5 lessons from Trump’s rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — For his first public rally since he was nearly killed in a failed assassination attempt, Donald Trump returned to Michigan on Saturday, July 20, to much fanfare, with huge crowds flocking to hear the former president speak.

Trump’s rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan’s second-largest city, was highly anticipated as it was his first campaign appearance with JD Vance, Trump’s newly announced running mate for the 2024 Republican presidential election.

Together, the two addressed several key policy issues, including immigration, the border, the economy and the auto industry, while criticizing Democratic leaders like President Joe Biden and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer for the current state of the country.

Trump delivered a nearly two-hour speech to thousands of listeners, marking the seventh day since the former president was wounded in the ear by an assassin’s bullet during an outdoor rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.

RELATED: “I took a bullet for democracy,” Trump says to the crowd in Michigan one week after the deadly rally

Here are five key takeaways from Trump’s visit to Grand Rapids:

Trump can sell out an arena in Michigan

Michigan expressed its support for Trump in Grand Rapids, in his first campaign appearance since officially receiving the Republican nomination.

Dressed in themed clothing, carrying flags and badges, rally attendees packed Van Andel Arena to capacity. Almost every seat in the arena, which has a capacity of over 12,000, was taken, and Trump said there were even more people lined up outside who were unable to get in.

“They have so many people, I wish we could include them, I would like to let them in. Now does anybody want to go and let them in?” Trump joked with the crowd.

RELATED: “I’ll be standing out here for him for eight hours”: Experience the huge queue outside Trump’s rally in Michigan

At 11 a.m. on Saturday, two hours before gates opened, thousands of people waited outside in a 1.5-mile-long line that wrapped around the arena and stretched several blocks down Ionia Avenue.

Some Trump supporters had even camped outside Van Andel Arena the day before to secure a good spot at the rally, bringing chairs, snacks and blankets to sleep on.

Trump likes to insult Whitmer

Trump also lambasted Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer at his rally on Saturday, calling her a “terrible governor who did a terrible job.”

However, he said he would not mind running against her in the 2024 presidential election if President Joe Biden drops out of the race, as some Democrats have urged him to do.

Although Whitmer’s name appeared on a list of potential successors, the governor stressed that she fully supports Biden as her party’s candidate.

“I would be very happy with her,” Trump said of Whitmer’s candidacy as a Democrat instead of Biden.

RELATED: Trump says at rally in Michigan he would welcome a candidacy against Whitmer if Biden drops out

Trump also mentioned Whitmer’s husband, citing a controversial incident in 2020 when her husband reportedly attempted to launch his boat while curfews were in place at the height of the Covid pandemic.

“Everyone else had to be locked up, right?” Trump said as the crowd booed.

Car manufacturing is a mainstay of the Michigan campaign

Trump devoted a large part of his 115-minute speech to members of Michigan’s automobile industry, promising to save it from “extinction” if re-elected president.

He said he planned to take measures that would support the creation of more jobs in auto manufacturing. He promised to ban the construction of factories in other countries such as Mexico and China and announced he would impose tariffs on cars assembled outside the United States.

“We can’t let these companies come in and steal our wealth and our jobs, destroy our businesses and then build 10 miles across the border and think we’re going to let them get away with it,” he said. “We’re not going to do that. They have to build it here. They have to use our people.”

“Michigan will benefit more than any other state in the union because they stole your auto industry. And we’re going to bring it back. And to the level it was at its peak.”

He spoke out against Biden’s policies that provide incentives for companies to produce more electric vehicles.

“Under the radical policies of the Democrats, the U.S. auto industry has been decimated,” Trump said.

“To better protect Michigan autoworkers, I will end the electric vehicle mandate passed by Biden and Harris on day one. I will end the new green energy scam immediately, and we will use the money to build roads, highways and bridges.”

An Ohio politician receives applause from Michigan

JD Vance may be a Buckeye, but he won’t blame the Wolverines as he tries to win the crucial swing state of Michigan this fall.

“I’ve heard some oh-hs, but I’m going to respect Michigan and not answer here,” the 39-year-old senator from Ohio joked to the crowd. “To my brothers from Ohio, we have to win Michigan, that’s the most important thing in this election cycle.”

Trump won Michigan in 2016 but lost it in 2020, and Kent County, home of Grand Rapids, flipped in 2020 and went Democrat for Biden.

RELATED: JD Vance criticizes Kamala Harris over border controls at Trump rally in Michigan

For one day, the Michigan crowd put aside their hostility toward Ohio and cheered Vance.

Vance, who was selected as Trump’s vice presidential running mate at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last week, was greeted with thunderous applause when he took the stage in Grand Rapids to greet the crowd. As he walked onstage to Merle Haggard’s “America First,” thousands of supporters chanted “USA” before he even began to speak.

“We love you!” members of the audience shouted several times during Vance’s speech, to which he replied, “I love you too.”

Vance called the rally participants a “great crowd” and thanked everyone for the warm welcome.

“What do they do in the water in Grand Rapids? You guys are really fun,” he said.

The arena was full of energy and enthusiasm. When Trump walked onto the stage and stood next to Vance, the crowd cheered and applauded for several minutes while Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” blared in the background.

“By the way, I made the right choice,” Trump later said of his choice of Vance. “He has really stepped up.”

Trump still insists the 2020 election was rigged

Trump continued to repeat debunked claims that the 2020 election, which he lost in Michigan by more than 154,000 votes, was rigged.

“We will not allow them to rig the 2024 election,” he said.

He promised to “secure our election” and urged voters to “protect” their votes. He directed attendees to the website protectthevote.com, which urges people to “stand up for election integrity.”

“Our goal is a ballot-based, citizenship-based, voter ID election that will one day be possible,” Trump said. But until then, Republicans must win. We must win, win, win, win, win. We want a landslide victory that is too big to rig.”

He also took aim at the Democrats. “At this very moment, Democratic party bosses are desperately trying to overturn the results of their own party’s primary election to remove fraudulent Joe Biden from the ballot. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy,” he said sarcastically. “And as you can see, the Democratic Party is not the party of democracy. They are, in fact, the enemies of democracy.”

Biden won almost all of his party’s delegates in the Democratic primaries, but has not yet been named his party’s nominee.