Waterford Township, Michigan
CNN
—
Former President Donald Trump returned to the Wolverine State on Saturday with both the Republican presidential campaign and this crucial 2024 battleground in tow, but much has changed since his last visit about five months ago.
President Trump then rushed to attend a rally centered on striking auto industry workers, avoiding his rivals for the Republican nomination who had gathered in California for the second primary debate. The chaotic reign of 2020 election deniers at the top of Michigan's Republican Party only recently began. And many were still anticipating how Trump's growing legal troubles would play out during the presidential campaign.
The strike has since ended, and the United Auto Workers, the top union representing autoworkers in Michigan, endorsed President Joe Biden. All Republicans who appeared on the California debate stage dropped out except for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. And the Michigan Republican Party changed leadership this week amid a dramatic power struggle.
President Trump addressed supporters Saturday for the first time since a series of rulings in separate New York cases involving the former president spotlighted the legal crisis he faces on multiple fronts. His campaign calendar.
A New York judge ruled Thursday that a trial will begin on March 25 to determine whether President Trump falsified business documents to conceal hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. I put it down. Twenty-four hours later, another judge ordered President Trump and his company to pay almost the entire amount. $355 million for fraudulently inflating financial statements over a 10-year period.
“Our court system is a mess. What's going on in our country, they have to fix it. All you see is bitterness and revenge and hatred. “Judge (Arthur) Engoron, please pay me $355 million for doing everything right,'' President Trump said on Saturday, a day after calling Elgoron's ruling a “complete and utter sham.” He spoke at a local election rally.
Meanwhile, the fate of the Georgia election destruction case against Trump and 14 of his allies is being shaken by dramatic testimony this week about romantic relationships between two top prosecutors at hearings addressing allegations of self-dealing. .
“These people aren't looking for justice. They only care about how to stop a crooked political opponent of Joe Biden — that's me. And they want to cause as much pain as possible. How can we give?'' Trump said in Waterford Township, referring to the Georgia case and the federal election interference case.
These are the dynamics swirling around Mr. Trump's rallies in Waterford Township, a Republican-leaning community on the outskirts of Detroit, where he twice received about 53% of the vote. But as in many parts of the state, Biden won the state by nearly three points over Hillary Clinton's 2016 performance in Waterford.
A Fox News poll of Michigan registered voters released this week found that there is no clear leader in the binary race between Trump (47%) and Biden (45%).
President Trump's visit to Michigan comes on the heels of an appearance at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia on Saturday, where he unveiled a new sneaker line. The rally also took place 10 days before the state's Republican primary. The primary will be the last February campaign before the race for the Republican nomination expands to more than 20 states in March.
A person familiar with Trump's plans told CNN that Trump has no plans to return to the state before the primary election. Haley is keen to do well in her home state's Feb. 24 primary, but has yet to appear in Michigan, where Trump is the front-runner.
Ahead of the trip, President Trump and his allies sought to end turmoil within the Michigan Republican Party, which is facing a reckoning over preparations for the 2024 election.
The state party fired chairwoman Cristina Karamo last month in the face of internal conflict and poor fundraising. Karamo spread unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the 2020 election and lost her bid for secretary of state in 2022, though she had been party chair for less than a year. She sought to maintain her control, claiming that her vote to oust herself was unfair.
On Wednesday, a Republican National Committee committee approved Pete Hoekstra, a former congressman and U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands under the Trump administration, as the new chairman of the Michigan Republican Party. President Trump endorsed Hoekstra in a Jan. 26 social media post.
The very turmoil in which Michigan is expected to play a leading role in the 2024 election threatens organized efforts. In addition to the tight race for the White House, Republicans have a chance to flip the Senate seat vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, and there are several House races as well.
“I don't think there's any other path to the presidency other than winning Michigan. This is ground zero,” Jason Cavell Law, a longtime Republican strategist and former head of the Michigan Republican Party, said before the rally. told. “There's a lot of opportunity here. Unfortunately, it's also the root of the dysfunction in the Republican Party.”
Two senior advisers told CNN that the Trump campaign agrees with that sentiment and plans to launch a strong campaign in the state in the coming months.
“If we win Michigan, we win the whole ballgame. We win everything,” Trump told supporters Saturday.
Intraparty turmoil isn't the only challenge Trump has to overcome in Michigan. His efforts to win support from union households, a key constituency in the state, have been controversial.
President Trump on Saturday stoked concerns about migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, arguing that such an influx would negatively impact union workers.
“The biggest threat to the union is millions of people coming across the border, because there will be no jobs,” the former president said.
He also claimed that “organized crime units made up of illegal alien gang members” were breaking into Michigan homes after dark and “looting” them, saying that Biden “allowed this to happen.” Ta.
“From now on, we're going to call it Biden's immigration crime. … Let's call it 'Vigrant,'” he said.
During a visit to the state in September, during which he appeared at a non-union factory during an auto workers strike, President Trump promised to reverse Biden-era policies that encouraged the auto industry's transition to electric vehicles. He appealed to blue-collar workers by claiming that this would threaten American jobs. . He also made a play to drum up support for Big Labor, telling the crowd: And I'll take care of the rest. ”
The United Auto Workers union last month showed up with striking workers in Michigan the day before Trump's visit, supporting Biden, who became the first president to join a picket line.
President Trump has encouraged union members not to pay dues, but he countered by calling UAW President Sean Fein a “weapon of mass destruction” for autoworkers.
At the time, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, “Stop these drugs and vote for DJT,” calling him by his initials.
In response, Fein said, “I don't care what Donald Trump says about me.”
“I'm all about the facts,” Fein said. “And the facts are very clear to the majority of Americans: Working class people are being left behind by President Trump's billionaire class and billionaire cronies, and the economy is only for the wealthy. It is functioning.”
Last month, President Trump met with Teamster union leaders and members in Washington, D.C. The roundtable discussion at Teamsters headquarters was prompted by some opposition within the union, with one executive member calling Trump a “known union buster, scab, and traitor.”
But the Trump campaign believes it can drive a wedge between Biden and organized labor. Appealing to union members is a key part of his strategy to appeal to working-class voters, especially in battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, all of which Trump signed four years ago. , which gave Biden victory in the 2020 election.
Trump's share of the vote among union households fell from 48% in 2016 to 37% in 2020, according to CNN exit polls. A recent Fox News Michigan poll found Biden leading Trump 53% to 41% among union households. Recovering her support could be the key to getting Michigan back into the red in 2024.
But attacking Mr. Fein so soon after a major labor victory for Michigan autoworkers could work against those efforts, Cavell-Roe said.
“Trump and Republicans with UAW households still have a real chance, but Fein's success in extracting concessions from the Big Three and his punitive style have turned some fans off. “I don't think we can ignore what we've achieved,” he said. “And you have to give him credit for the win.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
