Sarah Rice for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Ex-President Donald Trump only fielded one question from reporters at a rally in Michigan—and he still didn’t denounce the extremist hate groups who support him.
HOWELL—Ex-President Donald Trump spoke for less than an hour at a political rally that was billed as a “press conference” at the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday afternoon and then refused to condemn white supremacy in response to a question from a reporter.
Trump’s remarks centered largely on crime—including false statements about an increase in crime across the US, when federal data shows that national violent crime rates have actually dropped in recent years, including during the two years after Trump left the White House.
Trump also tried to link crime to immigration, while a range of studies have instead shown that immigrants, illegal or not, do not commit crime at a higher rate than native-born Americans.
“I will seal the border,” he said. “I’ll send Kamala’s illegal aliens back home where they belong.”
A very low energy Trump walked up to the podium and spoke of how he has gotten a lot endorsements from law enforcement agencies and has helped militarize police by giving them unused equipment. pic.twitter.com/IfUSVJUQMW
— Distill Social (@DistillSocial) August 20, 2024
Livingston County Sheriff Mike Murphy, other police officers, as well as their vehicles, were positioned behind Trump during his speech—along with an array of “Make America Safe Again” campaign signs. Afterwards, Trump only took one question from reporters, despite insistence from Murphy that this week’s event was to be a “press conference” and not a political event.
That question alluded to Trump’s visit to Grand Rapids in July, when white supremacists held demonstrations in Howell, with some reportedly chanting “Heil Hitler” and another group of demonstrators reportedly shouting, “We love Hitler, we love Trump” while they marched.
Over booing from the crowd, the reporter can be heard asking about Trump’s decision to pick Howell for this week’s event, given the recent demonstrations and its history of Ku Klux Klan activity. In response, Trump refused to denounce the recent demonstrations from hate groups altogether—instead offering a rhetorical question, meant as a dig at President Joe Biden.
“Who was here in 2021?” Trump asked, referring to a visit Biden made to Howell that year.
Trump has never said, explicitly, that he supports white nationalism or white supremacy, but has routinely gone out of his way not to alienate white supremacists who support his campaign.
That includes defending white nationalists who protested in Charlottesville in 2017, saying they included “very fine people,” as well as refusing to condemn hate groups when asked to do so during the first 2020 presidential debate, instead telling them to “stand back and stand by.” Last year, Trump also praised a white nationalist conspiracy theorist as “terrific” and “very special.”
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has blasted Trump for his refusal to condemn the white supremacist demonstrations in Michigan, arguing that it serves only as a complacent endorsement that’s designed to promote more “division, hate, and violence.”
“Donald Trump refused to condemn white supremacists who marched in his name,” Harris-Walz spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement. “Instead, the 34-time convicted felon lied about crime. … Donald Trump can’t bring us together so he tries to drive us apart. The American people will reject his failed leadership and divisive agenda this November.”
READ MORE: Mike Rogers goes full-blown white nationalist on conservative radio show
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