GRAND RAPIDS, MI – From “fake dances” to first-day deportations, Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance took aim at his running mate’s opponent on Wednesday and offered a vision of what a second Donald Trump presidency could look like.
The Ohio senator spoke to several hundred people at a family-owned trucking company in a rural part of Kent County on Wednesday, August 14.
Related: “You have been deceived,” JD Vance tells a crowd in rural Kent County, Michigan
It was the third time Vance campaigned in Michigan since he was announced as former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee on July 15.
Michigan is considered a key state for both campaigners who must win the presidential election in the fall. According to polls, the race for the state between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, is hotly contested.
Here are four takeaways from Vance’s remarks at Cordes Inc. at the Byron Center:
Michigan, a “Red Wall” state
For 20 years, Michigan had always been won by a Democratic presidential candidate, from President Bill Clinton in 1992 to President Barack Obama in 2012.
The vote placed Michigan in a group of states described by experts as a “blue wall,” a bloc of reliable victories for Democrats. That was the case until Trump took the state in 2016. Biden won the state back in 2020.
Vance said Michigan would be a sure win for the Republican presidential candidates.
“Michigan used to be called a ‘blue wall state,'” he said. “I think Michigan is now a ‘red wall state,’ because people are tired of losing their livelihoods and their jobs, and they know Donald J. Trump will be good for both.”
Michigan’s governor, attorney general and secretary of state are all Democrats, and the state’s House of Representatives and Senate also have Democratic majorities.
Vance spoke of how a “generation of failed leadership” had caused “thousands of manufacturing jobs to disappear” and deprived the state of the post-war prosperity in which anyone could build a middle-class life through hard work.
“There is no state that perfectly illustrates what is wrong with American politics in Washington,” he said of Michigan.
Questions from the press
After about 25 minutes of speaking time, Vance answered questions from journalists.
This was a contrast to Harris, who has not held a press conference since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21 and endorsed her.
And Vance took advantage of that.
“If you want to do this job, you have to stand in front of the American people and answer difficult questions,” he said. “And it’s a scandal that Kamala Harris is running from the media, but more importantly, she’s running from the American people. That’s a disgrace.”
“I have never seen a presidential campaign in my life where a person is asking to be president of the United States but is afraid of you.”
He added that some of the journalists present were “perfectly fine”, but that others were spreading “fake news”.
Harris’ spokesman Michael Tyler told CNN on Wednesday that Harris was busy campaigning. He added that they would hold press conferences at some point.
This response came after CNN anchor Jim Acosta asked Tyler, “Would it kill you to hold a press conference? Why didn’t she hold a press conference?”
Deportations on the first day
Repeating a promise Trump made during his visit to Grand Rapids earlier this year, Vance said he would conduct the “largest domestic deportation operation in the history of our country” on the first day of his presidency.
“Kamala Harris has turned the Border Patrol into a travel agency for violent criminals and freeloaders from around the world,” Vance said. “Now President Trump and I have a different message: If you are in this country illegally, pack your bags, because Donald Trump will send you home, starting day one.”
In his remarks, Vance described illegal immigrants as undermining American wages, driving up inflation and compromising community safety, and claimed Democrats were trying to give them the right to vote.
“False optimism”
The tone of Trump and Harris’ presidential campaigns has often differed. Experts say Trump paints a bleak picture of America’s current state, while Harris conveys a cheery message.
But Vance said that message of joy and “everything about her campaign” was wrong, from how she secured the top spot on the Democratic ticket when Biden dropped out of the race to the “fake dances” she performs at rallies.
“Donald J. Trump’s campaign instead offers something very, very different,” he said. “Not false optimism, but a very real hope, a hope and a vision to make that hope a reality again in this country.”
One of Harris’ campaign slogans was “We are not going back,” a reference to Trump’s presidency. Thousands chanted that slogan at Harris’ rally last week at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
Vance denied that America had regressed during her tenure under Biden.
“We have returned to a place where Americans are not kings in their own country, but beggars, begging their government for precious morsels of safety, security and food,” he said. “We are going back, Kamala Harris, because of you, and we will fire you because we want to move this country forward.”
