Washington city – Former President Donald Trump took the stage Saturday night in Macomb County, his first visit to Michigan since his November 2020 election visit to the state.
Trump is expected to beat his approved Michigan lead candidates, including his election as Secretary of State and Attorney General: Kristina Karamo and Matt DePerno. He joked on November 2, 2020, during a stopover in Grand Rapids that he might not visit Michigan again if he loses. President Joe Biden scored 51-48%, which Trump has contested.
Hours before Trump took the stage on Saturday in Macomb County, crowds lined up outside the sports complex at the ex-president’s rally.
Brian Tyrell, chief of the Washington Township fire department, said the Michigan Star Center’s room capacity would be limited to 5,500. He predicted that capacity would be reached and thousands of people would remain outside the facility.
Saturday’s visit will take place three weeks before the Republican nomination convention in Michigan in Grand Rapids, where constituency delegates will select Republican candidates for secretary of state and attorney general to advance to the November elections. They will also elect two nominees to the State Board of Education, the Michigan Supreme Court, as well as to the boards of Michigan, Wayne State and the University of Michigan.
The party will choose its candidate for governor at the ballot box in the August primaries.
Political experts said they expect the April 23 nomination convention to test Trump’s scope of influence within the party.
US representative Lisa McClain, R-Bruce Township, started her speech on Saturday with criticism from President Joe Biden, blaming the Democrat for unemployment, economic challenges, labor shortages and border problems.
“Look around for a minute,” she said. – Tell me Joe Biden won? He couldn’t have so many people at the rally and the combined State of the Union. “
Hope from West Michigan Congress, John Gibbs, who challenges US GOP representative Peter Meijer of Grand Rapids Township, talked about his work with the Trump Department of Housing and Urban Development and his opposition to COVID-19 aid funding for the agency, telling instead, get people back to work by ending “stupid blockades.”
He also attacked the main opponent of American representative Peter Meijer, R-Grand Rapids Township, calling him RINO or a Republican by name only for voting on the indictment of the former president in connection with the January 6, 2021 riots on the Capitol.
Karamo criticized the media for not taking a closer look at the November 2020 elections, and called Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson “an authoritarian left that treats Michigan residents like unwashed masses.”
“They tried to demonize us,” Karamo told the media. “I have the right to control our government.”
DePerno has vowed to end cloaking mandates, vaccine mandates, critical racial theory, a Line 5 trial by Democrat attorney General Dana Nessel, and Second Amendment rights threats.
He repeated his oath to investigate Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Benson and Nessel if he was elected attorney general, and said Nessel was the only candidate “to be kicked out of the soccer game because he was drunk.”
“I’m looking forward to the debate over Dana Nessel,” said DePerno.
Nessel apologized in November and pleaded guilty to drinking alcohol to such an extent that he felt sick and needed help in a soccer match that took place on October 30 between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.
Saturday’s event will be Trump’s third visit to the Michigan Star Center in Washington Township. He held a rally on an indoor football pitch in 2018 instead of attending the White House correspondents dinner and returned to an outdoor rally ahead of the October 2020 elections.
Macomb County was the largest Michigan county Trump won in the 2016 and 2020 elections, and was a frequent stop in the ex-president’s efforts to solicit state workers’ votes.
Michigan Democrats on Friday attacked the former president ahead of his visit, calling Trump “a failed dealer trying to sell his right-wing extremism to an electorate who had already rejected him.”
“The Michigands know the Republicans cannot advance their state and will therefore re-elect Governor Whitmer, Attorney General Nessel and Secretary of State Benson in 2022,” said Lavora Barnes, president of the Michigan Democratic Party.
Ty Paye brought his wife, son, nephew and family friend to Saturday’s rally, and his longing to return to the Trump presidency.
“No gas. I didn’t pay $ 5 a gallon, ”said a 58-year-old Clinton Township resident of life under the Trump administration. “Everyone had a job. Groceries, money in my pockets. I have to go to different places. And now I really can’t.
President Trump says what he is going to do and does it. And it cares about the Americans, not their pockets. Democrats only care about their pockets.
Marrah Madsen of Port Huron was similarly impressed with the president’s record in office as well as his direct speech.
But a 45-year-old US Navy veteran said that doesn’t mean Trump’s endorsement influences her vote. Madsen said she is a supporter of Karamo and governor candidate Garrett Soldano, a Mattawan chiropractor who made himself famous by opposing state restrictions during the pandemic.
“Some people for whom it matters,” Madsen said of Trump’s endorsement. “For me, it’s all about the person. I do my own research on what I see on the internet, what they say. … Your actions speak louder than words. “
Sue Zerillo, a supporter of Soldano and DePerno, echoed Madsen’s ambivalence to support the former president.
“His influence really helps,” said the 59-year-old Clinton Township resident. “But the research you do on people is me.”
Brad Bergman said he had an “open ear” and was not “blind” to support or politics in general. But he was sure that the current democratic officials in office were “not making judgments.”
“The governor, AG, I know what they did,” said the 62-year-old Brighton man. “I personally felt it and I think they were wrong.”
eleblanc@detroitnews.com