Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally at Avflight at Cherry Capital Airport on October 25, 2024 in Traverse City, Michigan. Trump is scheduled to hold rallies in Michigan and Pennsylvania on Saturday before closing out the weekend with a rally on Sunday at New York’s Madison Square Garden. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Several hours late after taping a podcast in Texas, former President Donald Trump finally spoke at the first of two campaign rallies in Michigan late Friday night at Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City.
Trump had been set to begin speaking at 7:30 p.m., but did not depart Austin, Texas — where he recorded an appearance on the popular “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast — until about 7:15 p.m. for the approximately three-hour flight.
An enthusiastic crowd had waited in line for hours before the scheduled start time, although some began to leave as the sun went down and temperatures dropped in northern Michigan.
Democrats used the delay to attack Trump as being self-serving.
“Michiganders are used to Donald Trump not showing up for them, but tonight Trump took it to a new level – finding a new way to disrespect even his own supporters,” said Michigan Democratic Coordinated Campaign spokesperson Shafeeqa Kolia. “Tonight is a reminder that Donald Trump only cares about himself, even if that means leaving thousands of people out in the cold for hours on end. If Michiganders are looking for a leader who cares about them then Vice President Harris is the right choice for them.”
But by the time Trump took the stage around 10:30 p.m., there was still a large crowd to greet the former president, who used his remarks to paint the campaign of Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, as failing.
“She’s in a freefall. She shipped their jobs overseas, brought crime to their cities. She is in literally a freefall. They’ve had it with her. Nobody’s in charge. Joe Biden is asleep. Kamala is at a dance party with Beyoncé,” said Trump, referencing a rally Harris held Friday night in Texas featuring pop superstar Beyonce, who endorsed the vice president.
Trump then worked to hit Harris hard in a vulnerable spot — support among Muslim and Arab voters in Michigan angry at the Biden administration’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
“Kamala is also in total freefall with the Arab and Muslim population in Michigan,” said Trump. “And why would Muslims support Kamala when she embraces Muslim-hating Liz Cheney? Can you believe Liz Cheney? A total loser whose father brought years of war and death to the Middle East. Why would you support somebody if you’re from the Middle East or even associated with the Middle East?”
Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney is interviewed by Devin Scillian during the Mackinac Policy Conference on June 1, 2023. (Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, have both endorsed Harris, saying Trump represents a threat to democracy and rule of law if he returns to the White House.
“Why would you be supporting somebody with the Cheney family? The father killed more Arabs than any human being on earth. He pushed Bush and they went into the Middle East. This person cannot be a president. She’s too weak, too foolish to represent America on the world stage,” said Trump.
As president, Trump instituted a ban on most people coming to the U.S. from seven countries, including five Muslim-majority countries. President Joe Biden rescinded it on day one of his term, but Trump has vowed to reinstate and “expand” his travel ban if he wins a second term. Trump also said he frequently speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and has urged Netanyahu to “do what he wants to do” in terms of a military strike on Iran.
Trump also referred to two former officials in his administration that have warned against his reelection.
“Earlier this month, I was honored to receive the endorsement of over 400 national security and foreign policy officials, but I can’t get the press to write about it. You know, they have some dope like [former National Security Advisor John] Bolton and this stupid general, [former White House Chief of Staff John] Kelly, as dumb as a rock. They have these people. I get 400 people from my administration, the biggest people. They’re saying he was the greatest president. They won’t write the story about it. But we understand. In the meantime, we’re in 1st place and they’re not. So somebody understands because they’re fake news,” said Trump.
Kelly, a retired four-star U.S. Marine general, told the New York Times that Trump praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. He also said that if Trump were reelected, he would rule as an authoritarian and that he met the definition of a fascist.
Trump, already awaiting sentencing after being convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, is also facing charges of election interference related to the Jan. 6 insurrection attempt and attack on the U.S. Capitol.
As he has at all of his rallies, Trump again used hyperbole and falsehoods to paint a picture of America as being under siege from crimes committed by immigrants in the country illegally despite repeated documentation that no such crime wave exists, and instead is inflating individual incidents.
“Over the past four years, Kamala has orchestrated the most egregious betrayal that any leader in American history has ever inflicted on our people. That’s the border. She’s eradicated our sovereign border and she has unleashed an army of migrant gangs who are waging a campaign of violence and terror against our citizens,” said Trump. “Kamala has imported an invasion of criminal migrants from prisons and jails, insane asylums and mental institutions all around the world. From Venezuela to the Congo. And she’s resettled them into your communities to prey upon innocent American people. And you know, a lot of communities have them and the ones that don’t are even more scared because they don’t want them.”
Trump, whose assertions during his sole debate with Harris about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, were part of an untrue racist smear campaign, continued to repeat disproven conspiracies.
“One of the deadliest and most vicious migrant gangs that Kamala has imported into our country is the savage Venezuelan prison gang. Isn’t that nice?,” said Trump. “MS 13 is another one that’s taken over apartment complexes in Colorado and unleashing a violent killing spree all over America.”
There has been no such “killing spree” and the falsehood about the Aurora, Colo., apartment complex has been repeatedly disproven.
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Gaylord Rockies Resort in Aurora on Oct. 11, 2024. (Quentin Young/Colorado Newsline)
While Michigan is a battleground state, Grand Traverse County is a battleground of its own, with a population trending more Democratic in recent years. Trump won the county by 12% in 2016 over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, but that share dipped to just 3% over Biden in 2020. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer beat GOP nominee Tudor Dixon in Grand Traverse County 52% to 46% in 2022.
Trump used his time in Traverse City to make his economic pitch to voters, promising to lower their costs through massive tax cuts.
“l am going to massively cut taxes for the workers and included in that is no tax on tips, no tax on overtime and no tax on Social Security for our great seniors, and we’re going to get it done, too,” said Trump.
However, independent analyses of Trump’s proposed tax cuts estimate they would cost anywhere between $6 and $10 trillion over 10 years, with the former president so far providing no explanation how that would be paid for without either adding to the national debt or creating a massive budget deficit.
Trump claimed that if elected again he would exploit America’s energy resources to boost the economy.
“We will quickly become energy independent and we will frack, frack, frack and drill, baby drill,” said Trump.
A report earlier this year from J.P. Morgan’s Michael Cembalest, chair of the bank’s market and investment strategy arm, determined that “the U.S. has achieved energy independence for the first time in 40 years while Europe and China compete for global energy resources.”
An analysis included in the report notes that U.S. imports of crude oil are down 75% from a peak in 2005, and flipped to net exports of refined oil products by 2019.
Trump insisted his administration would vastly improve the economy, again without providing details as to how that would actually be accomplished.
“We’re going to turn this country around so fast. But your energy bills, your car, your air conditioning, your heating, your hot water, everything. It’s going to be from January 20th, one year from that you’re going to pay half and you’ll be able to do it and that’s going to bring down other prices, including food prices. People are talking about groceries all the time. That’s going to bring them down as we restore our economy,” said Trump.
Attendees wave Trump/Vance signs prior to remarks by GOP vice presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), in Waterford, Michigan. Oct. 24, 2024. Photo by Jon King.
In advance of Trump’s visit, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) and UAW International Vice President Mike Booth — who represents workers at General Motors — held an online press call to highlight what they described as Trump’s record of allowing auto plants to shutter, and killing more than 31,000 manufacturing jobs in Michigan.
Both Stabenow and Booth noted Trump’s comments about autoworkers, in which he said they “don’t build cars” they “take them out of a box” and he believes “we could have our child do it,” which Harris highlighted when she spoke to union members in Lansing last week.
“If Trump wins in November, things will get so much worse for the American workers. He promises to defund and dismantle auto jobs – from Lansing to Marysville and also across this country. Trump’s Project 2025 agenda will impose a national sales tax, weaken the power of unions, and line the NLRB with anti-union scabs. At every turn, Donald Trump has fought for the rich and the powerful – and left working people in the dust,” said Booth.
Trump’s visit to Traverse City follows a campaign stop Thursday by Vance in Waterford, while Trump will hold another rally at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi on Saturday.
Harris, who campaigned on Monday in Oakland County with Liz Cheney, is also in Michigan this weekend, with a planned visit Saturday to Kalamazoo with former first lady Michelle Obama. That’s the same day early voting begins across the state.
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