Trump plans Howell visit to talk ‘crime and safety’

Former President Donald Trump speaks in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Biden's border policy, flanked by members of law enforcement, as well as Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Twp.) and former Michigan U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers on April 2, 2024. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols)

Less than a month after white supremacists marched through Howell, and later chanted “We love Hitler. We love Trump,” the former president will visit the mid-Michigan community and hold an event on “crime and safety.”

Tuesday’s visit, which will take place at the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office, was announced on Saturday by the Trump campaign.

“Trump’s team actually reached out to me and said, ‘Hey, the president’s going to be in town and would like to stop at your shop and do a press conference if you’d have them,’” Livingston County Sheriff Mike Murphy told the Michigan Advance . “A press conference that’s going to be revolving around safety and criminal justice? That sounds right up my alley, being a law enforcement guy. So sure, come on over.”

Murphy, who is a supporter of the former president, said he didn’t view Tuesday’s event as being overtly political in nature.

“I know everybody’s trying to make this a political thing, and I guess my response to that would simply be this is not a rally. It is simply a press conference,” said Murphy.

But in announcing the event, which takes place on the second day of the Democratic National Convention will not be open to the public, the Trump campaign used political talking points.

“Since [Vice President] Kamala Harris took office, Americans have watched crime, chaos, and tragedy erupt across the country. Michigan is feeling effects of Kamala’s border crisis first-hand as unnecessary illegal immigrant crime rampages across the state,” stated the release. “Radical Michigan Democrats have created sanctuary cities to harbor illegal aliens, and they’re promoting policies [that] allow illegal immigrants who have been caught by law enforcement to receive rent assistance.”

That last mention mischaracterizes Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Newcomer Rental Subsidy program which provides up to a year of rental assistance for “Refugees and other Newcomer population-eligible households,” even though eligibility is based on having a legal immigration status.

The visit was also immediately condemned by Harris Michigan spokesperson Alyssa Bradley.

“The racists and white supremacists who marched in Trump’s name last month in Howell have all watched him praise Hitler, defend neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, and tell far-right extremists to ‘stand back and stand by.’ Trump’s actions have encouraged them, and Michiganders can expect more of the same when he comes to town,” said Bradley. “… But voters here support leaders like Vice President Kamala Harris and [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz, who are focused on bringing us together, and we’ll continue working to stop Trump and his far-right extremist allies who promote division, hate, and violence.”

On July 20, approximately a dozen masked white supremacists marched through downtown Howell chanting “Heil Hitler” and carrying signs with messages like “White Lives Matter” and “End the War on White Children.”

Howell, which lies between Lansing and Detroit, has long had a reputation for extremist activity. It became known as a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) hotspot in the 1970s and 80s when infamous Michigan KKK Grand Dragon Robert Miles held hate rallies and cross burnings at his Cohoctah Township property north of Howell until his death in 1992.

While the July demonstration in Howell came just hours before Trump spoke at a rally in Grand Rapids , Saturday’s announcement that Trump was coming to Howell occurred on the same day that the same group of white supremacists demonstrated in nearby Brighton .

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White supremacist demonstrates in downtown Brighton, Aug. 17, 2024. Submitted photo

White supremacists demonstrate in downtown Brighton, Aug. 17, 2024. Submitted photo

White supremacists demonstrate in downtown Brighton, Aug. 17, 2024. Submitted photo

The Washington Post quoted Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt as dismissing any connection between the decision to stop in Howell and the community’s reputation for extremist activity.

“President Trump will travel to Howell to deliver a strong message on law and order, making it clear that crime, violence, and hate of any form will have zero place in our country when he is back in the White House,” Leavitt told the Post in an email.

While Livingston County, in which both communities are located, has long been a GOP stronghold, Murphy said trying to connect last month’s march to Trump’s visit is entirely unfair.

“It really kind of pisses me off. Well, not kind of. It does piss me off when we get labeled as this racist county, and then you get these numbnuts that come in and just continue to stir sh-t up,” he said.

When President Joe Biden visited the Operating Engineers Local 324 training center in Howell Township in 2021 to promote his infrastructure legislation, he was met by hundreds of protestors , many of whom angrily confronted a small group of Biden supporters .

Murphy pointed to that visit as an example of his office providing support regardless of political affiliation.

“We did it when Biden was in town,” he said. “We wrote a big ass check for overtime for that when he was at the Operating Engineers. So it’s just part of the job. It’s what we do, and frankly I’m honored that he’s coming here, and I would extend the same offer to Harris and her group.”

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