Trump tells huge Michigan crowd that Melania thought Biden looked ‘sad’ when she watched him on TV

President Donald Trump told a large Michigan crowd Thursday night that First Lady Melania Trump thought Joe Biden looked ‘sad’ when she watched him during a Democratic debate before claiming that ‘far-left lunatics’ will run the government if the former vice president wins the November election and that the murder rate in Chicago and Baltimore is ‘higher than in Afghanistan’.

The president arrived at the MBS International Airport in Freeland, Michigan, where he was met by a cheering crowd of several thousand, packed shoulder-to-shoulder, mostly without masks.

‘This is not the crowd of a person who comes in second place,’ Trump declared to cheers before criticizing Biden’s performance during the Democratic debates. 

‘The first lady actually came in… and she watched the debate and she watched Joe and she said, “Darling, it’s so sad,”‘ Trump claimed, before taking aim at Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, who he called the ‘most liberal person in the USA’. The mention of Harris brought on boos and jeers from the crowd. 

‘On November 3 Michigan you better vote for me! I got you so many damn car plants,’ Trump said as the crowd cheered while waving ‘Make America Great Again’ signs. 

Trump then claimed that Biden is trying to ‘eliminate new jobs and open your borders’. 

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First Lady Melania Trump and Trump pictured on August 27

President Donald Trump told a Michigan crowd Thursday that First Lady Melania Trump thought Joe Biden looked ‘sad’ when she watched him during a Democratic debate before claiming that ‘far-left lunatics’ will run the government if the former vice president wins the November election and that the murder rate in Chicago and Baltimore is ‘higher than in Afghanistan’ 

The president arrived at the MBS International Airport in Freeland, Michigan, where he was met by a cheering crowd of supporters

The president arrived at the MBS International Airport in Freeland, Michigan, where he was met by a cheering crowd of supporters

Trump was seen waving as he stepped off Air Force One upon arrival for a campaign rally at MBS International Airport in Freeland, Michigan, on Thursday

Trump was seen waving as he stepped off Air Force One upon arrival for a campaign rally at MBS International Airport in Freeland, Michigan, on Thursday 

Later Thursday night, Trump tweeted: 'When we win I, as your President, will totally forgive ALL deferred payroll taxes with money from the General Fund'

Later Thursday night, Trump tweeted: ‘When we win I, as your President, will totally forgive ALL deferred payroll taxes with money from the General Fund’

‘He’s promised to flood your states with refugees,’ Trump said. ‘He would open up the floodgates amid a pandemic and by the way the wall is over 311 miles long right now.

‘The murder rate in Democrat-run cities like Chicago, Baltimore, New York [and] so many others is higher than in Afghanistan, yet Biden supports imposing these failed policies nationwide. You will have crime like you’ve never seen it before,’ Trump insisted.  

‘If Joe Biden is elected far-left lunatics won’t just be running frail Democrat cities, they’ll be running the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the US Supreme Court, and we can’t let that happen. 

‘No city, town or suburb will be safe. On November 3 your vote will save America. Remember it’s the most important elect we’ve ever had,’ Trump added. 

At one point, Trump brought up Antifa and asked the crowd: ‘Does anybody want to have somebody from Antifa as a member and as as a resident of your suburb?

He then made up a bizarre scenario, saying: ‘Say Darling, who moved in next door? Oh, it’s a resident of Antifa. No thank you…Let’s get the hell out of here, darling…Ahh, I wish Trump were president.’

Later Thursday night, Trump tweeted: ‘When we win I, as your President, will totally forgive ALL deferred payroll taxes with money from the General Fund. I will ALWAYS protect Seniors and your Social Security! Sleepy Joe Biden will do the opposite, he will raise your taxes and DESTROY our Country!’

Trump arrived in Michigan for the rally despite pushback from officials worried that his rallies are growing in size and flouting public health guidelines intended to halt the COVID-19 spread. 

Michigan’s Democratic Gov Gretchen Whitmer raised alarms earlier on Thursday about the rally. 

Whitmer did not try to scuttle the rally, but warned that such events ‘threaten all that sacrifice that we’ve made’.

‘If the rallies are like those he’s held in recent days in other states, with lots of people close together without masks on projecting their voices, I’m concerned about it,’ she said at a news conference Thursday morning. 

‘This is not a partisan observation. We are in a public health crisis. We all want to get out of this public health crisis. It´s going to take every one of us doing the right things to get out of it together, to make this as short as possible.’ 

Michigan currently caps outdoor events at 100 people and mandates that attendees wear masks if they cannot consistently stay 6 feet away from people who are not part of their households. 

There is an exception, though, which states that nothing in the order can ‘abridge protections guaranteed by the state or federal constitution under these emergency circumstances’.

This week, the state of Nevada became the first to scuttle his plans for rallies initially set for Las Vegas and Reno. 

Trump’s arrival in Michigan comes as he grapples with the fallout from new book ‘Rage’ by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward.  

Trump arrived in Michigan for the rally despite pushback from officials worried that his rallies are growing in size and flouting public health guidelines intended to halt the COVID-19 spread

Trump arrived in Michigan for the rally despite pushback from officials worried that his rallies are growing in size and flouting public health guidelines intended to halt the COVID-19 spread

Several thousand people came out to hear from the president on Thursday during his campaign rally MBS International Airport in Freeland, Michigan on Thursday

Several thousand people came out to hear from the president on Thursday during his campaign rally MBS International Airport in Freeland, Michigan on Thursday 

Many supporters were seen wearing hats 'MAGA' hats as they waited to hear from the president on Thursday

Many supporters were seen wearing hats ‘MAGA’ hats as they waited to hear from the president on Thursday 

'If Joe Biden is elected far-left lunatics won't just be running frail Democrat cities, they'll be running the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the US Supreme Court, and we can't let that happen,' Trump told his supporters (pictured)

‘If Joe Biden is elected far-left lunatics won’t just be running frail Democrat cities, they’ll be running the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the US Supreme Court, and we can’t let that happen,’ Trump told his supporters (pictured)

A Trump gestures during a campaign event at the MBS International Airport, in Freeland, Michigan, on Thursday

A Trump gestures during a campaign event at the MBS International Airport, in Freeland, Michigan, on Thursday 

In a series of 18 interviews with Woodward, the president spoke frankly about the dangers posed by the virus – even as he downplayed them publicly – and admitted he had tried to mislead the public.

The book, based on recorded phone interviews, has refocused attention on Trump’s handling of the virus, a subject he has tried to shift away from less than two months before Election Day.

Before departing the White House Trump denied he had lied to the nation and highlighted a surge in virus cases in Europe to contend that the United States is faring well. ‘I really do believe we’re rounding the corner,’ he asserted.

‘Donald Trump knew all along just how deadly this virus is,’ Biden said in a virtual fundraiser. ‘He knew and purposefully played it down because all he was concerned about was his reelection, didn’t want to affect economic growth.’ 

Congress’ top Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, set the party’s theme on the subject: ‘Trump lied and people died.’ 

But Trump, answering questions at the White House, insisted ‘there was no lie’ in his often-dismissive public comments about the virus last February and March.

He noted that he had limited travel from China, where the virus apparently originated, ‘so, obviously, outwardly I said it’s a very serious problem. … That doesn’t mean I’m going to jump up and down in the air and start saying “people are going to die, people are going to die.” No, no, I’m not going to do that. We’re going to get through this.’

In a burst of tweets earlier Thursday, Trump said that if his comments about playing down the danger of the virus were so bad, why didn’t Woodward report them at the time ‘in an effort to save lives? Didn’t he have an obligation to do so? No, because he knew they were good and proper answers. Calm, no panic!’

Woodward has defended his decision to hold off by saying he needed time to make sure Trump’s private comments were true.

Meanwhile, Trump is resuming an aggressive campaign schedule, despite growing resistance from local leaders who have expressed alarm at his insistence on holding large-scale rallies during a pandemic.

While the rallies so far have been held in airport hangars open to the air, they have been drawing thousands of supporters despite local restrictions. And the majority of attendees have refused to wear masks, even when mandates are in place.

Trump has characterized the rallies as ‘peaceful protests’ and White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said attendees were exercising their First Amendment rights.

This week, Nevada pulled the plug on rallies set for this weekend, citing the state’s ban on gatherings of more than 50 people, drawing fury from Trump’s campaign. 

The Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority warned a company that planned to host the campaign rally for 5,000 people at a private hangar that it would be in violation of the governor´s restrictions and the terms of the company´s lease for the hangar.

‘You are hereby advised that you may not proceed with the proposed gathering,’ the letter states.

Trump spoke until nightfall in Michigan before boarding Air Force One to head back to Washington, DC

Trump spoke until nightfall in Michigan before boarding Air Force One to head back to Washington, DC

The president is seen waving at his supporters as he boarded Air Force One in Freeland, Michigan, on Thursday

The president is seen waving at his supporters as he boarded Air Force One in Freeland, Michigan, on Thursday 

Trump is seen speaking to a crowd of several thousand supporters on Thursday night before heading back to DC

Trump is seen speaking to a crowd of several thousand supporters on Thursday night before heading back to DC  

Meanwhile, Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr, addressed a crowd during a Make America Great Again campaign event at Point Lookout Vineyard in Hendersonville, North Carolina, on Thursday

Meanwhile, Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, addressed a crowd during a Make America Great Again campaign event at Point Lookout Vineyard in Hendersonville, North Carolina, on Thursday 

Trump Jr is seen greeting US Congressional Candidate Madison Cawthorn during a Make America Great Again campaign event for his father at Point Lookout Vineyard in Hendersonville, North Carolina on Thursday

Trump Jr is seen greeting US Congressional Candidate Madison Cawthorn during a Make America Great Again campaign event for his father at Point Lookout Vineyard in Hendersonville, North Carolina on Thursday 

‘Outrageous!’ tweeted Adam Laxalt, Trump’s Nevada campaign co-chair. ‘This is unprecedented – to cancel an incumbent president’s campaign stop inside 60 days of a major contested election in a swing state. This isn’t over!’

In North Carolina, Trump held a rally this week that drew a mostly mask-less crowd of thousands. 

While an executive order currently limits outdoor gatherings to 50 people and mandates masks in public, the rally was technically legal under state pandemic rules that exempt certain gatherings where people exercise free speech, a spokeswoman for North Carolina’s governor said Wednesday.

Still, the spokeswoman, Dory MacMillan, said: ‘When elected leaders violate the White House coronavirus guidelines surrounding masks and social distancing, especially with large mask-less crowds that sit and stand closely together for hours, they put people´s health at risk.’

Michigan is a vital Electoral College battleground, which Trump won by only 10,704 votes in 2016, helping him breach the Democrats’ ‘blue wall’ and putting him in office.

While Trump aides had all but written off the state earlier this summer, they now say they have seen a tightening in recent weeks and believe they are in a better position than they were in 2016. 

But Democrats see optimism, too, having made major gains there in the 2018 midterms, winning every major statewide office and a handful of congressional seats as well.

Both candidates have been paying frequent visits, with Biden traveling to suburban Detroit on Wednesday to make a direct appeal to blue-collar workers who might have voted Republican four years ago but now regret it.

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