...Trump suggested he supports “POWERFUL EXCEPTIONS” for rape and incest, even though he has no sway over state-level abortion laws and has refused to clarify his position on implementing a nationwide abortion policy of any kind.
The Supreme Court’s demolition of Roe v. Wade has proved overwhelmingly unpopular, although he has repeatedly claimed, falsely, that the move was actually popular.
According to a New York Times/Siena College poll last month, an increasing share of voters in swing states are saying abortion access is their top policy concern. That puts Trump, who has bragged about appointing the conservative Supreme Court justices that helped tip the scales in favor of repealing Roe, in a difficult spot.
Trump also repeated another regular lie at his rally about Democratic lawmakers wanting to “execute” newborns or “demanding” abortion late in pregnancy.
The suggestions are wholly without basis in fact. Abortion late in pregnancy is exceedingly rare; it is sometimes chosen in circumstances where a fetus develops a condition incompatible with life. It is not legal anywhere in the U.S. to intentionally kill an infant.
At his town hall event in Michigan, Trump took a question from the audience about what he’ll do to keep auto industry jobs in the United States. At first, it seemed as if Trump was about to answer the question, but then he suddenly shifted gears.
“Pretty much as we’ve been saying, and what I wanna do is, I wanna be able to – look, your business – Years ago in this area I was honored as the man of the year. It was maybe 20 years ago. And the fake news heard about it and said it never happened, it never happened. And I didn’t know who – it was a group that honored me as man of the year.”
Donald Trump’s latest boast about his crowd size fell apart in a hurry as he was fact-checked in real-time while he was still speaking.
“We do a lot of these beautiful rallies, and it’s so great,” the former president said in Reading, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday. “We never have an empty seat, never have, look at it.”...
... During his event in Reading, Trump bragged that he had 100,000 people in attendance in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend, a number that is more than quadruple the estimate of about 24,000 from CBS station KDKA.
The capacity of Santander Arena in Reading, where Trump spoke Wednesday, is between 7,200 and 8,800, depending on the configuration....
... In a rambling, low-energy speech that went on for nearly three hours at the Detroit Economic Club, Trump complained about Vice President Kamala Harris, including her “60 Minutes” interview, and warned that if she’s elected, the entire country “will end up being like Detroit.”
"nearly three hours" Castro wannabe?
“The whole country’s going to be like — you want to know the truth?” Trump said. “It’ll be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president. You’re going to have a mess on your hands.”
... Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan slammed Trump’s latest comments and said the city is on an upswing.
“Detroit just hosted the largest NFL Draft in history, the Tigers are back in the playoffs, the Lions are headed to the Super Bowl, crime is down and our population is growing,” Duggan posted on X, formerly called Twitter. “Lots of cities should be like Detroit. And we did it all without Trump’s help.”
Opps.
Will Smith impression:
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) told Trump to “keep Detroit out of your mouth.”
“Detroit is the epitome of ‘grit,’ defined by winners willing to get their hands dirty to build up their city and create their communities—something Donald Trump could never understand,” Whitmer wrote on X. “So keep Detroit out of your mouth. And you better believe Detroiters won’t forget this in November.”
State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D) was even more direct in her response to Trump....
Yes, people reported on Trump's insult. Yes, comments and responses were reported. But if Kamala had said such a thing, the headlines would be "Harris just lost Michigan"
It's also true that a lot of people who live elsewhere in Michigan don't like Detroit, and maybe that's Trump's real audience since he isn't likely to win Detroit itself anyway. But "Detroit" isn't just the city, there are a lot of nice suburbs around there filled with Lions and Tigers fans and people who are proud Michiganders who know how to show where they live by pointing to their right palm and who might lean repug. Hard to see how such a comment will help. Yet I haven't seen "Trump just lost Michigan" anywhere.