. She’s a bad person. Evil. She’s an evil sick, crazy B,” Trump said as attendees loudly completed the word, calling Pelosi a bitch.
“I won’t say it. I want to say it,” he added.
Trump also brought some of his children on stage to talk about the presidential campaigns over the last decade. The overall message from the Trump family was that it’s not just three campaigns, it’s a movement.
“I will be on the stage till the end of Earth with you because I truly believe in you,” said Eric Trump, Trump’s second-oldest son, who campaigned in Wyandotte in late October. “I believe in what you’re doing for this country and what you’re doing for our children. And you are going to save democracy in the United States, and you’re going to keep peace in the world.”
Donald Trump reiterated his position that Harris is relatively unknown outside of being part of the Biden administration. But Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., said his father has shown the country exactly who he is.
“It’s on you to reclaim what is yours, Your country,” Trump Jr. said, encouraging attendees to pester their neighbors and loved ones to go to the polls. “It would be an honor for me, for you guys, to show the same amount of resolve that this man showed on July 13 when he took a bullet to the face and came back defiant.”
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