Donald Trump says he would welcome facing Whitmer this fall

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Large rapids — Former President Donald Trump said he wants to run against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this fall, as he teased Democrats on stage in Grand Rapids about their ongoing internal party debate over President Joe Biden’s candidacy.

Trump criticized the ongoing outrage over Biden’s candidacy, asking the crowd who they would like to see him run against: Vice President Harris or Biden. He then cited Whitmer, who has been frequently mentioned in political circles as a possible replacement presidential candidate.

“You have a terrible governor here who has done a terrible job,” Trump said. “I would like to run against her.”

Trump argued that Whitmer’s husband’s request to be at the front of the line to have his boat docked in a northern Michigan lake during the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 would haunt her in any presidential campaign.

Trump also denied any commitment to the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, calling it “seriously extreme” and the product of the “hard right.” Project 2025 calls for sweeping changes to the federal bureaucracy to create more appointments for future presidents. He rejected arguments that he was a threat to democracy.

“Last week I took a bullet for democracy,” Trump said.

More: Analysis: The Impossibility of Decoupling Trump from Project 2025

Saturday’s speech was Trump’s first campaign rally since a gunman tried to commit suicide at an outdoor rally in Pennsylvania. It was also his first campaign rally with his new running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio.

Trump predicted he would pull off a “victory” over an unspecified Democratic opponent in November, while some Democrats urged Biden to drop out of the race.

“In less than four months, we’re going to win Michigan, we’re going to take back the White House,” Trump told a packed house at Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids. “And with your help, we’re going to make America great again.”

Trump lambasted Democrats for doubting Biden’s ability to remain the Democratic presidential nominee after Biden’s poor performance in the June 27 debate against Trump.

“They have no idea who their candidate is, and neither do we,” Trump said.

More: Democrats target right-wing Project 2025, promoted by Trump allies

Before Trump spoke, Vance made a bid to restore America’s dominance in energy, jobs and military power in his first speech at a Trump rally since becoming the party’s vice presidential nominee.

Vance rejected attempts by opponents to paint former President Donald Trump’s policies as “radical,” saying it was common sense to emphasize strong border security, energy production, effective public safety and American jobs.

“What’s radical about making more of our own stuff in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio? Nothing,” Vance told the crowd of thousands in Van Andel Arena.

“Who could argue with the idea that four years of President Trump have been a lot better than four years of Joe Biden?”

Vance returned to the stage for a second speech to introduce Trump. In those remarks, Vance railed against what he called “30 years of damage from terrible leadership” over global trade deals with China, Mexico and Canada, as well as the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Vance served in Iraq while in the Marines.

“On every one of those points, Joe Biden was wrong and President Donald J. Trump was right,” Vance said.

The 12,000-seat sports stadium appeared to be packed, with hundreds more people sitting on the floor in front of the stage.

When the doors opened around 1 p.m. in downtown Grand Rapids, long lines of people waited outside Van Andel Arena, eager to secure a seat in the arena for the first post-convention meeting of the Republican National Committee in Milwaukee.

According to Grand Rapids Police Sgt. Tom Warwick, the line at one point stretched over a mile, ending approximately at MLK Jr. St and Ionia Ave.

Angie Bakus of Tecumseh had been waiting in line since 9 a.m. for what she estimates is her eighth meeting with Trump, but her first with the new vice presidential candidate.

Bakus had never heard of Vance before he was nominated, but she said she’s been impressed by what she’s learned about his story and his troubled childhood in Middletown, Ohio.

“He’s a nice guy,” Bakus said. “He grew up with a tough family life to begin with, but he showed everyone that there’s always a chance to become something bigger, since we live in the United States.”

The Biden-Harris campaign focused Saturday morning on warning union members in Michigan about what a Trump-Vance victory would mean for them. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, warned that Trump’s trade and tax policies would hurt working people and criticized his stance on issues like the prevailing wage.

“I can only imagine, after seeing the performance in Milwaukee, that they’re going to rewrite history and pretend that they care about working people,” Stabenow said. “But I just have to say, ‘Give me a chance.’ I’ve worked with both of them and I know that’s not true.”

The comments came after Republicans in Milwaukee launched a push to rally union votes in the Midwest. Sean O’Brien, executive chairman of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, gave a speech promoting organized labor and smearing the “corporate elite.”

The union vote is a key factor for both campaigns in Michigan, where Trump captured a large share of the working-class vote, sometimes referred to as the Reagan Democrats, in Macomb County in 2016.

Vance described himself as a working-class fighter in his RNC speech, recounting his difficult childhood in the Rust Belt and his family’s struggles in Kentucky and Ohio.

“In small towns like mine in Ohio, or nearby in Pennsylvania, or in Michigan, in states across the country, jobs were being sent overseas and children were being sent to war,” he said.

But Trump later went off script in his convention speech, calling for the resignation of UAW leader Shawn Fain, who had called Trump a “scumbag” and endorsed Biden for the presidency. He made the remarks after warning about the outsourcing of U.S. auto jobs.

“The United Auto Workers should be ashamed of themselves for letting this happen,” Trump said Thursday.

Gary Walker, a Livonia native who now lives in Westfield, Indiana, is a retired Ford mechanic who spent his final years working at the gear and axle plant in Sterling Heights. He was in line around 7 a.m. for the rally, which will be his fourth Trump rally.

Walker said he was confident Trump would appeal to Michigan auto workers.

“Why wouldn’t anybody support him?” Walker said. “The union leaders, they’re all Democrats, they’re part of the Democratic machine, you might call it. But most of the members I know think for themselves.”

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