NOVI, Mich. – Donald Trump further denigrated Detroit while appealing for votes on Saturday in a suburb of the largest city in swing state Michigan.

“I think Detroit and some of our areas make us a developing nation,” the former president told supporters in Novi. He said people want him to say Detroit is “great,” but he thinks it “needs help.”

The Republican White House nominee told an economic group in Detroit earlier this month that “the whole country is going to end up like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment drew harsh criticism from Democrats, who praised the city for recently decrease in crime and growing population.

Trump’s stop in Novi, after a event Friday night in Traverse Cityit’s a sign of Michigan’s importance in the tight race. Harris is scheduled for a rally in Kalamazoo Later Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama on the first day in-person early voting becomes available in Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20% ​​of registered voters. Trump won the state in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden took it four years later.

Michigan is home to major auto companies and the nation’s largest concentration of United Auto Workers membership. He also has a significant Arab-American populationand many were frustrated by the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

During his rally, Trump singled out local Muslim and Arab American leaders who joined him on stage. Those voters “could swing the election one way or the other,” Trump said, adding that he was counting on the “overwhelming support” of those voters in Michigan.

“When President Trump was president, there was peace,” said one of those leaders, Mayor Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights. “I had no problems. There were no wars”.

As Trump seeks to capitalize on the community’s frustration with the Democratic administration, he has a history of policies hostile to the group, including a travel ban targeting Muslim countries during the mandate and a commitment to extend it to include refugees from Gaza if he wins on November 5th.

A Trump ally, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the grandson of Lebanese immigrants, told reporters that Trump is winning the support of more Arab Americans and has cultivated relationships with Middle Eastern leaders that would bring more stability to the region.

In lengthy remarks to supporters, Trump went after Harris and the media with familiar jabs and touted immigration and energy policies that are campaign staples. For example, he said that immigrants “have black jobs and they’re taking Hispanic jobs.” Government data contradicts this claimshowing that immigrant labor contributes to economic growth and provides promotion opportunities for native-born workers.

Trump was on his way to a rally in State College, Pennsylvania.

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Swenson reported from New York.