FLINT, Mich. (WXYZ) — An arena was packed in Flint as former President Donald Trump held a town hall with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders Tuesday evening.
It was the first campaign stop for Trump since the second assassination attempt, which he addressed throughout the event that lasted a little more than an hour. He was met with loud cheers throughout, especially when discussing the auto industry.
“You used to be the capital of the world in cars. Now, you’re an afterthought," Trump told the crowd in Flint. “We are going to bring so many auto plants into our country. You're going to be as big or bigger than you were 50 years ago.”
Trump made a number of promises to auto workers, clearly targeting his Michigan audience. He vowed to put large tariffs on cars made in Mexico.
“I'm telling you right now, I'm putting a 200% tariff on, which means they’re unsellable, unsellable in the United States," Trump said. "You wonder why I get shot at, right?”
Twenty-six-year-old Brendan Fluker of Madison Heights is one of the United Auto Workers union members in the crowd sporting “Auto Workers for Trump" shirts, going against union leadership to back the Republican candidate.
"I'm really happy to hear that they want to put tariffs on cars sent from Mexico to the U.S. because that only helps us,” Fluker said. "I wasn't a Trump supporter in 2016 until I saw his policies as president, and that made me a supporter.”
"He says what America is thinking and that's what resonates with everyone,” UAW member Geoff Booth from Wayne said. "He resonates with me and I know he resonates with a lot of auto workers.”
“If I don't win, you will have no auto industry in two to three years," Trump told the crowd. "It will all be gone."
With Trump clearly targeting Michigan workers in the crowd, many say they’re bought in. It's a major demographic in a major swing state that's key to a presidential victory.
"When you go in to the plants and you talk to the workers... the brothers and sisters in the union, there's a lot of us voting for Trump," Booth said. "We're pulling through for him.”
Trump also touched on a number of other key issues to his campaign such as the border and international conflict.
The Michigan Democratic Party released a statement Tuesday night after Trump's visit:
“Today’s visit once again demonstrated that this election will be a choice between two very different economic visions: Kamala Harris’ New Way Forward that builds up the middle class, versus Trump’s vision that helps billionaires and big corporations at working families’ expense. Michiganders won’t be fooled by the lies that Trump spews — which is why over 40,000 Michiganders have signed up to knock doors, send out texts, and make sure that we elect Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz this November, and send these extremists packing.”
- Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party Lavora Barnes