JIM ACOSTA: Former President Donald Trump blasted the city, warning the country could end up looking like Detroit if his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, is elected.
DONALD TRUMP: The whole country is going to 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, you’re going to have a mess on your hands.
JIM ACOSTA: All right. Let’s discuss now, CNN political analyst and PBS NewsHour White House correspondent Laura Baron Lopez, CNN political commentator Karen Finney, and former spokesperson for Republican Governor Doug Burgum’s presidential campaign, Lance Trover.
Karen, let me start with you first. You’re in studio. What do you make of those comments from Donald Trump going after Detroit? Is that what you want to hear as a Democrat at this point?
KAREN FINNEY: Michigan’s tight. It is tight. Look, it had shades of excuse my language “shithole countries” in terms of what he seemed like he was trying to convey there. It’s interesting that the Harris campaign has announced she’s going to go to Detroit and do a town hall, radio town hall with Charlamagne tha God.
Obviously they think there’s an opportunity there to try to galvanize Black voters, which I think is really important at this point. I don’t think enough money and time has been spent talking directly to Black and Latino men. So I think it’s really important that she’s going to do that.
JIM ACOSTA: Yeah. Lance, I mean, what is your response when you hear Trump going after Detroit in that fashion? He did it about Milwaukee. Is there some coded language going on here, going after cities in that fashion?
LANCE TROVER: No, we’re —
JIM ACOSTA: Or not-so-coded?
LANCE TROVER: — City of Detroit. I’m sorry.
JIM ACOSTA: Or not-so-coded, as the case may be.
LANCE TROVER: No, look, the city. It is no secret that the city of Detroit has had its fair share of problems and issues over the course of of the last couple of decades. That’s not a surprise.
And frankly, all cities are dealing with problems of crime and illegal immigration and the like, whether it’s New York or Detroit or everywhere in between.
So this is not this is not a secret. What I think is the most interesting here is that the Harris campaign is struggling and she’s going to go there.
And you said, I think Karen said to try to turn out Black voters. I mean, look at what happened last night. They’re reaching a point of desperation. You have Barack Obama step out last night and admonished people because they were thinking about voting for Donald Trump in this election. And I got to tell you, as a political operative, trying to insult voters because they may be concerned about the economy, but they may be concerned about the cost of living is not a way to win over voters out there. So she can go to Michigan, but she’s really struggling up there right now.
JIM ACOSTA: I would say, just to just talk about Detroit for a second. A great American city, Detroit ends 2023 with the fewest homicides in 57 years. I mean, that was, that was the homicide number in Detroit last year. Just to put that out there. That is from the city of Detroit.
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