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Those plans included a 15 percent corporate tax rate if companies can commit to building American products at home with American labor, expanded research and development tax credits for businesses to write off heavy equipment and machinery for new factories, and making interest on car loans fully deductible. Trump spoke to the Detroit Economic Club at the Motor City Casino’s Sound Board events hall, addressing a mix of business and political leaders. Crowd members included U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor), Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Township) and House Minority Leader Matt Hall (R-Richland Township). The former president addressed the Detroit Economic Club in 2016, which he said last Thursday "may have brought a little luck, and we’re looking to do it again." This time around, he’s facing a tight race against Harris in Michigan. During the speech, Trump also took several swipes at the city’s economic and cultural renaissance, saying it wasn’t quite good enough – but could be so under a second Trump presidency. "The goal is to see U.S. auto manufacturing at the center of the action," he said. "I’ve been reading for so many years that it’s coming around, it’s coming around, but it never got there. If you make your auto industry bigger, better, stronger, you won’t have to worry about Detroit. It will be very good. It will come by its own. … You make the auto industry thrive, bring it back to where it was 50 or 60 years ago. That’s my goal." A key part of the economic policies discussed Thursday include Trump’s reliance on tariffs, similar to those he implemented during his first term on foreign nations. Trump said that if he didn’t impose those tariffs, which were eventually rescinded by President Joe Biden, Detroit wouldn’t have an auto industry, and the Detroit Three automakers would be out of business. "Michigan, you’re welcome, because we have a good place to start on," Trump said. He also claimed that corporate interests want to sell U.S. steel to foreign countries, but any such deal would not see the light of day under his watch, with a warning of potential conflict with China. "We have to make army tanks even without wars," Trump said. "I don’t want to be in a position where we have a problem and we need China to help us out with steel. Do you think they would sell us steel in the middle of a conflict?" Trump also said he believed the auto industry was failing under Biden, but that it hadn’t failed under his leadership. On his renewed call for tariffs, Trump said he was willing to tax other nations on their goods as much as possible to make the deal work for the American economy. "I want American companies to dominate the foreign market," Trump said. "I want foreign nations to worry about losing their jobs to America. It’s going to happen. We’ll get it done … one way or another." He added that if these companies don’t take the deal, they’ll have to pay a tax or tariff if they want to send their products into the U.S. The deal, Trump said, would be a commitment to make American products on American soil, and if those companies agreed, their corporate tax rate would fall to 15 percent. Trump said much of the reason American companies were leaving to build elsewhere had to do with those countries’ own tariffs on products. One example, he said, was Harley-Davidson, which he claimed came to him during his presidency to address concerns about their dealings with nations like India. Trump said Harley-Davidson told him India was particularly tough on tariffs and that they didn’t sell many units in the nation for that reason, but the nation’s leaders were willing to drop the tariffs if they built units inside India. Trump said Harley-Davidson then took that deal. "We’re not doing that crap anymore," he said before referring to U.S. leaders and state politicians as stupid. "Biden let them do what they’re doing. The guy doesn’t have a clue. … That’s the real threat to democracy, stupid people." Another plan Trump announced was his goal to make interest on car loans fully deductible, which he said would revolutionize the industry," but did not get heavy into the details of how it would work. Touching more directly on Vice President Kamala Harris, he reupped his attacks on her intelligence, calling her "dumb as hell." He also again attacked Detroit’s noted comeback story by saying that if Harris wins in November, "our whole country will be like Detroit," the city in which he was giving the remarks. Democrats panned Trump’s remarks about the city. "Detroit is the epitome of ‘grit,’ defined by winners willing to get their hands dirty to build up their city and better their communities — something Donald Trump could never understand," Governor Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement. "Detroit’s hard work and hustle built the best cars and trucks in the world. This city defined art, music, and culture for decades, from Aretha and Diana to Eminem and Stevie, who all called Detroit home. And Detroit is growing by the minute as people fall in love with this special place." Commissioned by the Michigan chapter of the Defend Democracy Project, which is headed by a bipartisan group of former public officials, the poll results offer insight into the trust – and lack thereof – Michiganders have in their democracy as they prepare to head to the polls. Although some of the results were of concern to the DDP, others marked the potential for increased faith in elections. Pollster Richard Czuba said the partisan divides within the data are telling as to which voters struggle the most with trusting Michigan’s elections. "Seventy-five percent of strong Democrats think elections in other counties or communities are fair and accurate. Independents trust other communities by a margin of 44.1 to 21.5 percent trust them," Czuba said. "But Republican voters distrust other local elections by a margin of 26 to 46 percent, and in that case, 26 percent of those face Republican voters just don’t know." By and large, the polling indicates that Michiganders believe the November general election will be fair and accurate. However, after breaking those numbers down based on confidence, Czuba said the trust is more tenuous. "By a margin of 77 to 18 percent, Michigan voters believe that the upcoming November election is going to be fair and accurate," he said. "It’s not a really great number, but we also asked people, ‘are you very confident or just somewhat confident?’ 37 percent are very confident. 39 percent are somewhat confident. And we start to see the party differences again in that level of confidence." The poll, which was conducted amongst 800 likely voters in September, showed only 11 percent of Republicans are "very confident that the upcoming election will be fair and accurate," compared to 60 percent of Democrats. "So, we asked them, ‘why are you not confident?’" Czuba said. "Twenty-nine percent cited the 2020 election. Ten percent told us elections are rigged. Nine percent said they don’t trust government, and 7 percent said absentee ballots are too easy to manipulate." One portion of the poll revealed that when presented with 12 different measures local clerks could take to further election security, voters’ confidence increased at a rate of 75 percent or higher at the idea of these measures being taken. However, a majority of the voters thought only two of the 12 measures were current election policy in Michigan, when in fact, all of them are either currently law or considered best practices. Nineteen percent of respondents thought it was not the state’s policy to require identification for in person voting, while 17 percent didn’t know. Thirty-eight percent said it was not policy to require absentee ballot drop boxes to be monitored by video and for ballots to be collected daily by authorized personnel. Both of these measures are current Michigan law. Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum said the results of the poll were largely unsurprising to her. "I cannot say that I am surprised that to see the mistrust in our elections over the last several years, especially before respondents hear about the safeguards we have in practice," she said. "Election administration is an area that has seen an incredible amount of misinformation being disseminated in the press, on social media and at campaign rallies over the last four years. The fact is that most people have never thought about the safeguards that we have in place, and so they may have been open to misleading or untrue information." Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons said local clerks have been working to dispel false or misleading information for years, and that progress can be made when people are educated about the safeguards in place. "This is what we’ve been doing for four years. And even beyond educating folks and talking about how the process works is inviting them to come on in, and don’t just take my word for it, see it for yourself," she said. "But it’s also been really great leading up to this election to have organizations such as this. There are so many of these groups that are really focused and passionate about the democratic process and want to partner with us as election officials to get that message out. The media is a partner as well, making sure that the information you’re covering is involving the process from start to finish." Former Governor John Engler, who is one of the DDP’s board members, said combatting misinformation must be a top priority for people who hope to preserve the integrity of American democracy. "The conclusion is that while there are threats to our democracy from without, including from Russia and others, the threat of disinformation and misinformation is more likely to come from within," he said. "It is why we have to make sure that we are ready to push back on any of those who claim our elections aren’t safe, not accurate, not fair." Santana (D-Detroit) this week appeared on the MichMash, the podcast partnership between Gongwer News Service and WDET Detroit Public Radio. She said the state is in a position where it is trying to hire new officers and retain them within the agency. "There have been many conversations about trying to support that attraction of new talent to MDOC, which I think a portion of that is around looking at going back to the pension system," she said. "That is something from a state government standpoint people in the past looked for to be a carrot on a stick to be part of state government as well as public service. And I think we need to look at that." Looking at the structure of the day and staffing ratios is also important, she said. To calls for the National Guard to come into the prisons, Santana said she didn’t that was necessary. "The safety of our MDOC officers is really important, as well as the safety of those they oversee in the jails," she said. "This is always going to be a priority of mine. I think one of the things we have to look at is the best way to support our MDOC officers." Santana also discussed criminal justice reform, saying the state still has work to do on that front. On the upcoming presidential election, Santana said she believes the contest between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will be close. She said Democrats can’t take anything for granted, including the base of support the party generally receives out of the city of Detroit. "I think the reason in that ’16 election (Trump) was able to garner support is because we did not take Detroit seriously," she said. "I think we have to make sure as a party we continue to uplift the issues that matter to people and that this campaign is about supporting the people in our communities. Making sure they have opportunity. Making sure that small business owners can be supported … and also making sure people have the ability to move forward. And I believe 45 does not care about people. He cares about himself, and he cares about the past and wants to take us back to the past." 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TRUMP IN DETROIT: DETAILS ON 15% BUILD IN AMERICA CORPORATE TAX, EXPANDED R&D CREDITS
MICHIGANDERS TRUST THEIR LOCAL ELECTIONS, BUT DISTRUST ACCURACY OF OTHER AREAS
SANTANA: PENSION SYSTEM COULD ATTRACT NEW ELECTION WORKERS
THE DCD MARIJUANA TEAM: YOUR COMPETITIVE EDGE!
