Donald Trump holds rally in Macomb County for candidates
Former President Donald Trump returned to Michigan on Saturday night to boost support for two Republican candidates he wants to see become the state’s chief law enforcement and elections officials, inserting himself into the nominating process three weeks before state GOP delegates are to begin selecting their nominees for down-ballot races.
The two Trump-backed candidates — Matt DePerno for attorney general and Kristina Karamo for secretary of state — are political newcomers who gained prominence after the 2020 election for peddling misinformation and unproven claims of corruption in that year’s presidential balloting, which Trump lost to Joe Biden in Michigan by more than 154,000 votes.
Beginning his speech about 7:30 p.m., Trump immediately attacked President Joe Biden and began hammering at false claims that the 2020 election in the state was rife with fraud and corruption.
“The presidential election was rigged and stolen and because of that our country is being destroyed,” he said as the speech began. “We did win, we did win. … We won by a lot, not just a little.”
In his remarks at the Michigan Stars Sports Center in Washington Township, which lasted about an hour and 45 minutes, Trump talked about high inflation and a surge in migrants along the southern border, as well what he described as a botched withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. He also claimed that, if he had remained in office, Russia never would have invaded Ukraine and inflation wouldn’t have gone up.
“The only thing they (Democrats) are good at is fixing elections,” Trump said. “That’s about the only thing they do.”
He also got huge applause when he teased another run for president in 2024.
“Would anybody like to see me run?” he asked and the crowd of about 5,700 people exploded with cheers.
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Trump’s relentless disinformation campaign about the last election has left Michigan Republicans divided. While some continue to push for another review of the last presidential election, as Trump and his allies have demanded, others have condemned attempts to relitigate the contest, saying it’s time to move on.
During the speech, Trump said, “We have to get to the bottom of what happened in 2020,” though he wasn’t more specific than that.
“This is about making sure Michigan is not rigged and stolen again in 2024,” he said.
Throughout the speech, Trump also attacked Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as well as Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. He called DePerno “a tough cookie” and Karamo “a fearless champion for election integrity.”
He urged Republicans to support both, calling theirs “critical nominations.”
Following the speech, the Democratic National Committee put out a statement saying Trump “took the stage alongside some of the most extreme members of the Republican Party to remind the people of Michigan what today’s Republican Party stands for.”
Trump’s endorsement of candidates before the endorsement convention for down ballot races, including these, has also upset some Republicans, however, as has the fact that a party co-chair, Meshawn Maddock, who appeared at the rally, has followed his lead.
But those feelings clearly were not in evidence Saturday at the event in Macomb County: Trump supporters lined up hours early to attend the rally, sporting Make America Great Again apparel and waving signs.
Taking the stage for a brief speech, DePerno, who led a failed lawsuit questioning the accuracy of voting machines in a northern Michigan county claimed to prove “how fraud occurred in this state.” But he did no such thing: A judge dismissed the case last year but DePerno is appealing the ruling.
He did not explain what proof he had had for the audience.
DePerno also said, when elected, that he would take action against Whitmer, Benson and his would-be opponent, Nessel, to hold them “accountable.”
“For far too long, we’ve allowed these radical, leftist Democrats to destroy our state and it’s time we take it back,” he said. “I’ve fought for everyone in this state.”
He also contradicted himself by saying on the one hand the Republican Party in the state was unifying behind his candidacy while on the other calling for supporters to “storm” upcoming local conventions to elect delegates to determine, beginning at an endorsement convention, who will be the party’s nominees for attorney general, secretary of state and other down-ballot races.
Many Republicans have voiced concerns that DePerno and Karamo could be viewed as too extreme and too linked to Trump by voters and cost them chances to win with more mainstream voters in November.
DePerno also spoke out against vaccine and mask mandates as well as the teaching of critical race theory in schools — taking up themes that have motivated Republican…
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