Republican former President Donald Trump will hold a town hall meeting in Flint on Tuesday, making his first visit to Michigan in the wake of this week's debate with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris .
The Trump campaign said in a news release on Thursday that Trump would hold a town hall and "meet with Michiganders to listen to their concerns and share his vision to make America affordable again" at Dort Financial Center on Lapeer Road in Flint beginning at 7 p.m.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as White House press secretary for Trump when he was president, will serve as the moderator at the town hall meeting. Republicans, including Trump, have been hammering at high levels of inflation seen in the U.S. following the COVID-19 pandemic and blaming the Biden administration.
The Trump campaign also put out a statement saying, "The auto industry is the backbone of Michigan’s economy, and Kamala Harris’ actions have only shown that she will destroy it. If Kamala Harris has her way with a gas-powered car ban, Michigan will lose, at minimum, nearly 40,000 jobs." Flint was a predominant automaking center but much of the manufacturing there has moved out in recent decades, though General Motors still operates Flint Assembly .
The America First Policy Institute, a research and advocacy organization started by former advisers to Trump, recently put out a report saying Michigan could lose more than 37,000 jobs if there is a "gas-powered car ban," though no such ban is under consideration or has been proposed by Harris. It also does not take into account any increase in battery manufacturing even though the electric vehicles (EVs) that would presumably replace vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE) would require them and investment in battery production in Michigan and elsewhere in the U.S. is up.
It is true, however, that EVs generally require fewer workers than ICE vehicles. And the Biden administration has enacted strict emission standards that could result in automakers looking at either making sure that two-thirds of new vehicles sold by 2032 be electric vehicles or face financial penalties if the standards aren't changed by then or new technology put in place, though that doesn't qualify as a "mandate," as many Republicans contend, to see more EVs.
“Donald Trump failed Michigan workers and killed Michigan jobs as president and on Tuesday, Michiganders will see the same thing they saw on the debate stage: an unhinged, angry old man who is only focused on himself, and doesn’t have a single solution to offer to make their lives better," said Alyssa Bradley, communications director for Harris' campaign in Michigan. "Only one candidate in this race has a record of creating jobs in Michigan and has real plans to lower costs for families, and that’s Kamala Harris.”
Members of the public wishing to attend Trump's town hall can register for free tickets online at www.donaldjtrump.com/events .
The city of Flint and Genesee County generally are seen as Democratic strongholds, but they are part of a region that includes Bay, Saginaw and Midland counties that have trended more Republican in recent years as industrial jobs have declined in what had also been a strong center for domestic automaking.
Trump has already made eight visits to Michigan this year, most recently holding a campaign stop in Potterville on Aug. 29. Harris most recently visited Michigan on Labor Day where she participated in a union rally. Her vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was visiting the state this week after the debate between Harris and Trump in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Michigan is considered one of a handful of battleground states likely to determine the outcome of this year's presidential election between Trump and Harris .
Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Trump to hold town hall meeting in Flint next week, listen to Michiganders' concerns
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