NOVI, Mich. (AP) — Donald Trump further denigrated Detroit while appealing for votes Saturday in a suburb of the largest city in swing state Michigan . “I think Detroit and some of our areas makes us a developing nation,” the former president told supporters in Novi.
He said people want him to say Detroit is “great,” but he thinks it “needs help.” The Republican nominee for the White House had told an economic group in Detroit earlier this month that the “whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment drew harsh criticism from Democrats who praised the city for its recent drop in crime and growing population .
Trump later headed to Pennsylvania, another crucial swing state, where he appealed to young voters by promising them better conditions as they start their careers. Trump's stop in Novi, after an event Friday night in Traverse City , is a sign of Michigan's importance in the tight race. Harris held a rally in Kalamazoo Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama, who gave a searing denunciation of Trump and questioned why it was close, saying, “I lay awake at night wondering, ‘What in the world is going on?’” The candidates in the final stretch of the campaign have made frequent visits to Michigan, a state Trump won in 2016 but Democrat Joe Biden carried four years later.
Michigan is home to major car companies and the nation’s largest concentration of members of the United Auto Wor.
