Donald Trump and Joe Biden both held campaign events in Michigan this week.
I must warn you here that we still live in Colorado. In fact, we have since 1984 -- longer than anywhere else, by far. But I grew up north of Grand Rapids, Michigan. I have a LOT of family still there (we're talking in the hundreds, people), and we often visit The Mama, as well as my brother's family and cousins. That gives us time to watch, listen and compare. You can take the girl out of Michigan, but you can't scrape all of the Michigander out of the girl.
Governor Whitmer, herself a near-VP for Biden, announced that she just KNEW Trump would violate all sorts of Covid protocols during this event...but that Biden would never EVER do such a thing.
Anthony Fauci chimed in with the same complaints -- that Trump's supporters didn't wear masks, what were they thinking, it sure worried him, etc. etc.
I was intrigued.
"Twinkletoes," or so The Mama calls her, is no slouch to making all sorts of pronouncements she doesn't personally do. She was setting a standard here. Would the guys follow it?
Trump was first to arrive in Michigan, this week on Tuesday. (It isn't his first visit to the Mitten State this year, by a longshot.) He had a loud, boisterous event with quite a few people. (His speech was in Freeland, not that far from Bay City or Midland. Think of the thumb curve on the 'mitten.') Based on the photos, at least one-third to half, if not more, were wearing face masks. This was especially interesting, considering that many of our Michigan relatives have announced their dislike for masks -- but base that belief more on the incredible Covid restrictions their kind governor has been imposing, rather than the masks themselves. A number of the masks, by the way, had Trump logos on them. (Update: Trump's later speech had some things to say about Governor Whitmer, too.)
Social distancing? Naah. When asked about this during a White House briefing, Katie Pavlich said only the maximum number of people had been asked to come -- but others showed up as part of a peaceful protest. And since peaceful protesters in general, including in Michigan, are NOT being policed, or even criticized, so far as social distancing and/or masks are concerned, the reporters suddenly shut up.
Now it was Joe Biden's turn. When his entourage drove out of the Detroit airport on Wednesday, they were greeted by a small group of Trump supporters waving flags and signs. They must have been waiting all day, because the location for Biden's event wasn't even announced until about an hour before the event. That explains why...
Only one person, so far as I saw, was at the actual speech. (The Brick noticed two.) And the guy was wearing a shirt the same color as the Trump's MAGA hats. Weird. But he did have a mask on.
There were, however, tons of signs -- and a number of new, shining cars parked all around.
Masks? Social distancing? Governor Whitmer was right -- Biden followed the letter of the law.
And he gave a long speech to -- basically no one. (I'm pretty sure the one person was a sound guy.) He did talk to "America's workers" about the economy, which was good -- Michiganders are very worried about this subject. A lot of businesses have closed, or been nearly destroyed by Governor Whitmer's shutdowns. Some are still not allowed to open.
Michigan is an important swing state this time around -- both candidates have made that clear. Often it goes to the Democratic vote, largely due to Detroit's influence on the state. (The same thing often happens in Colorado, because of Denver and Boulder's size and more liberal tendencies.)
But there are more conservative areas out there -- including in Grand Rapids and points north. In fact, Michigan gave its electoral vote in 2016 not to Hillary Clinton -- but to Donald Trump. (He won by barely 10,000 votes -- the first time Michigan's vote had gone to a Republican candidate since 1988.)
So where did Mr. Biden speak? In Warren...not far from Detroit. What was all around him? Automobiles -- one of Michigan's primary exports, particularly in that area. (Further north, it's much more about tourism, farming and fruit.) Where were his supporters? He could have easily stayed home and done the speech from there, considering. And how long has it been, since he's visited Michigan? Well... it's been a while. (He left right after the talk, as near as I can tell. Don't look at the crowd pictured in the video on his website, by the way -- not a mask or social distancing in sight, including Mr. Biden.)
President Trump is back tonight (Thursday, 9/10), this time in Saginaw, not far from where he spoke Tuesday -- you can livestream his speech here, as well as other visits. I have no doubt it will also be loud and boisterous -- and crammed with people who are actually there, cheering and interacting. No doubt, some peaceful protesters, too, on all sides pro and con. (Update: Yep, it was rowdy, all right.)
Fascinating. Just fascinating.
This isn't even about the contents of both speeches -- and both men have had plenty to say. (Biden's, by the way, was given in whole on Youtube -- I could find only bits and pieces of Trump's speech.) This is about their approach to the Americans they're appealing to, and how they're going about it.
Don't you find this interesting, as well? Its outcome is going to decide a lot of things in our puzzled country, whether you agree with the eventual winner -- or not.
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