Updated November 01, 2024 at 17:24 PM ET
DEARBORN, Mich. — Former President Donald Trump made a brief stop in the heavily Arab-American city of Dearborn on Friday, calling for an end to conflict in the Middle East but offering no specifics on how he would do so if elected to a second term.
Visiting The Great Commoner coffee shop in Dearborn, Trump used the appearance to make a pitch to voters that are angry with the way the Biden administration has handled Israel's war in Gaza and Lebanon.
"We have a great feeling for Lebanon and I know so many people from Lebanon, Lebanese people and the Muslim population, they're liking Trump and they've had a good relationship with him," he said. "This is it, this is where they are, Dearborn. We want their votes and we're looking for their votes and I think we'll get their votes."
Trump went on to tout polling numbers in Michigan and other swing states before attacking Vice President Harris as an "inferior candidate."
Both Trump and Harris have Friday night rallies in Milwaukee, part of several stops in the key “Blue Wall” swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin.
Trump has a fraught relationship with Arab and Muslim voters, spending much of the last decade demonizing them. In his first days in office, he signed an executive order that banned travel from majority-Muslim countries, and has expressed support for a similar ban if elected again.
At a rally earlier this year in Wisconsin, he implied a surge of migrants into the U.S. would lead to a terrorist attack similar to the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in Israel, vowing that "we do not need a jihad in the United States of America."
Now, in a state that he narrowly won by 10,000 votes in 2016 and President Biden won in 2020, Trump is making a last-minute effort to convert a key demographic group to his side.
When asked about conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu about ending conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon, Trump criticized current U.S. leadership and said, without offering any details, that he would bring peace to the region.
"We're gonna bring peace, you're gonna have peace in the Middle East, but not with the clowns you have running the U.S. right now," he said. "You have people in the Middle East that aren't doing their job, and you have people in the U.S. that aren't doing their job, and when they get it together, when they get it right, you're gonna have peace in the Middle East."
Harris is rallying in Wisconsin
In Wisconsin, Harris was slated to make stops at a union hall in Janesville, and an event in Appleton before her Milwaukee rally. She is almost certain to mention in her remarks the violent language used by Trump in a late-night diatribe against former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney. Trump has been highlighting comments from Biden that sounded like he was calling Trump supporters "garbage."
Asked about Trump's visit to Dearborn, Harris told reporters she had a "significant amount of support" from Arab Americans because of her position on ending the war in Gaza and her commitment to a two-state solution — and because of her positions on economic issues.
"Within that community, there are many issues that challenge folks and that they want to hear about," she said.
Harris has had her own struggles with Arab American voters stemming from opposition to the war in Gaza. Leaders of the "uncommitted" movement, which grew out of Democratic opposition to President Biden's policy toward Israel and Gaza, has said it would not endorse Harris for president, but it has urged supporters to "vote against" Trump. Harris' rallies are often interrupted by protesters upset about the war in Gaza.
Harris and Trump are expected to focus part of their messages Friday on blue-collar workers, which make up a significant portion of the electorate in both states. Together with Pennsylvania — the third of the “Blue Wall” states — Michigan and Wisconsin are home to a higher eligible-voting population of white voters without college degrees than the four other swing states up for grabs.
Biden won Wisconsin in 2020 by just over 20,000 votes.
Trump is holding his Milwaukee rally at the Fiserv Forum, the same arena where he formally accepted the Republican nomination days after an assassination attempt. Harris will be at the Wisconsin State Fair Park Exposition Center, with a slate of musical artists including the Isley Brothers and rappers GloRilla and Flo Milli.
The final push
The Midwest swing followed stops by both campaigns on Thursday in Arizona and Nevada — where Harris and Trump both sought to rally support among Latino voters.
This weekend, they will be racing from swing state to swing state, trying to rally supporters and win over the last remaining undecided voters. Harris will have stops in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin before wrapping her campaign Monday with a set of rallies in Pennsylvania — including one in Allentown, where more than half of people are Latino, mainly Puerto Rican.
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Trump will be traveling to Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin. He also has a stop in Virginia — a state Harris is widely favored to win. He'll end his campaign with stops Monday in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
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