Five takeaways from Trump's Michigan town hall
Former President Trump visited the key battleground of Michigan on Friday for a town hall conversation in which he attacked Vice President Harris over policies he says have hurt the state’s auto industry.
Trump sat for a conversation moderated by Tennessee GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn and took questions from the audience, but the night felt more reflective of the Republican nominee’s signature rallies filled with his most diehard supporters.
In his responses, Trump slammed Harris and Democrats over policies on energy, economics and immigration.
Here’s five takeaways from the event:
Trump homes in on key ‘blue wall’ state
The former president’s visit on Friday night to Warren, a suburb of Detroit, is just the latest he has made in Michigan, a major battleground that helped hand him the presidency in 2016 before flipping back to vote for President Biden in 2020.
Trump has increased his visits to Michigan and the other half dozen key swing states with less than six weeks to Election Day.
The Great Lakes State is one of three of the contested “blue wall” states — along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — that could clinch the presidency for Trump or Harris in November. Both candidates have made frequent visits trying to appeal especially to blue-collar workers in suburban areas who are more likely swing voters.
Trump made a stop in the state earlier on Friday, visiting a manufacturing facility in the suburbs of Grand Rapids in the western part of the state.
Harris leads Trump by just over 1 point in Michigan in the polling average from Decision Desk HQ/The Hill.
EVs draw attacks
Trump has often made electric vehicles a target of his speeches when addressing voters in states like Michigan, pointing to a Biden administration policy that he has argued amounts to a mandate.
“They have an electric mandate,” Trump said Friday. “’Every car is going to be electric,’ they say. I will terminate that... on day one.”
The policy from the Environmental Protection Agency technically does not require automakers to produce electric vehicles or any specific technology but imposes pollution limits for their vehicle fleets. But the stringent standards will likely require shifting the market toward electric vehicles or at least lower-carbon options, like hybrid vehicles.
The rule would have 56 percent of new vehicles as electric, 29 percent gas-powered and 13 percent plug-in hybrids by 2032. It is expected to prevent 7.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2055.
Trump often attacked electric vehicles as inefficient but on Friday argued consumers should have a choice of which vehicles to purchase.
He also went after Shawn Fain, the president of United Auto Workers (UAW) who endorsed Harris, accusing him of letting Biden go through with the policy. UAW has said it wants to ensure workers are protected but did not oppose a shift to electric vehicles.
Trump doubles down on tariffs
The Republican candidate repeatedly defended his tariff policy as the way to give U.S. businesses a leg up against those around the world.
Trump’s willingness to raise tariffs on other countries was a key part of his term in office, and he began a trade war with China that has seen both countries issuing tariffs on each other and continues to today.
During the event, Trump called for using a “smart” plan to use tariffs “wisely” to protect American business interests. He argued the country’s adversaries and allies have all taken advantage of the country and that the steel industry “thrived” because of tariffs he placed on China.
Trump also praised former President William McKinley, who was a proponent of tariffs and advocated for a tariff that raised rates to nearly 50 percent for a wide range of products. Republicans throughout much of the party’s early years were proponent of tariffs before adopting free trade policies as the 20th century progressed.
But Trump has marked a return to support for protectionism for the GOP not seen in many decades before him.
“We need a smart series of tariffs and taxes,” he said.
Immigration is central
Trump also took the opportunity to pounce on Harris as the vice president visited the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona on Friday evening. She called for more resources for Border Patrol and reiterated her support for the bipartisan border legislation that failed in the Senate after Trump called on Republicans to oppose it.
Trump said Harris “always complains and doesn’t do anything.” He acknowledged Harris’s visit to the border, saying “what a day for the border today.”
Immigration has been a hot topic in the 2024 election, with voters often listing it as the second-most important issue facing the country after the economy. Polling has shown it to be a weakness particularly for Biden but a potential vulnerability for Harris and Democrats.
Survey respondents have said they trust Trump to handle immigration more than Harris.
Trump vowed if elected, he would finish construction of the border wall he pledged to have built and “close” the border, accusing those coming across illegally from taking jobs away from Americans.
A town hall that felt more like a rally
The event was set up like a town hall where a candidate would take questions to hear what issues are on voters’ minds, but the night a more choreographed version of one of Trump’s rallies.
He sat with one of his most ardent supporter in Congress, Blackburn, who often praised Trump over various policies he implemented as president and has pledged to enact. He was also surrounded by an enthused crowd of supporters who regularly applauded his responses to the handful of questions he received.
Trump has participated in several of these town halls with top surrogates asking questions, but he has mostly avoided traditional town halls with undecided voters. He has held several press conferences recently in which he has taken various questions from reporters.
Harris has also engaged in limited media appearances outside of her own rallies and occasional answering of a few questions from the press since launching her candidacy.
But she has recently signaled an increase in media engagements, participating in her first solo interview on MSNBC as the Democratic nominee this week and sitting for interviews with local outlets.