Trump Offers a Quasi-Apology for Detroit Remarks

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DETROIT—Donald Trump is not known for offering apologies. In fact, he takes pride in his refusal to do so. 

However, his return to Michigan on Friday suggested that, at least momentarily, he recognized his misstep last week in a city that could hold the key to this state’s 15 electoral votes. Or, perhaps, he was merely willing to feign an appearance of contrition for Detroit during a visit to the Detroit Economic Club and clarify his stance. With Trump, it’s always difficult to gauge the authenticity of his performances.

On stage Friday evening, with “Make Detroit Great Again” projected on the screen, Trump asserted that the city’s problems were a result of failures under Democratic leadership. He described “your beautiful place, your beautiful city” as “decimated as if by a foreign army.” His words were a heavy dose of victimhood, coupled with a promise of redemption.

“I will put Detroit first. I will put Michigan first. I will put America first,” he declared.

This marked a shift from his remarks last week, when Trump warned about Vice President Kamala Harris, stating that “Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your President. You’re going to have a mess on your hands.” This was akin to visiting Orlando and proclaiming Mickey Mouse a communist.

The crowd’s acceptance of Trump’s Detroit-on-the-rise narrative was consistent with their collective amnesia or indifference to his logical inconsistencies throughout the evening. Just moments after vowing to eliminate any electric-vehicle mandates, he praised Tesla CEO Elon Musk. His on tariffs were as evident as ever. Trump’s complex and inconsistent didn’t seem to deter the hold he had over his audience at a downtown event space whose history also included figure skater Tonya Harding rival Nancy Kerrigan on the path to the 1994 Olympics.

(Of course, this was all contingent on the ex-President’s microphone functioning properly. When it malfunctioned, the candidate paced the stage while “Technical Difficulties, Complicated Business” was displayed on the screens. Trump humorously threatened to the contractor for the botched job. “This is the worst mic that I’ve ever had.” In a city known for its unionized workforce, this joke might not have been universally appreciated.) 

Trump’s backtracking on his insensitive comment came after days of Harris’ campaign highlighting it as a central point in their argument against Michigan voters considering Trump as a viable candidate. This seemed as out-of-character as it was rarely pragmatic.

There was nothing surprising or subtle about the original jab. The ex-President has always relied on mean-spiritedness and spite to make his points. A to his core, there’s little reason to believe he would finally abandon his usual tactics in the march towards what is widely considered to be his final campaign. Even when courting votes in Detroit last week, he found a way to insult the city while standing within its borders.

But the faux contrition was somewhat surprising. There were few tangible consequences for his original dig. Trump held a 47% support rating in Michigan according to the rolling of Michigan polls from FiveThirtyEight when he made the insult. By the time he returned to Detroit a week later—a city known for its defensive and defiant spirit—his polling numbers remained unchanged.

Nevertheless, Trump’s victory is far from guaranteed just weeks away from the election. Michigan could potentially dismantle the Democrats’ crucial Blue Wall, which is why both campaigns have held numerous events and rallies there in recent weeks and have more scheduled in the coming days. Clearly, internal discussions indicated that the insult aimed at Detroit was not a minor offense but a simmering risk that couldn’t be ignored.

Before the main event, Trump policy Stephen Miller drew enthusiastic cheers when he promised a plan to make Detroit the “economic center of the world,” as if the opposite hadn’t been suggested mere days prior. This signaled that Trump’s softening was not a departure from his usual approach but a modification. In his remarks, Trump included rare notes of optimism, even as his dark rhetoric on other topics showed no sign of abating.

“A vote for Trump you will see a mass exodus of manufacturing jobs from Mexico to Michigan,” he promised, a cryptic Chinese manufacturing operation that might relocate northward if Trump wins next month.

Perhaps Trump could have weathered the criticism for last week’s comment, at least when his technology is functioning properly. Historically, when he makes a mistake, he simply amplifies Harris’ corresponding—albeit unequal—perceived flaws. Trump successfully his way through the challenging 2016 primary like a Teflon-coated sheet. He benefited from every bit of good fortune stemming from Hillary Clinton’s misfortunes. And he didn’t even bother to acknowledge his primary opponents in 2024, instead hurling insults from afar whenever anyone dared to get too close. And, despite a surge in support for Harris after she replaced Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, the race has remained stable and tied.

A stable race was acceptable during the summer. When crowds start to arrive bundled in heavy jackets, stability is no longer sufficient.

“I’ve been reading about Detroit for so long, the comeback,” Trump said Friday night to a crowd, many of whom had been standing for hours and had grown visibly restless even before he arrived. “This is the real comeback.”

Trump was ostensibly referring to the economy, but it was entirely reasonable to interpret his optimism as a reflection of his own polling numbers.

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