HOWELL, USA —
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday pledged to “Make America Safe Again” during his campaign in Michigan as Democrats gathered in Chicago to nominate Kamala Harris.
As part of a field campaign Designed to counter the Democratic National Convention, Trump stood with sheriff’s deputies in the town of Howell and branded Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, the “ringleader” of a “Marxist attack on law enforcement” across the country.
“Kamala Harris will bring crime, chaos, destruction and death,” Trump said in one of many generalizations about an America under Harris. “You will see levels of crime you’ve never seen before… I will bring law, order, security and peace.”
Trump has sought in recent weeks to temper the enthusiasm Harris has attracted since President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign and endorsed her.
That has involved both dark predictions about what Harris’s election would mean for the country and efforts by Trump’s advisers to organize events where he can try to draw contrasts on specific policies. On Tuesday in Michigan, the theme was crime and public safety.
In excerpts released ahead of his speech, Trump’s campaign also said he would seek the death penalty for child rapists and traffickers — something he did not mention during his remarks.
The event was the latest to be billed as focused on a specific topic. But Trump has spent considerable time personally attacking Harris and taking potshots at Biden on these occasions, and the same was true after his appearances at the Democratic convention on Monday.
“I watched in amazement last night as they tried to pretend everything was fine,” Trump said, pointing to inflation and the U.S.-Mexico border as issues Democrats had overlooked. “We have a fool for a president,” he said, referring to Biden.
Trump painted a grim portrait of American life and the threat of a Harris presidency, though it was short on details and replete with hyperbole.
“It’s crazy,” Trump said. “You can’t walk across the street to buy a loaf of bread. You get shot, you get mugged, you get raped, you name it. And you’ve seen it, and I’ve seen it, and it’s time for a change.”
Trump made the remarks surrounded by supportive law enforcement officers, a stark contrast to the Democratic convention.
Speaker after speaker found ways Monday night in Chicago to remind Americans that Trump is the first former president convicted of felonies, has been found civilly liable for sexual assault and still faces multiple allegations, including for his efforts to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas criticized Trump on Monday night, calling him “a career criminal, with 34 felonies, two impeachments and a porn star,” referring to his payments to an adult film actress that are at stake in his New York conviction for corporate fraud.
The mockery peaked when Hillary Clinton, whom Trump defeated in 2016, stepped away from the podium and smiled as delegates chanted, “Lock him up! Lock him up!” — a reversal from Trump supporters’ chants about Clinton eight years ago, even though the former secretary of state had never been charged with a crime.
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