Trump repeats attack on Liz Cheney and complains about bad hair day at rally in Michigan | US elections 2024

Donald Trump tried to energize his voters during a rally in Warren, Michigan, on Friday, delivering a speech marked by his trademark scaremongering about immigrants and tangents, including musings about his hair.

The former president also repeated his aggressive attack on former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, a day after he said she should “shoot her” under gunfire.

Trump repeatedly urged his supporters to go to the polls. “We have to go out and vote, everyone. Don’t take any chances,” he said.

Trump's speech came as the presidential campaign entered its final stages, with both the former president and his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris struggling to win over voters in Michigan and other key swing states.

Harris campaigned in Wisconsin on Friday, emphasizing that she wants to be a political consensus builder.

“Here is my promise to you. Here is my promise to you as President. “I promise to seek common ground and common-sense solutions to the challenges you face,” Harris said. “I promise to listen to those who will be affected by my decisions. I will listen to experts. I will listen to people who disagree with me. Because unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy.”

“He wants to put her in prison,” Harris said, repeating a phrase she has often quoted lately. “I’m giving them a seat at the table.”

He asked voters if they were better off than they were four years ago and repeatedly stoked fears about immigrants, saying “every state is a border state” and falsely claiming immigrants were being flown to the Southwest.

Repeating some of his most racist phrases, he said: “All of our jobs are taken over by the migrants who come into our country illegally, and many of those migrants happen to be criminals, and some of them happen to be murderers.”

There was also time for reflection. “We're going to miss these rallies, aren't we?” Trump once asked the crowd.

Elsewhere he noted: “I study my hair. Today doesn’t look so good…not a good day for me, ay ay ay.”

While talking about different types of automobiles, Trump spoke out against hydrogen cars, noting, “The only thing we don't want is a hydrogen car.”

“Can you imagine that? You call the woman. “There's your husband, in the tree.” I don't see him.' The tree is bright red.”

Trump and Harris are neck and neck in the swing state polls, and in Michigan, a Detroit Free Press poll showed her with a three-point lead.

Republicans and Democrats and their unofficial supporters have pounced on the narrow division. Harris' camp is pushing hard to persuade young voters, who overwhelmingly support Democrats, to go to the polls.

Just days before the Nov. 5 election, some Democrats in Michigan said they were “freaking out” at the prospect of another Trump victory in the state. Biden won Michigan in 2020, but Trump defeated Hillary Clinton here in 2016. Based on polls showing her with a wide lead, the Clinton campaign had prioritized campaigning in other states, targeting key Democratic segments such as Black communities and auto workers in the state neglected.

With the exception of Pennsylvania, Harris has spent more time on the ground in Michigan than in any other state. Harris and her vice president, Tim Walz, have traveled across the state to attract black voters, white suburban women, college students and factory workers.

Last week, Barack Obama rapped with hip-hop legend Eminem at a rally in Detroit. Bernie Sanders, popular on the Democratic left, sought to reassure the state's young voters that Harris is not just another business-minded Democrat.

Trump has also stepped up his efforts to woo voters in Michigan. On Friday, the former president stopped in Dearborn to woo Arab American voters, many of whom were deeply disappointed with Joe Biden's handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Many of the city's Muslim leaders declined to meet with Trump, including Dearborn Mayor Abdullah H. Hammoud.

“The architect of the Muslim Ban makes a campaign stop in Dearborn. People in this community know what Trump stands for — we have suffered for years because of it,” Hammoud, a Democrat, said on X. “I have declined a meeting with him, even though the requests keep coming. Trump will never be my president.”

Hammoud, who does not support Harris or Trump in the presidential race, also called his party colleagues. “To Democrats – your unwillingness to cut off funding and enable genocide has created space for Trump to infiltrate our communities. Remember that.”

Meanwhile, Michigan residents have been bombarded with campaign ads for months, many containing exaggerated or patently false claims. According to NPR, Michigan is one of the frontrunners in such spending this election, with $759 million spent on political advertising.

At his Friday night rally, Trump tried to tie Harris to the latest jobs report, which showed the U.S. added just 12,000 new jobs in October.

Trump also attacked Liz Cheney again, a day after he called the former Republican leader a “radical war hawk” in a conversation with Tucker Carlson and said she should expect to come under fire with guns “shooting at her.” .

“Let’s put them with a gun that shoots at them with nine barrels. Let's see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are pointed at their face,” he said.

On Friday, Trump's comments were similar.

“She’s tough. But if you gave Liz Cheney a gun, you would be sending her into battle on the other side with guns pointed at her. “She wouldn’t have the courage, the strength or the stamina to even look the enemy in the eye,” Trump said.

“That’s why I broke up with her,” Trump commented, drawing a few laughs.