• In his first public event since a second apparent assassination attempt, Trump held a town hall-style rally in a packed Flint arena
• Michigan’s auto industry would be destroyed by Chinese electric vehicles if he’s not elected president, Trump claimed
• Trump said he would leverage “interest rates, energy and common sense” to tackle inflation but did not discuss specifics

FLINT — Former President Donald Trump claimed Michigan has become an “afterthought in cars” during a town hall-style rally in Flint and addressed recent assassination attempts, saying “only consequential presidents get shot at.”

Speaking Tuesday night in his first public appearance since an apparent assassination attempt Sunday at his Florida golf course, Trump called his safety “sort of miracle.” 

He praised the U.S. Secret Service and thanked Vice President Kamala Harris – his Democratic opponent in the presidential contest – for a “very, very nice” phone call to him after the attempt, even as the audience loudly booed her. 

The Republican presidential nominee fielded three pre-selected crowd questions on the auto industry, the southern border and inflation. He took another two from moderator Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Arkansas governor and former White House press secretary, who called him as “the greatest president” in history. 

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Trump’s sweeping answers routinely lasted longer than 10 minutes and veered to often unrelated topics. “That’s not rambling, that’s genius, when you can connect the dots,” Trump said, acknowledging his digressions. “What the hell are all you people showing up for if I ramble?”

While he railed on Biden administration electric vehicle policies, he pivoted when a pro-Trump auto worker asked about threats to the auto industry, instead discussing nuclear war, which he called “the single biggest threat” to the world.

“You’re not going to care so much about making cars” once nuclear missiles fly, Trump said, repeating without evidence his prior claims of a looming world war.

He also called for the execution of convicted drug dealers, saying, “if you don't have the death penalty for drug dealers, you're just wasting your time.”

Tuesday’s event marked Trump’s fifth visit to Michigan in the past month and ninth of the year, reinforcing its status as a key swing state in the race. 

His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, was in Sparta earlier Tuesday. Harris was last in the state on Labor Day for a stop in Detroit, and running mate Tim Walz rallied smaller groups of supporters Thursday and Friday last week.

In anticipation of Trump’s event, the Harris’ campaign released a statement from U.S. Sen. Gary Peters 

“The only candidate in this race who understands working families is Vice President Harris, who has a plan to lower costs, bring good-paying manufacturing jobs back home, and ensure Michigan workers continue to lead the world in auto manufacturing,” Peters said in the statement.

‘An afterthought’ for cars

Trump used the Michigan event to reiterate what has become common criticisms of the Biden administration’s push for electric vehicles and Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers union, which endorsed Harris. 

He claimed Michigan “used to be the capital of the world in cars. Today, you're an afterthought in cars.” 

Michigan remains by far the largest auto manufacturing state in the country, however, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of July, Michigan was home to 161,600 vehicle and parts manufacturing jobs. 

As Bridge Michigan has previously reported, Michigan vehicle manufacturing jobs dipped slightly under Trump, including before the COVID-19 pandemic, but have rebounded slightly under President Joe Biden, increasing from 41,500 to 46,700 jobs.

But parts manufacturing jobs fell under both Trump and Biden. The state has about 115,600 parts jobs, down from 132,700 at the start of 2017. Electric vehicles in general require fewer parts and less assembly, a long-term concern for autoworkers and the unions that represent them.

General Motors, Ford and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler) continue to rank among the top-selling global car brands in the world.

Doomsaying the transition to electric vehicles has been a mainstay of Trump’s Michigan speeches. He argues the shift will ultimately cost the state jobs. He vowed a 200% tariff on vehicles manufactured in Mexico by Chinese firms.

“If I don't win, you will have no auto industry within two to three years,” Trump predicted in Flint. “...China is going to take over all of your business because of the electric car.”

Why Flint?

Trump spoke less than 40 miles away from General Motors' Orion Assembly plant in Oakland County, which the automaker is currently retooling to add more EV truck-assembly capacity.

Both Harris and Trump have jostled for union autoworker votes, and EVs have become a central focus in Trump and Vance’s Michigan visits in recent months.

Relatively small populations of persuadable voters can make all the difference in an election this tight. Harris is leading Trump in Michigan by less than 2 percentage points – within the margin of error – in poll aggregations produced by FiveThirtyEight, RealClearPolitics and Silver Bulletin.

Flint, once widely known as “vehicle city,” is home to major automotive plants that employ thousands of workers. Though it’s workforce and overall population has shrunk, Flint remains one of Michigan’s largest majority-Black cities.

The city is also part of a crucial and competitive congressional race, with Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet and Republican Paul Junge vying to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee. Voters in the district are feeling burned out by the bitter presidential election.

The district leans Democratic, but only narrowly so. Democratic President Biden won the district by two percentage points in 2020. He won Flint, a Democratic stronghold, by a much larger margin, with more than 82% of the vote. 

Trump has held several town hall-style events during his campaign. Harris, meanwhile, has faced criticism for holding few interviews and no press conferences since becoming the nominee in July. She’s scheduled to be back in Michigan Thursday for a primarily digital event with Oprah Winfrey. 

Talking taxes

Trump warned that Harris would “terminate” an expansive tax cut law he signed into law as president in 2017, claiming her plan would “lift up your taxes by 44% — just that one move.”

Harris has suggested terminating the cuts only for the top 1% of earners, continuing a Biden administration pledge to not raise taxes for households earning less than $400,000 a year, while also proposing new child credits.

He also claimed Harris supports an “unrealized capital gains tax that will drive every business out of the United States.”

The vice president has proposed raising the corporate income tax rate, which Trump had cut, from 21% to 28% and raising the traditional capital gains tax from 20% to 28% for Americans making more than $1 million a year. 

Trump's claim about "unrealized" capital gains taxes appears to come from a Biden administration budget proposal that would require households with more than $100 million in wealth to pay income taxes on at least 25% of their annual income, including any gains in value of assets they have not yet sold. 

“I don't know how any rich person, or any person that's in business, can even think of supporting her,” Trump said.