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The Latest: Trump and Harris are campaigning for votes in pivotal Michigan

With the Nov. 5 election fast approaching, Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump are setting their sights on the key battleground state of Michigan on Friday.
Canadian Press
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Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

With the Nov. 5 election fast approaching, Democrat and Republican are setting their sights on the key battleground state of Michigan on Friday.

The vice president began her day in Grand Rapids before holding events in Lansing and Oakland County, northwest of Detroit.

The former president had a campaign event in Oakland County Friday afternoon and then held an evening rally in Detroit.

Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: .

Here’s the latest:

Trump says he's ‘confident’ China will not invade Taiwan

Donald Trump is confident China wouldn’t invade Taiwan if he returns to the White House.

Why? Because Chinese President Xi Jinping “knows I’m f——— crazy.”

That’s according to Trump’s latest interview with the Wall Street Journal editorial board, which from the 90-minute sit-down on Friday.

Trump said it would be “very easy” to persuade China’s leader to stand down from a blockade of Taiwan.

“I had a very strong relationship with him. He was actually a really good, I don’t want to say friend—I don’t want to act foolish, ‘he was my friend’—but I got along with him great,” Trump told the Journal editorial board. “He stayed at Mar-a-Lago with me, so we got to know each other great. He’s a very fierce person.”

And how exactly would his relationship with Xi prevent an invasion of Taiwan?

First, Trump said he would threaten to impose tariffs of 150% to 200%.

Asked whether he would use military force, Trump responded: “I wouldn’t have to, because he respects me and he knows I’m f——— crazy.”

Trump makes quip about immigration chart

Donald Trump likes to rail against illegal immigration. But Friday night in Detroit, he had something nice to say about it.

“Illegal immigration saved my life, if you think about,” Trump said.

The Republican presidential candidate was referencing the chart on illegal immigration that he turned to look at, just as an assassin’s bullet grazed his right ear in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.

“I sleep with it. I kiss it every night,” Trump said of the chart. He added, “I do have that throbbing feeling in my right ear.”

Harris crowd chants ‘lock him up’

Kamala Harris supporters chanted “lock him up,” when the Democratic nominee told the crowd at a Michigan rally on Friday that Donald Trump was an “unserious” man who should not be allowed near the White House.

“Here’s the thing about that. The courts are going to take care of that,” she said, referencing the Republican nominee’s multiple criminal cases.

“We’re gonna take care of November,” she said, talking about winning the presidential election.

Trump's mic is back on at Michigan rally after protracted delay

Donald Trump has a working microphone again.

It took almost 20 minutes, but aides were able to replace the Republican nominee’s mic after he remained in silence on stage in Detroit, pacing back and forth.

He immediately promised not to pay the “stupid company” responsible for the defective sound equipment.

Harris rally sings ‘Happy Birthday’ at Michigan rally

Kamala Harris supporters at a Michigan rally erupted Friday in a chorus of “Happy Birthday” for the Democratic presidential nominee, who turns 60 this weekend.

Harris’ birthday is Sunday. She is 18 years younger than Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. President Joe Biden, who is 81, stepped away from the presidential race earlier this year over concerns about his age.

“Thank you!” Harris said to the singing crowd. And let’s get to work.”

Audio issues frustrate Trump at Michigan rally

Former President Donald Trump paced the stage in silence for several minutes on Friday night in Detroit as his microphone cut out.

The crowd chanted “USA” and “We love Trump” in support. But with no microphone, Trump simply wandered around the stage. Looking frustrated, his back was turned to most of his audience at times.

Trump is particularly attuned to the production and visuals of his events and has been known to seethe over technical glitches. Aides are known to travel with multiple backup mics and carefully prepare the flags that typically decorate his stages.

Harris says personal experience distinguishes her from Biden

President Joe Biden has said Kamala Harris will “cut her own path” as president, but the vice president gave a meandering answer on what that would look like.

In an NBC interview Friday, she said that she would “bring my own experiences and my own life experiences” to the table. She talked about how her approach to Medicare comes from taking care of her mother when she was sick, and her housing comes from knowing what it means to have affordable housing as the daughter of a single mom.

But she said that, generally, vice presidents aren’t critical of their presidents. “It does not make for a productive and important relationship,” she told NBC.

Harris claims Trump doesn't value manufacturing work

Speaking at the United Auto Workers union hall in Lansing on Friday, Kamala Harris members that Donald Trump would undermine collective bargaining and worker protections, adding that “we’ve got to get the word out to all the brothers and sisters in labor to remind them what this dude does.”

Harris played a clip of Trump saying it’s not hard to build a car. “We could have our child doing it,” he said.

“He’s saying that the value of your work is essentially meaningless,” Harris said.

“The work you do is complex. You do it with great care,” she said. “You work hard. You are highly skilled. You are highly trained. The best auto workers in the world is who you are.”

Trump has “had everything handed to him,” Harris said, and he never worked a job “that came with calloused hands or an hourly wage.”

Trump touts labor union support in Michigan

Trump is talking up his support from labor union members as he campaigns in Oakland County, Michigan.

The Republican former president opened a roundtable event in Oakland County by praising Teamsters President Sean O’Brien as “a great guy.” O’Brien, of course, spoke at the Republican National Convention and his union declined to endorse Harris, which was viewed as a victory for Trump given the union’s past support for Democrats.

“I think it’s been many decades before they endorsed a Republican. I think they’ll start very soon,” Trump said Friday, adding that he has the support of “rank and file Teamsters all over the country.”

At least a few of them were at the roundtable event with Trump.

One of them addressed Trump directly: “I don’t know if you heard about us Teamsters here in Michigan love Donald J. Trump.”

Harris is hosting a dueling event at the United Auto Workers Local 652 hall in Lansing, Michigan.

Trump calls killed Hamas leader ‘not a good person’

Trump said that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, one of the architects of the Oct. 7 attack, who was killed by Israelis, “was not a good person.”

“That’s my reaction. That’s sometimes what happens,” he said at the airport in Detroit.

Trump also said he would be speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said President Joe Biden “is trying to hold him back ... he probably should be doing the opposite, actually,” he said.

Both Biden and Harris have said Sinwar’s death is an opportunity to stop the violence. “My message remains, first of all, we have got to end this war,” Harris said.

Kamala Harris says she believes in unions

She said she was a “living recipient of what collective bargaining can do,” and that bargaining benefits “our entire nation."

She’s in Michigan trying to shore up support from union workers ahead of the election.

Voices from Harris' Grand Rapids rally

A handful of people protesting the United States' military aid to Israel, especially in light of the nation's deadly military operation in Gaza, stood at the entrance to Riverside Park before and after Harris’ rally, forcing those driving in and out of the parking area to hear their chants “Free free Palestine.”

Emerson Wolfe, co-chair of Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids, said the group does not endorse candidates and came to the rally to pressure Harris as vice president to end America’s military aid to Israel and to ask rallygoers to do the same.

“Pressure the Democratic Party to end the siege on Gaza,” Wolfe said.

Inside the event, many attendees took a seat in the park under autumn leaves and bright blue skies to wait out the line of cars leaving the rally. Bob Dragan, 76, a volunteer with the Kent County Democratic party, said he wishes Harris would be even “sharper” against Trump. Dragan said he wants to see Trump prosecuted and imprisoned for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Kent County swung for Biden in 2020 but backed Trump in 2016. Dragan said he sees another Democratic victory for the county in a few weeks, citing the energy he sees from local Democrats.

“It’s even better, bigger and higher than it was in 2020,” he said.

Constance Green, 64, left the rally with a pot of yellow and white chrysanthemums that decorated the stage where Harris spoke. Green said someone gave them to her and she plans to put them next to her front door.

Trump honored by the mayor of a Muslim-majority city in Michigan

Donald Trump is promising that more manufacturing and auto companies will be built in Michigan once he is elected president.

Trump said Friday during a stop at a campaign office in Hamtramck, one of the nation’s only Muslim-majority cities, that his tariffs proposal would scare companies into halting plans to take plants overseas.

Trump was given a certificate of appreciation by the mayor of the town, a Democrat, who said he supports Trump.

“I mean, frankly, it’s an honor," said Trump. "I’ve got a lot of endorsements, Arab Americans, from a lot of people.”

“His visit today is to show respect and appreciation to our community,” said Mayor Amer Ghalib.

Usher concert attendees cheer get-out-the-vote volunteers

Concertgoers at Usher’s tour-opening show in Atlanta on Thursday greeted get-out-the-vote volunteers with excitement. Usher will join Democrat Kamala Harris at a rally in the city on Saturday.

Volunteers with HeadCount, a nonpartisan group that partners with artists to mobilize voters, weaved their way through the crowds. Georgia’s voter registration deadline passed, but as they held up clipboards that read, “Register to Vote,” people cheered them on.

“We voted!” said one woman with a thumbs-up.

“Already did, baby!” said another.

Outside of the venue, Channal Gross-Anderson said she was eager to vote for a Black woman. “She’s passionate about female rights and not just the welfare of the rich or the wealthy, but for everyone,” Gross-Anderson said.

Others, such as Cassandra Johnson, were not enthusiastic about either candidate. Johnson will vote for Harris even though she has reservations about Harris’ past as a prosecutor.

“We got four years with Trump already, and I kind of see how that went, and I didn’t particularly enjoy it,” Johnson said. “And I definitely didn’t enjoy our rights being taken away as women.”

Ashlan Hawkins is concerned about reproductive rights in the wake of recent deaths in Georgia tied to abortion restrictions.

“For that reason alone, I will vote for Kamala,” Hawkins said.

Don’t ask Donald Trump if he’s tired

Harris, who is also campaigning in Michigan on Friday, has been questioning her Republican rival’s energy levels. And Trump issued a fiery response Friday afternoon when a reporter asked if he was “exhausted” as Harris suggests.

“She’s a loser. She doesn’t go to any events,” Trump charged before ticking down his to-do list for the day. He said he was at Fox and Friends at 7 a.m., had two other appearances and then made “about 15 phone calls.”

“I’ve gone 48 days now without a rest. And I’ve got that loser, who doesn’t have the energy of a rabbit,” Trump continued. “Tell me when you’ve seen me take even a little bit of a rest. Not only am I not — I’m not even tired. I’m really exhilarated.”

Harris: ‘So much is on the line in this election’

Before the crowd gathered in Grand Rapids, Harris spoke for roughly half an hour about her plans for an “opportunity economy" and cast her opponent as politically and dispositionally dangerous.

Harris discussed her proposal to allow Medicare to cover in-home care for the elderly, recounting how she took care of her mother as she aged, and said she would sign a federal bill in support of abortion rights if it reached her desk.

The large crowd listened attentively to Harris’s remarks as they crammed into a space between the Grand River and a forested area in the park.

Harris told the crowd that Trump has “no plan” to protect the American people, but that she would “stand up for all Americans.” The crowd reacted by shouting “concepts of a plan,” a reference to a remark Trump made during his debate with Harris. The vice president took up the phrase, repeating it back to the crowd a few times with a laugh while making quotation marks with her hands.

She also said she's witnessed “a full-on assault” of American freedoms, saying that “so much is on the line in this election.”

Wrapping the event, Harris implored the crowd to make a plan to vote. Early voting begins Saturday in Detroit.

“Don’t ever let anybody take your power,” she said.

Trump keeps up the interviews — mostly on friendly outlets

While Trump has backed out of some interviews with mainstream media outlets, he also continues to appear regularly on friendly cable shows and conservative podcasts — often sitting for hours of interviews a day.

On Thursday, he taped a sit-down with Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones inside a barber shop in the Bronx, joined the Wall Street Journal editorial board for a meeting and later sat down with George “Tyrus” Murdoch for a video interview with OutKick, before he attended the Al Smith charity dinner, where he delivered remarks.

On Friday morning, he spent 40 minutes on set with the hosts of “Fox & Friends,” before he joined “The Dan Bongino Show,” a video podcast, and taped an interview with Mark Calaway, the wrestler famously known as “The Undertaker,” for his “Six Feet Under” podcast. He also attended an editorial meeting with Fox and the New York Post before he departed for a multistop trip to Michigan.

Harris takes the stage in Grand Rapids

Vice President Kamala Harris walked across a rail trail bridge to enter the outdoor stage at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids. She was introduced by a union carpenter.

Her stage front was decorated with seasonal potted chrysanthemums and pumpkins.

The gathered crowd started to sing “Happy Birthday” to Harris, who will turn 60 over the weekend on Oct. 20.

Trump: ‘I love cows. I think they're so cute and beautiful.’

Trump said that he’s a fan of cows, but primarily as a critique of Democrats’ green energy proposals.

During a Friday morning interview on “Fox & Friends,” the GOP nominee said “I love cows” in response to a child’s video message asking him to name his favorite farm animal.

Trump then reiterated his previous arguments that Democrats’ green energy plans would restrict beef production due to how much methane cows produce.

“But if we go with Kamala, you won’t have any cows anymore because you’re not allowed,” Trump said. “I don’t want to ruin this kid’s day, but I love cows. I think they’re so cute and beautiful.”

Trump and other Republicans have been highly critical of the Green New Deal, a climate proposal put forth by liberal Democrats in 2019 that set ambitious targets to eliminate most greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming by 2030.

During her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris said in a CNN climate town hall that she supported changing dietary guidelines to support a reduction in red meat consumption, adding, “I love cheeseburgers from time to time.”

Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer stumps for Harris with other Democratic governors

Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer stumped for Harris in Grand Rapids, appearing with Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. The three have been campaigning for Harris and Walz on a “Blue Wall bus tour.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore also joined Whitmer on stage.

“We need strong, stable partners in the White House who have our backs,” Whitmer said.

Trump has courted auto manufacturing workers in Michigan, a key voting bloc, especially in the Detroit area. Whitmer attacked the Trump administration's record on the industry as “broken promises.”

The crowd interrupted during Whitmer’s speech to chant “Big Gretch,” Whitmer’s state nickname.

A protester confronted Harris over military aid to Israel

On Thursday, a protester confronted Vice President Kamala Harris during a closed-door meeting with students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, based on a video posted by a pro-Palestinian student group on social media.

Harris did not allow reporters into her meeting on the Milwaukee campus.

According to the video, as Harris was telling students she was invested in them a protester interrupted her saying, “And in genocide, right? Billions of dollars in genocide?”

Harris told the protester that she wanted a cease-fire. She then said that while she respected the protester’s right to speak she was speaking.

University police escorted the person from the room as he continued recording.

The Harris motorcade drove past pro-Palestinian protesters on campus before the meeting in a university building.

Harris calls Trump ‘unstable’

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris says Republican Donald Trump is unfit for office.

“He is unstable, and frankly, is a danger to our democracy as has been described by his former chief of staff, secretaries of defense, national security adviser and former vice president,” she told reporters before a rally in Michigan.

When asked about a that said Trump had declined some interviews in part because he was “exhausted” from campaigning, Harris said, “Being president of the United States is probably one of the hardest jobs in the world and we really do need to ask: If he’s exhausted on the campaign trail, is he fit to do the job?”

Harris and her campaign have as “increasingly unstable” in recent public appearances.

Trump to visit North Carolina city hit hard by Hurricane Helene

Trump next week is set to visit Asheville, the mountainous North Carolina town where many still lack electricity and running water in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

Trump’s campaign said Friday that the GOP nominee would give remarks to the press in Asheville on Monday, along with several other events planned in North Carolina.

Concerns have abounded about how voting would work this year in the southern battleground state as residents from the mountainous western portion of the state continued to recover from the devastating effects of . But on Friday, the State Board of Elections said that had turned out to cast ballots a day earlier, on the first day of this year, than in 2020.

Trump has campaigned steadily in eastern North Carolina in recent weeks but hasn’t yet visited areas ravaged by Helene, although he did meet with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to gauge storm response in that state. Earlier this month, with many of the area’s roads inaccessible, Biden surveyed the storm’s aftermath in the Asheville area by helicopter.

The 7 swing states Harris is fighting to win

A top campaign official for Kamala Harris said the Democratic presidential nominee is focused on seven swing states and “we are going to fight for every vote.”

In an interview with CNN’s Inside Politics Friday, David Plouffe said they believe the November election will come down to small margins in Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina and “Kamala Harris has a pathway” to win in each.

Plouffe said the campaign is treating every different voting bloc “like they’re a swing voter.”

He said he believes voters don’t want four more years of Donald Trump.

Usher to join Harris for Atlanta rally

Music star Usher will join Kamala Harris at a rally in Atlanta on Saturday, her campaign announced on Friday.

He will speak at the event — no word if he’ll perform any of his hit songs like “DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love” or “Love In This Club.”

Harris is heading to Georgia for part of the weekend as early voting begins in the battleground state.

Harris hosts ‘fall fest’ in Grand Rapids

Perhaps in a move to instill joy back into her message again, Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to speak outside a “fall fest” in Grand Rapids, Michigan, hosted by the campaign. Thousands waited in long security lines to get into the rally at a park by the Grand River with food trucks, free donuts and pumpkins to decorate.

Mary Muller, 70, and Kathi Padula, 77, said the high stakes of the election motivated them to attend the first political rally of their lives. The two Grand Rapids residents volunteer with the Democratic party in Kent County, a major target within Michigan for Harris and Trump.

“I think Kamala Harris embodies everything that I’m looking for as far as having the experience, the wisdom, the dignity, the caring,” Muller said. “I love the fact that she seems to be a very joyful, caring person yet she’s very smart.”

Marnie Becker-Baratta, 32, attended the rally with the youngest two of her four children. While speaking at a pumpkin decorating table, she said she wanted her kids to see “history happen,” with Harris, who would be the first woman to hold the office of president of the United States if elected.

Becker-Baratta’s kids motivate her to vote and be politically active.

“I don’t want to see their rights taken away,” she said. “My oldest daughter identifies as trans.”

Trump compares convicted Jan. 6 rioters to interned Japanese Americans in World War II

Former President Donald Trump said on Friday that rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, are being treated like Japanese Americans who were incarcerated on U.S. soil during World War II.

“Why are they still being held? Nobody’s ever been treated like this,” he said in an interview with conservative commentator Dan Bongino. “Maybe the Japanese during Second World War, frankly. They were held, too.”

Trump made the comments after claiming the defendants “won in the Supreme Court.” His reference concerns that limited a federal obstruction law that had been used to charge hundreds of Capitol riot defendants as well as the former president himself.

The justices, in a 6-3 opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, held that the charge of obstructing an official proceeding must include proof that defendants tried to tamper with or destroy documents.

The overwhelming majority of to Capitol riot-related federal crimes were not charged with obstruction and will not be affected by the outcome.

Martin Luther King III backs Kamala Harris

Martin Luther King III, the son of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., said on Friday said: “We must never forget our vote is our voice” while endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the nation's top executive.

Martin Luther King III, his wife Arndrea Waters King and other community leaders are working to rally Black voters ahead of the 2024 election, warning about civil rights should Trump win.

King said Republican Donald Trump is who he has “always been — a man willing to hurt others for his own profit and notoriety.”

Trump will visit a Muslim-majority city's campaign office

Donald Trump is expected to visit a new campaign office in one of the nation’s only Muslim-majority cities.

That’s according to a person familiar with Trump’s schedule who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the event hasn’t been publicly announced.

The visit to Hamtramck, located in metro Detroit, comes after the city’s mayor endorsed him last month.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has tried to cut into Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris’ support with Arab Americans in Michigan. Many Muslim and Arab voters are frustrated with Harris over the U.S. backing of Israel’s offensive in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon, both following Hamas’ attack on Israel last October.

Trump’s allies have held meetings for months with community leaders in Michigan, which is a critical swing state in the November election and has a sizable population of Arab Americans particularly in and around Detroit.

—From Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan

A lot of people didn't like Trump's jokes at charity dinner — including Trump

Former President Donald Trump says he wasn’t a fan of many of the jokes he told at last night’s Al Smith charity dinner.

“For the most part, I didn’t like any of them,” he said in a live appearance on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning.

Trump said a number of people had helped him with material, including some from Fox — though he didn’t say whom.

Trump made a similar aside midspeech after a particularly pointed joke targeting Doug Emhoff, the husband of Kamala Harris.

He seemed to acknowledge he’d gone too far, calling the joke “nasty” and saying he’d told the “idiots” who’d written it that it was “too tough.”

He also said during the speech that he’d gone “overboard” in his 2016 appearance at the event when he laced into his then-rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump says Haley ‘helping us already’ on campaign

Trump says he’ll “do what I have to do” to drum up support from one of his former GOP primary rivals, Nikki Haley.

Trump gave that response Friday during a live appearance on “Fox & Friends” when asked if he would seek the former South Carolina governor’s support on the campaigning trail in the election’s closing days.

Trump said Haley “is helping us already” and “is out campaigning” but questioned why political watchers seemed so concerned that she and not other former rivals, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, stump for him.

Harris has been courting some of Haley’s former supporters in the closing days of the general election campaign.

Haley, who also served as Trump’s United Nations ambassador, was the last foe remaining against Trump in the Republican primary earlier this year, shuttering her campaign after the former president’s romp through the Super Tuesday contests. She didn’t immediately endorse him in the race but said in May she’d vote for him, leaving to work toward winning over support from her backers.

Haley called for GOP unity around Trump in a speech at this summer’s Republican National Convention.

Singer Marc Anthony slams Tr

ump in a new ad

Grammy Award winning singer Marc Anthony in a new TV ad for Harris is lambasting Trump for blocking disaster relief for Puerto Rico after a 2017 hurricane devastated the U.S. territory.

The ad released Friday and aimed at Latino voters includes footage of the ravaged island following Hurricane Maria and Trump tossing rolls of paper towels into a crowd during a visit to an island church following a hurricane, behavior from the then-president that was derided by some as disrespectful.

“Even though some have forgotten, I remember what it was like when Trump was president,” said Anthony, who is of Puerto Rican descent. “I remember what he did and he said about Puerto Rico, our people.”

Trump publicly feuded with the mayor of San Juan over her criticism of his administration’s response to the storm that killed 3,000 and withheld billions in congressionally approved aid to Puerto Rico. He eventually relented and announced less than 50 days before his losing 2020 reelection bid that he was releasing $13 billion in aid. At the time, he declared himself the “best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico.”

The Harris campaign said that the ad will air on the popular Spanish-language Telemundo and WAPA America TV, during this Sunday’s coverage of the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Awards and in Pennsylvania on Telemundo and Univision.

Latino voters have historically favored Democrats, but Republicans have made inroads with the group in recent years.

Residents of Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory of more than 3 million people, cannot vote in the general election. But there are more people of Puerto Rican descent on the mainland than on the island, and they could play a key role in the Nov. 5 vote.

The Associated Press