Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and former President Trump (Getty Images)
Last month, during his speech at the Detroit Economic Club, Trump said: "The whole country will be like – you want to know the truth? It'll be like Detroit."
"Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your president," he said. "A mess."
In 2018, Detroit had the highest violent crime rate of 2,007.8 incidents per 100,000 people, according to the data from the FBI’s 2018 Uniform Crime Report, making it the only midsize or large city in the U.S. with such a high number.
That year, the city reported 261 homicides and around 13,500 violent crimes, even though its population is less than 700,000. Meanwhile, local officials claim violent crime is down 8% in 2024, and shootings and carjackings have also decreased.
"Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your president," Trump said of Harris. "A mess." (iStock)
Both candidates are vying to win the battleground state's vote with the election just two weeks away. On Friday, Trump also made a Detroit rally stop, promising to put "Detroit first," "Michigan first," and "America first."
Trump told supporters, "Your beautiful place, your beautiful city" was "decimated as if by a foreign army."
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In a statement to Fox News Digital, Team Trump Michigan communications director Victoria LaCivita said: "Like many Americans, President Trump remembers when Detroit was lauded as the gold standard for auto manufacturing success and revolutionized the industry. Detroit has suffered from globalist policies championed by Kamala Harris that have shipped manufacturing overseas. Detroit's population has dropped over 60 percent since 1960, maintains the third highest homicide rate in the nation, and a poverty rate for full-time workers three times as high as the rest of Michigan. As President Trump emphasized in his speech, his policies will usher in a new era of economic success and stability for Detroit, helping the city reach its fullest potential."
Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/whitmer-defends-this-beautiful-city-detroit-after-trump-blasts-michigans-urban-mess