Eric Adams says Donald Trump is not a fascist, defending the Republican again – Live Updates

Donald Trump just finished his first of two Midwest rallies today, spending parts of his speech in Novi, Michigan, fuming about Kamala Harris and news reporters and doubling down on his past insults of Detroit, while pledging to usher in a “rebirth” of the city.

Trump took the stage an hour late, after his campaign played a variety of videos to keep the crowd entertained and sent out advisers like Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino to rally the crowd while they waited. Still, it was an improvement over the night before, when Trump arrived roughly three hours late for a rally in Traverse City.

As the crowd waited for Trump to show, it appeared his promises to aid the auto industry played well with the thousands of people who were packed into a cavernous venue in one of Detroit’s northern suburbs. Shirts reading “UAW workers for Trump” dotted the crowd, and members of the union participated in the pre-program.

Joe Miriani, who said he was a UAW retiree, said he feels that Trump has “a lot more union support” in the state than in his past presidential bids.

Trump’s supporters spent hours snaking through the parking lot of Novi’s Suburban Collection Showplace to see the former president. Merchants wove up and down the rows hawking Trump hats and scarves. Outside the plaza grounds, a handful of protesters walked the sidewalk with handmade signs saying “Dump Trump.”

The former president eventually took the stage just after 1 p.m. Eastern. Besides incorrectly claiming that “the cows are going to disappear” (as well as windows on buildings in New York) if climate change reforms are enacted, here are five big moments from Trump’s rally in Novi.

Trump hits Detroit — again

Trump said if elected, the “entire world will be talking about the Michigan miracle and the stunning rebirth of Detroit” — but not before he dumped on the state’s largest city again.

“I took a lot of heat,” Trump said, when he spoke to the Detroit Economic Club earlier this month. “They want me to say, ‘Oh Detroit’s great, it’s so great.’ It needs help. So I said, ‘It needs help,’ and people said ‘Oh, he wasn’t positive.’ I can’t be positive. I’ll be positive within two years, I’ll be positive. You’ll see what positive is. But how the hell can you be positive?”

Later, during a riff about China, Trump remarked that “Detroit and some of our areas make us a developing nation.”

He said he would make interest on car loans fully tax deductible for vehicles made in America.

Muslim and Arab Trump supporters take the stage

Trump said he met earlier in the day with Muslim and Arab leaders, and brought several on stage to offer their endorsement. He thanked them and called it “an incredible meeting, a great meeting,” saying their endorsement would “go a long way to helping us secure victory” in Michigan.

“We as Muslims stand with president Trump, because he promises peace. He promises peace, not war,” said one of the leaders, who did not identify himself as he spoke, also praising Trump’s “commitment to promoting family values.”

Trump also brought on stage Bill Bazzi, the Muslim mayor of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, who has endorsed him.

As he did recently, Trump again sought to falsely portray Harris as anti-Muslim because of her recent campaigning with former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, whose father was vice president at the start of the Iraq war.

Trump also gave a shout out to “members of the Chaldean Christian community” who were at his rally, drawing cheers as he said they “have not been treated properly.”

Trump drops his new nickname for USA

Trump employed a new term he tried out yesterday when talking about America, swapping out his usual “dumping ground” phrase to instead call the country a “garbage can.”

“We’re a garbage can,” Trump said, referring to the country receiving migrants. “We’re like a garbage can, and they dump their criminals.” He drew loud applause when he called for “the death penalty for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer.”

Trump continues to attack Harris’ intelligence

Trump spent much of the rally railing against Harris’ intelligence level, saying: “She can’t speak — there’s something wrong with her;” calling her “so incompetent and so unfit,” “a dope,” and “too foolish to represent America on the world stage;” and claiming “no one takes her seriously.”

Trump claimed, without elaborating, that “the reason I don’t get along with her is because she wants to invade every damn country that she looks at.”

The fake news media gets a shout out

Trump brought back his yearslong attack against the news media, riling up the crowd as he called the reporters present “the enemy of the people.”

“They’re so nasty, they’re so evil,” Trump said, apparently upset that he didn’t think news cameras captured footage of a video he played about Harris’ tax plan. “They are actually the enemy of the people. They really are so evil.”

Next, Trump will head to State College, Pennsylvania for a rally that was originally scheduled to start at 4 p.m. It’s unclear if it will begin on time, given Trump’s delay in Novi.