The far-left Democrat governor of Michigan insulted residents of a city she represents seemingly in hopes of branding former President Donald Trump as a racist.
On Tuesday, Trump paid a visit to Howell, Michigan, a charming city of more than 10,000 residents about 65 miles northwest of Detroit.
‘Did the media write this same story when Joe Biden visited Howell in 2021, or when Kamala Harris visits cities where racist protests and marches have occurred in the past?’
In anticipation of his visit, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer implied that Howell is irredeemably racist because of a few bad actors in the past and an allegedly astroturf demonstration last month.
“Well, you know, anyone who’s doing a little bit of research might have said, ‘That’s really a bad idea, look at the optics. You’re showing up where the KKK was just at the same time you’re in Michigan,'” Whitmer told ABC News anchor Linsey Davis at the DNC on Monday night.
In July, a dozen individuals marched around Howell wearing masks, carrying signs saying that “white lives matter,” and chanting in praise of Trump and Adolf Hitler. At the time, Trump was nearly two hours away in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The Harris campaign also smeared Howell — located in the heart of a crucial swing state — over the incident as part of a larger criticism of Trump.
“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,'” said a statement from Alyssa Bradley, Michigan spokesperson for the Harris campaign.
“Trump’s actions have encouraged them, and Michiganders can expect more of the same when he comes to town.”
However, as Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted, Joe Biden visited Howell just a few years ago, and Democrats — including Harris — regularly stop in cities with an unsavory past.
“Did the media write this same story when Joe Biden visited Howell in 2021, or when Kamala Harris visits cities where racist protests and marches have occurred in the past? No, of course not,” Leavitt said.
“You should ask the Harris team why she believes all residents of Howell, Michigan, are racists and if that also applies to the cities she has visited with their own divisive histories,” added Victoria LaCivita, Michigan spokesperson for the Trump campaign.
LaCivita pointed to racially charged incidents in Eau Claire, Wis., Pittsfield, Mass., Philadelphia, and Atlanta that did not deter Harris from visiting.
Livingston County Sheriff Mike Murphy likewise dismissed the demonstration in Howell last month as an orchestrated event featuring “a couple of dirtbags” and designed to “stir” up trouble.
“Within the last month, there’s been a couple of folks that have come here to cause a little bit of a stir, spew some hate speech, white supremacy crap,” Murphy said in a video posted to his agency’s official Facebook account. “Those folks are from out of town; those are not Livingston County people.”
At least one of the individuals participating in the event drove away in a car with a Pennsylvania license plate, Michigan Advance reported.
Sheriff Murphy also expressed frustration that Howell is so routinely and unfairly tarnished because of its past, calling it “100% bulls***.”
“Frankly, I get a little bit fired up when people bring that up,” Murphy told the New York Post. “We did have the Grand Dragon that lived here in Livingston County. But we somehow as a result of that got labeled with ‘racist, unwelcoming community,’ which truly couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Robert Miles, who became the Michigan grand dragon of the KKK in the 1970s, did live in Howell, but he died more than 30 years ago.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), who is running for an open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan and who appeared with Trump in Howell on Tuesday, likewise slammed the mischaracterization of the city: “Some notion that that’s tied to racism is absolute absurdity. A few racists that gather in any town in America shouldn’t taint that town.”
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