In Michigan, Donald Trump predicts ‘destruction and death’ under Democrats

• In Michigan, Donald Trump claims violence crime surged under Democrats, but statistics he cited aren’t as conclusive
• Trump spoke at the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department flanked by sheriffs from rural Michigan counties who support his reelection
• Democrats have countered Trump’s assertions with statistics showing violent crime is down under the administration of President Joe Biden

HOWELL — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump used a Tuesday speech in Michigan to frame Democratic rival Kamala Harris as soft on crime and illegal immigration, attempting to rebut depictions of her past as a prosecutor. 

Trump promised a sweeping removal of undocumented immigrants and pledged to “refund the police” if elected to another term, while exaggerating crime statistics and inaccurately asserting Harris wanted to defund law enforcement. 

“Kamala Harris will deliver crime, chaos, destruction and death if she's allowed to be the president of the United States,” Trump said. “I will deliver law, order, safety and peace, and I will protect those who protect us.”

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Trump was flanked by uniformed law enforcement officers and police vehicles as he spoke at the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office, where Sheriff Mike Murphy said before the event that local courts and prosecutor’s offices were closed for half a day in order to accommodate the event. 

Trump was also joined by Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole and Van Buren County Sheriff Dan Abbott, who told assembled media, “come November, make the obvious choice, elect Donald Trump.”

In about 50 minutes of remarks that veered toward other topics, Trump called Harris’ replacement of President Joe Biden atop the Democratic ticket a “coup” and “a vicious, violent overthrow,” characterizations Biden has denied. 

He again forecasted cataclysm for Michigan’s auto industry if voters do not send him back to the White House. 

“Every job, every auto worker here will be out of a job within three years, if I'm not elected,” Trump asserted in his first Michigan speech since July 20. “They're all going to be made in China.”

Violent crime claims 

Trump and Democrats traded dueling claims on crime Tuesday, citing conflicting statistics.

“Since comrade Kamala Harris took office, her administration's crime statistics show she's presided over a 43% increase in violent crime,” Trump told reporters during the event.

Trump relied on data from the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey, which interviews residents to include crimes that may not have been reported to police, and may have only been threatened or attempted. 

The survey suggested violent crime rose 43% from 2020 to 2022.

But survey data reflects estimates, not exact numbers, and the figures Trump cited were not statistically different at a high level of confidence from 2017 to 2019, the first three years of Trump’s presidency. 

Democrats pointed to data from the FBI and Michigan State Police showing violent crime in both the U.S. and Michigan spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, including Trump’s final year in office.

“Violent crime was up under Donald Trump under his administration,” Attorney General Dana Nessel said earlier Tuesday. “It went down substantially when he left office and when Vice President Harris and of course, President Biden have been in office, we've seen a reduction in violent crime.”

Immigration

Trump’s remarks were similar to those in his April visit to Grand Rapids, where he spotlighted the murder of Ruby Garcia, 25, a Grand Rapids resident who prosecutors allege was shot by Brandon Ortiz-Vite, her romantic partner who was in the U.S. illegally after previously being deported.

Trump has also placed undocumented immigrants in the center of his focus on crime. He and his campaign have consistently highlighted the murder of three American women in the past year by undocumented immigrants as evidence of what they have deemed a “migrant crime wave.”

But a large body of research has found no evidence to support claims that immigrants commit crimes at a higher rate than U.S. citizens. 

In his Tuesday speech, Trump claimed without evidence that the Biden administration was allowing “thousands of terrorists” across the border. “These are the people that blew up the World Trade Center. Bad things will happen.” 

White supremacy shadow

Trump took a lone question from reporters at the event, responding to a question about Howell’s sordid relationship with racist gatherings and marches. Masked white supremacists reportedly invoked his name last month.

"Who was here in 2021?" Trump responded, referencing Biden's visit to Howell three years ago to discuss infrastructure. 

"Thank you," he said with a laugh before turning to walk away.

Democrats, however, criticized Trump for failing to condemn the recent white supremacist rally, given the proximity of his visit. 

“We knew who (Trump) was before he decided to have a campaign rally today in a place that has embraced Neo Nazis, that has embraced negative things about our past,” said state Rep. Tyrone Carter, D-Detroit.

Trump campaign officials told Reuters they chose Howell due to its proximity to the Detroit media market and due to Murphy’s support for the former president.

Murphy, the sheriff, claimed ahead of the event that the recent demonstration involved people from “out of town,” calling their message “white supremacist crap.”

An ‘incompetent guy’

While Trump returned to crime throughout his speech, he also repeatedly went on tangents. He complained about this week's Democratic National Convention, “the military going woke” and said he hasn't seen Harris laugh much lately.

The former president also mentioned his own legal troubles, including a federal indictment stemming from his failed attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss. 

"They don't arrest people anymore, and they shouldn't arrest people for saying the election was rigged," Trump said at one point. 

Later, Trump returned to claims about his 154,188-vote loss in Michigan four years ago, telling rural sheriffs that joined him at the event that he’d “love” to see them working in one “big” Michigan city this fall on Election Day, a likely reference to Detroit. 

Trump also blasted United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain, who donned a “Trump is a scab” T-shirt during a Monday night speech at the Democratic convention. 

Fain, he said, is an "incompetent guy.”