Harris and Trump duked it out in Michigan on Friday. Here’s what they said

As they compete fiercely for Michigan’s possibly crucial 15 Electoral College votes, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris clashed Friday in the state.

The two met in vote-rich Oakland County, northwest of Detroit, where the suburban uprising against Trump and a more diverse and educated populace have recently turned the electoral tide in favor of Democrats.

At a rally in Waterford Township, Harris labeled Trump “one of the biggest losers of manufacturing jobs in American history” and said that “he’s full of big promises, but he always fails to deliver.”
She boasted of her labor union record and promised to encourage private companies and the federal government to hire more workers without college degrees.

In Grand Rapids, a city in Kent County, Western Michigan which flipped from Trump in 2016 to Joe Biden in 2020, Harris made a blue-collar pitch for herself on Friday. In Lansing, she ripped Trump’s manufacturing record and told union members the former president is “no friend of labor.”

Trump also made a stop in Oakland County to participate in a roundtable in Auburn Hills before finishing off his evening with a rally in Detroit. There, he promised he would increase American auto production by forcing heavy taxes on foreign autos.

Trump said, “I think the word tariff is more beautiful than love.”

The “blue wall” consists of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, three Great Lakes battlegrounds that gave Trump the presidency in 2016 and then turned the tables to give Biden the presidency four years later.

In 2016, Michigan gave Trump a historic victory by defeating Hillary Clinton by less than 11,000 votes, ending a run of Democratic victories there since 1992, even though Biden won the state by over 154,000 votes.

The secretary of state’s office said more than 944,000 early ballots already have been cast in Michigan – representing 13% of its active registered voters.

Both sides targeted Arab Americans, Black voters, union workers, and suburban moderates who oppose President Joe Biden’s Gaza policy.

Battle for Arab American voters

Trump visited a Hamtramck campaign office on Friday, where many Muslims and Arab Americans are from. He supported mayoral candidate Amer Ghalib, who had just backed the ex-president. He backed mayoral candidate Amer Ghalib, who had lately backed the ex-president.

“The one thing the Democrats keep sending to our community scaring them that you will come and deport them, although some of them are second- and third-generation immigrants,” the mayor asked Trump, who has pledged to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants if re-elected.I therefore want you to respond to these accusations and say what you have to say about our community. What will you tell them?

The ex-president said “fake news.”

Trump told reporters earlier in his Netanyahu talks: “He’ll speak soon. His employment is good.” “Biden is trying to hold him back; he probably should be doing the opposite,” he said.

In Waterford Township hours later, Harris concurred that the year had been “very difficult” for Arab Americans.

Though she mentioned Wayne County deputy executive Assad Turfe and referenced the support of “Arab American leaders,” she acknowledged the pain caused to members of the large Arab American and Muslim communities by Israel’s military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, which, she said have “deep and proud roots in the Detroit metro area.”

Harris repeated her assertion of holding optimism towards the realization of an opportunity to restart the dialogue between Hamas and Israel for a ceasefire and releases of hostages, should Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar pass.

“The death of Sinwar may and should mark a turning point. She called on everybody to take this chance to bring home the captives, put an end to the suffering, and eventually put an end to the war in Gaza. “And I still believe that the best way to make stability in the long run along the Israel-Lebanon border is through a diplomatic way.”

Harris targets Trump’s blue-collar appeal

When the vice president spoke to union members in Lansing earlier in the day, she played videos showing Trump bashing auto workers’ labor, attacking Shawn Fain, who leads United Auto Workers, and making a claim that he “used to hate to pay overtime” when he ran his businesses before entering politics.

Trump has promised high car imported tariffs from China and Mexico in an attempt to win over Michigan manufacturing workers. He also said that auto loan interest would be tax deductible.

A new ad from the Harris campaign, focusing attention on Trump’s own words, arrives as Democrats try to bridge a divide between union leaders—who generally support Harris and her party on labor issues—and their membership, who sometimes skew more Republican on cultural questions.

After the audience watched the 35-second film, Harris said, “Listen to what he has to say. He implies that children can do it and that car mechanics are just pretending.

“There are no union members in his club. Who owns this. Say it plainly. Whatever he does at rallies…” How does it compare to a child’s build? We understand your complex work. Your anguish is immense. Work hard at anything you do. Your abilities are outstanding. You are trained by renowned automotive technicians.

Trump returns to city he’d insulted

Trump came to Detroit after supposedly disparaging it during last week’s Detroit Economic Club luncheon.

Trump branded Milwaukee a “developing nation” and warned that if Harris wins on November 5, “the whole country will end up being like Detroit.”

Trump’s derogatory remarks on Detroit were the subject of a radio ad released Friday by Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Fight Like Hell PAC.

During his recent trip to Detroit, Donald Trump delivered an attack on our city. He described Detroit as a disaster and a failure. He’s wrong, we know. A thirty-second commercial by Whitmer says, “Detroiters never give up on each other or their city, something Donald Trump will never understand.”

Election Day “will be liberation day in America,” Trump told the crowd on Friday during his return to the city.

Trump said Detroit had “such great potential,” but Democrats have “been wreaking havoc on this place” and blocking its long-promised resurrection.

He promised state residents, “By the end of my term, the whole world will be talking about the Michigan miracle and the stunning rebirth of Detroit.”