'If we win Michigan, we win the election': 5 things Trump focused on in pre-primary speech
Former President Donald Trump sped through an hour-plus-long speech Saturday night at an airport hangar in Waterford Township, chiding President Joe Biden and the Democrats, revving up the adoring crowd and defending himself against legal actions even as he touted his successes ahead of a Feb. 27 primary in which he is the prohibitive favorite.
What stood out as the highlights? Here's a list of five:
Trump knows how important Michigan is to winning again
The former president would have been forgiven for not making a trip to Michigan at this point, given that he's all but certain to win the Michigan GOP primary (with only former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was also his ambassador to the United Nations still in the running) and it's not for another 10 days. But no one knows better than Trump what a win ? or a loss ? in Michigan might mean to his hopes in November's general election.
Eight years ago, on the way to the White House he squeaked by Democrat Hillary Clinton by two-tenths of a percentage point or less than 11,000 votes in the state. Four years ago, Biden beat him by just under 3 points. Now most polls show him slightly ahead or in a virtual tie in a head-to-head matchup with Biden and there are strong indications Biden is lagging with some younger voters and Arab-American and Muslim communities due to his support of Israel in its counterattack against Hamas in Gaza.
Why was he here now? "To let them know that a freight train is coming in November," as he put it. "If we win Michigan, we win the election," he boomed to the crowd. He's probably right.
Pete Hoekstra's Trump's man, no doubt about it
"Pete" this. "Pete" that. On numerous occasions Saturday night, Trump invoked former U.S. Rep. (and Trump's former ambassador to the Netherlands) Pete Hoekstra, as if the folks in the crowd were on a first-name basis with him.
What's so special about Pete? Well, last week ? following an endorsement by Trump for the job ? the Republican National Committee found that Hoekstra had been properly voted in as the new Michigan Republican Party chairman and that Kristina Karamo, who had been elected last year as chair, had been properly removed.
Karamo and her allies have been adamant that her removal and Hoekstra's election were invalid and that the RNC has no authority to decide otherwise. But it's hard to argue that Trump effectively controls the RNC and that the RNC has the final word on who does and doesn't get seated as the state's party chair on its board and credentialed as delegates to next summer's nominating convention. Karamo fights on ? there are court hearings in Kent County on the issue this week ? but Trump left no illusion as to his support, saying he told the RNC to get Hoekstra for the job if it could. It's notable that Hoekstra was one of the first Michigan politicians to embrace Trump's run in 2016 and became a surrogate for him on cable news shows during that cycle.
He blasted EVs, embraced autoworkers
Trump continued to make his appeal to autoworkers, saying UAW President Shawn Fain “sold you out” during the 2023 labor negotiations despite ratification of record labor contracts with Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Stellantis.
At one point, Trump invited to the stage Brian Pannebecker, who retired from the Ford Sterling Axle Plant in Sterling Heights, to affirm autoworker support for the campaign. Trump reinforced fear of Chinese competition, growth of manufacturing plants in Mexico and the shift to electric vehicles, while warning that autoworkers would not have jobs in two years if he didn’t intervene.
He's plenty defensive about the legal challenges he faces
Speaking at a rally for the first time since New York Justice Arthur Engoron smacked Trump with a fine of some $450 million including interest and barred him from running a business in the state for three years for illegally inflating the worth of his businesses, the former president was hopping mad. Engoron was "crooked," a "lunatic," Trump said. And everything he, Trump, had done was perfect, he maintained, saying bankers loved him and anything he did to buoy his real estate dealings hurt no one.
But what was clear given that Trump continually circled back to the legal challenges he faces ? a criminal trial beginning in March in New York, hundreds of millions in fines in Engoron's case and another involving a woman who a jury found he sexually abused despite his protestation otherwise, a total of some 91 charges in various cases ? is that the former president is on the defensive, facing a set of hurdles that no other presidential nominee has ever faced. So far, it hasn't hurt him and his supporters widely agree with his contention that it's all being done to discredit him and keep him out of office. But even Trump acknowledged his wish that the cases go away, including Engoron's on appeal. "Hopefully the whole thing is going to be thown out and reversed," he said.
But he's also kind of proud of those legal woes
At one point, Trump boasted that someone told him, in reference to the notorious Chicago gangster of the 1920s: "You got indicted more times than Alphonse Capone — Scarface."
And Trump made it clear that he believes his political fortunes have risen in unison with his legal problems. He said his poll numbers are better than ever and that what he described as unfair legal attacks against him are part of the reason.
He also told the crowd that his indictments are a form of sacrifice that he is making for his supporters.
"I'm being indicited for you," he said. "They want to silence me because I will never let them silence you." Looking for more on Michigan’s elections this year? Check out our voter guide, subscribe to our elections newsletter and always feel free to share your thoughts in a letter to the editor.Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or [email protected]. Follow him on X, @paulegan4.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Trump rally in Waterford Township: 5 highlights from speech