Trump rally in Michigan dominated by more false statements
MADDIE MCGARVEY/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, on stage during a campaign rally at Saginaw Valley State University in Saginaw, Mich., on Thursday. Appearing for roughly 85 minutes onstage, the Republican nominee repeated false claims about the 2020 election and introduced a mischaracterization about disaster relief money.
Stay updated on Hawaii and national elections coverageSAGINAW COUNTY, Mich. >> Former President Donald Trump held a rally Thursday in the key battleground state of Michigan that was notable mainly for his continued false statements and exaggerations on a number of subjects as varied as the 2020 election and the federal government’s response to Hurricane Helene.
In the roughly 85 minutes that Trump was onstage, he repeated a pattern of untrue assertions that have characterized many of his events as the 2024 presidential race heads into its final weeks. The crowd of supporters in Saginaw County, which he narrowly lost four years ago, included Mike Rogers, a former Michigan congressman and the Republican candidate for Michigan’s open Senate seat, and Pete Hoekstra, the Michigan Republican Party chair.
Trump reiterated his familiar false claim that he had won the 2020 election and made no acknowledgment of new evidence that was unsealed against him Wednesday in the federal election subversion case. He also said his campaign was up in all polls in every swing state, while several public polls show close races and Vice President Kamala Harris leading narrowly in a number of battlegrounds.
Trump also mischaracterized the state of funding at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, saying that the Biden administration had stolen disaster relief money allocated to the agency to give to housing for immigrants living in the country illegally so they would vote for Democrats.
He cast electric cars as a threat to the auto industry, while at the same time praising Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO who has endorsed his candidacy and featured him prominently on X, the Musk-owned social media platform.
Michigan was one of a handful of swing states where Trump and his allies tried to overturn his defeat in 2020 through a series of maneuvers that included breaching voting equipment and seeking to seat a set of fake presidential electors. Some of his supporters have been criminally charged in the state, where Trump was named as an unindicted co-conspirator this year.
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Trump spent time in his speech expressing satisfaction over his choice of running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, whose debate performance this week was applauded by many.
“I drafted the best athlete,” Trump said of Vance. The audience — several thousand supporters at a recreation center at Saginaw Valley State University, roughly 100 miles north of Detroit — cheered.
And he mused, at one point, that instead of being on a beach in Monte Carlo or someplace else, he was running for the presidency again. “If I had my choice of being here with you today or being on some magnificent beach with the waves hitting me in the face, I would take you every single time.”
Overall as of Thursday, Harris led by 2 percentage points in Michigan, according to The New York Times’ polling average, 49% to 47%. The vice president is scheduled to return to the state Friday, campaigning in Detroit and Flint.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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