Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday evening recalled the chaos and violence former President Donald Trump stoked in Detroit in the wake of the 2020 election as he made his case for Michigan voters to mobilize in support of Vice President Kamala Harris.
“One of the most disturbing things about this election, about Trump’s rise in politics, is how so many of us, even good people that we know seem somehow suddenly willing to set aside values that we were taught,” he remarked to the crowded convention hall.
Speaking from Huntington Place, the same convention center where mail ballots were counted in 2020 as Trump and his supporters sought to cast doubt on the state’s election results, Obama recalled that, “because Donald Trump was willing to spread lies about voter fraud in Michigan, protesters came down, banged on the windows, shouting, ‘Let us in, stop the count.’ Poll workers inside being intimidated.”
He pointed to a filing from special counsel Jack Smith that was unsealed earlier this month that detailed a Trump campaign aide telling someone to “make them riot” when told of the flaring tensions at the Detroit Counting Center.
As Obama described the filing, some people in the crowd began to boo and jeer, to which Obama sternly responded, “Do not boo.” Though it was a repetition of his familiar line “don’t boo, vote,” the interaction was more pronounced, as the crowd briefly booed louder, even as the former president firmly pushed back.
The Detroit stop was Obama’s fifth rally for Harris – and the fifth battleground state – during his biggest blitz of campaigning since he left office. He and Harris are set to make their first joint appearance on the campaign trail Thursday in Georgia.
Trump also held a rally in the Detroit convention center last Friday, as he now encourages Michigan voters to take advantage of the very early voting processes he cast doubt on in 2020.
“I heard there was another rally here on Friday night but it was a little smaller than this one,” Obama said to the crowd, which occupied noticeably more space in the hall than Trump’s audience a few days before.
The Democratic former president was introduced by rapper Eminem, a Detroit native whose blistering critique of Trump at the 2017 BET Hip Hop Awards went viral. Though Eminem didn’t perform, Obama did briefly rap the opening lyrics to the song “Lose Yourself.”
Obama again criticized Trump for taking credit for “my economy,” reminding the Detroit audience of the major auto industry bailout that he announced just after taking office as the city struggled and automakers faced bankruptcy.
“I know folks in Detroit remember it. I spent eight years cleaning up the mess that the Republicans left me. Y’all remember the auto industry in America was flat on its back. They didn’t want to lift a finger to help, and we made the investments to reopen those factories and put people back to work,” he said, adding that when he left office, he handed Trump “75 straight months of jobs growth,” and that “the economy was good because we did the work.”
“I get why people are looking to shake things up. I understand that,” he said, saying he doesn’t understand “why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you because there is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself.”
The former president delivered a familiar blistering critique of Trump, rising to Harris’ defense again and again as he sought to validate her candidacy to the critical Michigan audience.
“She worked at McDonald’s when in college to pay her expenses,” Obama said. “She did not pretend to work at McDonald’s when it was closed.”
He also went after Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, for saying in the vice presidential debate that Trump “salvaged” the Affordable Care Act, saying, “Donald Trump spent his entire presidency trying to tear that thing down, and he couldn’t even do that,” and mocking Trump for saying he had “concepts of a plan” on healthcare.
Obama made a direct appeal to men in the audience and beyond, saying Trump was not a symbol of strength: “I am here to tell you that is not what real strength is. It never has been. Real strength is about working hard, showing up every day on the factory floor, busting their butts. Real strength is taking responsibility for their actions and upholding their duty. Real strength is about helping people who need it.”