- President Donald Trump rallied supporters in Port Huron Sunday ahead of Michigan’s Nov. 3 general election
- Trump claimed without evidence that Democrat Joelyn Benson committed voter fraud and called Abdul El-Sayed a ‘jihadist’
- The rally marked the first visit by a sitting president in the county’s history. Rapper Nicki Minaj joined him
PORT HURON — President Donald Trump told Michigan voters to “pretend that I’m on the ballot” in the Nov. 3 general election as he railed against Democrats nine days out from the pivotal contest.
In a nearly two-hour speech, Trump made clear that he was campaigning in Michigan to try to stop US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who he repeatedly likened to a “jihadist” who can’t be allowed in Congress.
Without evidence, he also accused gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson of “the worst voter fraud stuff that anybody’s ever seen.”
Related:
- Fact checks, takeaways: Obama blasts Trump, touts El-Sayed, in Detroit
- Late $1.8M surge for John James tests Michigan campaign finance law
- Fact check: Trump says Michigan ‘thriving,’ auto industry ‘back’
Trump was joined by rapper Nicki Minaj and several Republican candidates, including Mike Rogers for US Senate, John James for governor, Doug Lloyd for attorney general and Anthony Forlini for secretary of state.
Former President Barack Obama rallied the Democratic base Saturday in Detroit, where he appeared with El-Sayed, Benson and other candidates.
Trump began his Sunday rally by referring to Obama as “my competitor” and argued he drew a bigger crowd to Port Huron, where officials said it was the first presidential visit to St. Clair County. The arena, which hosts minor league hockey, was at capacity and organizers had to use an overflow venue.
Recent polls have Democrats ahead in some of Michigan’s key races, including for US Senate and governor, but both races remain largely within the margin of error, meaning small shifts in the electorate before Nov. 3 could have decisive consequences.
The president used the speech to repeat his promise to send a $5,000 check to every American if Republicans hold on to both the House and Senate.
Doing so would cost upward of $1 trillion, he acknowledged, arguing he could pull it off despite skepticism from some Republicans in Congress, which would likely have to approve the spending.
Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel responded by arguing the GOP candidates’ participation in the Sunday rally shows they are “fully endorsing and ready to rubber stamp Trump’s toxic agenda.”
Read on for fact checks and takeaways from Trump’s pre-election rally.
Takeaway: Canada loomed large
While the rally was held about half a mile from the border with Canada, Trump gave only a passing mention to his trade war with Michigan’s neighbor or the tariffs Democrats have used to rail against high prices.
“Canada has been ripping us off for years,” Trump said, suggesting that “we’ll have that settled pretty soon” without elaborating.
Rogers this month called for an end to the trade war with Canada, distancing himself from the president without directly criticizing him.
Trump showed no signs of backing off tariffs as an economic strategy, saying “tariffs” remains one of his favorite words.
But he predicted that Canada will “give us anything” to end its more than year-long trade dispute with the US. Officials have repeatedly claimed an agreement is imminent, only to fail to reach a deal.
On Sunday, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett again said the two sides are “very close” to a deal. On Friday, Trump had unilaterally removed some tariffs on Canada, a move that may have been aimed at boosting Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who is in a close race as she seeks reelection.
Fact check: Trump says Benson a ‘thief’
Trump repeated his unfounded assertion that he won Michigan’s 2020 election despite his 154,188-vote loss to Democrat Joe Biden that year. A GOP-led state Senate review found no evidence of widespread fraud.
But Trump suggested he was robbed in the race and blamed Benson, the Democratic secretary of state now running for governor, who he called a “thief.”
“She cheated more, in my opinion, than anybody else, any other politician in the entire United States,” he said. “And you got to watch all of those Detroit votes.”
Courts dismissed all challenges to Michigan’s 2020 election results, and Benson was never accused of criminal wrongdoing. In his Sunday rally, Trump noted Benson’s decision to send absentee ballot applications to all voters in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a move courts upheld as legal.
Benson did lose a separate 2020 case over her attempt to ban openly carried firearms at polling places, which was struck down before the election.
Responding to Trump’s latest claims, Benson said in a statement that “truth and Democracy prevailed” in 2020. “That’s why we know, no matter how many baseless conspiracies Trump and James try to spread, Michigan citizens will have the final say on November 3rd.”
As in the August primary, seven Michigan cities will have US Department of Justice monitors at the polls on Nov. 3. The monitors also did not report any instances of fraud in the primary.
Takeaway: Trump calls gas prices a ‘short-term hit’
Rogers and James have also called for an end to the Iran War and gas tax suspensions as they try to win election to the US Senate and governor’s office, respectively.
But Trump defended the war Sunday, calling gas prices a “short-term hit” and a “small price to pay for taking a nuclear weapon away from maniacs.”
Trump told supporters he has no regrets: “Are you kidding? I thought gas would be double and triple” what they are now.
Gas is currently at about $4.83 a gallon in Michigan, according to AAA. That’s considerably higher than the national average of $4.28.
The US recently set a record for the most days with gas above $4 a gallon in a calendar year, according to ABC News.
Fact check: Extremist ties?
Trump repeatedly alluded to El-Sayed’s Muslim faith, saying at one point that he was in Michigan to “keep a jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator.”
There’s no evidence El-Sayed is a jihadist or member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and he has publicly disavowed the group, which has historically advocated for political systems entwined with Islamic law.
Republicans contend El-Sayed at least has family ties to the group, including 2010 tweets by his half-sister, who claimed their shared mother and family in Egypt had “long been” affiliated with the group.
At Sunday’s rally, Trump also noted El-Sayed’s mom worked for an organization that the US said in 2004 had provided financial support to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida.
She reportedly worked for the humanitarian aid organization as a nurse in a Kenyan orphanage, but there’s no evidence she had anything to do with the alleged funding.
Trump likened voting against El-Sayed to fighting back against the Al-Quaeda terrorists who perpetrated the Sept. 11 attacks.
The father of United Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer, David Beamer, joined Trump on stage and called progressives like El-Sayed “the enemy right here among us — local terrorists” who want to “infiltrate” the US Capitol and “demolish it from within.”
Democrats have decried such accusations as racist and Islamaphobic.
Takeaway: Touting Selfridge
Trump also said he “saved” the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County.
Many Michigan elected officials have claimed at least partial credit for the decision to bring F-15EX fighter jets to Selfridge. On stage, Trump claimed it was “effectively closed. The Democrats shut it down, and I opened it.”
Selfridge never closed under Trump or Biden. Decisions made by the Trump administration, however, ensured the base wouldn’t face closure in the near future.
Democrats and Republicans alike lobbied Trump and the federal government for a new fighter mission at the base, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, both US senators, House Speaker Matt Hall, state Sen. Kevin Hertel and James.
Trump traveled to Michigan to celebrate the new mission last year — though the project is years from being realized and may require additional funding.
Fact check: Repeated claims on El-Sayed
Trump also repeated several claims Bridge previously fact checked, including a claim that El-Sayed “supported a ban on all gas-powered automobiles.”
- El-Sayed didn’t explicitly call for ending the production of gas-powered cars but did support the Green New Deal, which aimed to eliminate carbon emissions and likely would have required a major shift to EVs.
Trump also called El-Sayed “a fake doctor” and added a new wrinkle, suggesting “he runs what is considered to be the worst clinic in the entire country of America.”
- El-Sayed is a doctor who holds a doctor of medicine degree from Columbia University, but does not meet the legal definition of a “physician” because he is not licensed to practice medicine, according to a recent Bridge fact check.
- There is no evidence El-Sayed has ever operated a clinic in Michigan or any other state. After earning his doctor of medicine degree at Columbia University, El-Sayed opted to enter the public health field. He later served as health director in Detroit and Wayne County.
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