Traverse City — Former President Donald Trump on Friday said Vice President Kamala Harris is in “free fall” with Arab American and Muslim voters in Michigan because of ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and criticized the endorsements she earned from the Cheneys.
Republican former congresswoman Liz Cheney and her father Dick Cheney, who was vice president under Republican President George W. Bush, endorsed Harris. Dick Cheney was instrumental in the American military invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the U.S.
“The father killed more Arabs than any human being on earth,” Trump said of Dick Cheney from a stage at the Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City.
More: Trump leans on rural Michigan voter turnout in campaign’s final stretch
Dick Cheney, 83, was a GOP congressman from Wyoming and served three Republican presidents in roles ranging from White House chief of staff and secretary of defense to Bush’s vice president, where he was a leading voice on invading Iraq. He released a statement in September on his endorsement of Harris, saying Trump “can never be trusted with power again.”
“As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution,” the former two-term vice president said.
Earlier this week, Liz Cheney campaigned with Harris in Royal Oak and spoke to the Detroit Economic Club about why she is backing the Democratic presidential nominee after a lifetime of being part of the GOP.
“Donald Trump is completely focused on being cruel,” Liz Cheney told Detroit business leaders on Tuesday.
Harris’ political standing with Arab and Muslim voters has been rocky in the final weeks of the campaign.
The Uncommitted Movement launched in Michigan among the state’s Muslim and Arab American voters earlier this year to protest American aid to Israel, arguing the longtime U.S. ally was killing innocent civilians in its conflict with the militant group Hamas in Gaza. About 100,000 people voted “uncommitted” in Michigan’s Feb. 27 presidential primary ballot as a protest of President Joe Biden’s support for Israel.
Since then, some Arab American and Muslim groups and leaders have said they will not vote for Trump or Harris and, in some cases, encouraged other voters to do the same. The Uncommitted Movement’s leaders have refused to endorse Harris. However, Emgage Action, the political arm of an 18-year-old Muslim American advocacy group, did endorse Harris over Trump.
More: Harris campaign ‘regrets’ removal of Muslim Democrat at rally, says he’s welcome at future events
Trump has gained the endorsement of Hamtramck’s Muslim mayor, while three members of the Hamtramck city council have endorsed Harris, citing Trump calling Middle Eastern and Yemeni immigrants “known terrorists” at an Oct. 4 campaign event in Butler, Pa.
“She sent their jobs overseas, brought crime to their cities and tonight, in the Middle East, it’s like a tinderbox,” Trump said, referencing Israel launching airstrikes Friday on Iranian military installations in retaliation for Iran’s recent barrage of ballistic missiles fired upon Israel. “People are being killed at levels we’ve never seen before.”
Trump, who also supports Israel, was referencing the escalating conflicts Israel is waging against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as the new retaliatory air strikes with Iran.
Trump’s 70-minute-long remarks began more than two hours late, with the former president taking the stage shortly before 10:30 p.m. after he was held up in Texas, in part because he was in a lengthy interview with podcaster Joe Rogan.
The Harris campaign criticized the delay, which led to people leaving an overflow area in a hangar behind the main seating and staging area. The main seating and standing area outside the hangar remained full for the former president’s address.
“Tonight is a reminder that Donald Trump only cares about himself, even if that means leaving thousands of people out in the cold for hours on end,” said Shafeeqa Kolia, rapid response director for Harris’ Michigan campaign.
Trump’s remarks touched on now familiar territory for the former president, who’s been visiting the swing state about once a week in the final stretch of the 2024 campaign. He talked about auto manufacturing and border security and encouraged the crowd to cast ballots early. On Saturday, early, in-person voting begins across Michigan and will be available to voters through Sunday, Nov. 3.
At one point, Trump described the importance of the 2024 election in stark terms from the chilly stage in Traverse City, describing Election Day as “liberation day.”
“Nov. 5, 2024 will be liberation day in America,” Trump said. “Kamala Harris is so grossly incompetent and unfit.”
The Republican presidential candidate’s stop in Michigan’s cherry capital marks the furthest north he has trekked in the state for the 2024 election cycle. He visited the city the day before the 2020 election but failed to secure Michigan in his bid for the presidency that year.
Trump was initially scheduled to take the stage around 7:30 p.m., but didn’t end up leaving Texas until around 7:30 p.m. His plane landed just after 10 p.m.
Trump sent a video message from his plane that was played for the crowd while they waited, where he apologized for the delay and promised an “extra special job.”
“I said, ‘Will they understand it in Traverse City? Otherwise, I will be very upset with myself,” Trump said of the delay in the video. “And I think that you will.”
Friday marked Sherri Robinson’s second Trump rally. The Bellaire resident attended Trump’s last Traverse City rally on the eve of the November 2020 election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden by about 154,000 votes.
Robinson voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, but the issues driving the election this time around seem to have changed since then, with border security and increasing daily costs driving the most concern, she said.
“I’d like to see grocery prices go down, gas prices go down,” Robinson said. “I think the last three and a half years have been difficult on people because of the inflation.
“I’m just hoping that his message resonates with people and that there’s a good turnout,” she added.
Jim Wilk, a Ludington resident who transplanted from Chicago three years ago to “leave the Dems,” said he’s voting for Trump for much the same reasons Robinson voiced: border security and inflation.
“He showed me, personally, that government’s kind of useless because he’s done things in two years that they couldn’t for 50 years,” Wilk said.
Trump also is expected to rally supporters Saturday in Novi, while his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, is planning a rally in Kalamazoo the same day with former first lady Michelle Obama.
More: How Donald Trump and Kamala Harris stack up on issues that matter in Michigan
More: Detroit News Voter Guide: What’s at stake, key races, voting dates
Grand Traverse County has become a battleground in recent years in Michigan, with one of its House seats flipped to Democratic state Rep. Betsy Coffia in 2022. Coffia is the first Democrat to be elected to the state House from Grand Traverse County.
Trump won Grand Traverse County by 12 percentage points in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton and by about 3 percentage points over Biden in 2020. But in 2022, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer carried the county 52%-46% over Republican Tudor Dixon.
An early October poll of 600 likely voters commissioned by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV found Harris was up about 2.6 percentage points, but the lead fell within the margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
