HOWELL (WWJ) — Tuesday marks 11 weeks to go until the 2024 Presidential Election, and Republican candidate Donald Trump spent part of the day on the campaign trail in Michigan, delivering remarks from the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office in Howell.
In what was billed as a press conference focusing on crime and safety, the former president spoke to a group of about 60 people, including law enforcement officers, supporters and members of the media.
Trump, who spoke for just under an hour, vowed to “Make America Safe Again” as he railed against the Biden-Harris administration, calling her the “ringleader” of a “Marxist attack on law enforcement.”
During his speech Tuesday Trump denounced the so-called “defund the police” movement, which he says presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris supports, instead calling to “refund the police.” The Harris campaign denies these claims.
“When I’m president of the United States again we will never even think about or mention the words defund the police,” Trump said.
“It’s a dangerous business and we have to give them protection and we have to give them love and respect. And that’s what we’re going to do. We were doing it and they’re not doing it now. We’ll give our law enforcement heroes the kind of protection and the resources that they so dearly deserve. And I will crack down on Marxist DAs who refuse to enforce the law,” Trump said.
The former president said, if elected, he would focus on increasing police numbers across the country, as well as shifting federal resources to the border.
While Trump — citing a 43% increase in violent crime — claimed “crime is so out of control in our country” as a result of the Biden-Harris administration, FBI numbers say violent crime fell an estimated 6% last year compared to 2022, according to a Detroit Free Press report.
Near the end of Tuesday’s event, Trump fielded one question from the media, as a reporter questioned his decision to hold the event in Howell, a city with historic ties to the KKK.
"Who was here in 2021?" Trump replied to the reporter, referencing a visit to Howell that year by President Joe Biden.
Outside of Tuesday’s closed event in Howell, things felt more like a Trump rally, as hundreds of supporters lined the streets as he arrived.
One supporter, a man from Howell, told WWJ’s Darrylin Horne he has concerns about the safety of the country, especially if Harris were to win in November.
“I know what I’m hoping for, and that’s a no-brainer. I’m hoping for Trump, four more years of Trump. If not, I’ll be frank with you, I’m concerned. Like, I’m gonna get out of the local city that I’m currently in, I’m gonna head towards more in the country, out of the inner city mix, because things have been getting tough and they’re gonna get tougher if we don’t get Trump back in for the next four years. And I mean like the real, ‘old school tough,’ not just tough like it’s been for the last four years,” he said.
Many supporters in attendance Tuesday told Horne they will be in attendance Wednesday for the GOP Lincoln Day Dinner in Novi, where former Detroit Mayor will be one of the speakers.