DETROIT — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump vowed to prevent “World War III,” “restore world peace” and rid the U.S. government of “warmongers” while campaigning in Detroit on Monday afternoon.
Trump made the remarks in front of hundreds of National Guard troops from around the country who were attending the convention at Huntington Place, where he noted the audience was “more tame” than the rowdy rallies he typically addresses.
“We’ve never been closer to World War III than we are right now,” Trump said. “This is terrifying.”
Trump said he would resolve the war between Russia and Ukraine “very quickly” if elected in November. He told the National Guard he didn’t want them “out there.”
The prime minister’s comments about Russia’s continuing occupation of eastern Ukraine came amid a rapidly escalating war on both sides of the two countries’ border. The Ukrainian prime minister said Russia attacked more than half the country on Monday with drones, cruise missiles and Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles. The attack came after Ukrainian forces, backed by the U.S., recently gained ground in Russia’s Kursk region, marking the largest attack on Russian territory since World War II.
Monday’s event marked Trump’s seventh visit to Michigan this year and the first day of a busy week of presidential campaigning in the battleground state. Trump is scheduled to return to the state on Thursday to deliver a speech on the economy in Potterville, Eaton County.
After the Detroit speech, Trump helped deliver pizza to the Republican campaign office in Macomb County, said Eric Castiglia, a Macomb County Republican who posed for a photo with Trump on Monday.
“Trump literally came in and thanked everybody,” Castiglia said of the stop at the Republican campaign office.
Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, is scheduled to visit the Big Rapids area on Tuesday to give a campaign speech about the economy, inflation and manufacturing, according to the Trump campaign. Douglas Emhoff, husband of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, is scheduled to visit Grand Rapids on Thursday, the Harris campaign announced Monday.
Trump’s speech, held at Detroit’s riverside convention center, lasted about an hour.
President Trump said he wants to impose a one-year prison sentence on anyone who burns the American flag.
Trump also said that if re-elected, he would create a Space National Guard, after creating a Space Force in 2019 during his first term.
Trump said the National Guard leadership “very much” wants to serve in space.
President Trump has vowed to invest heavily in drones, robotics, artificial intelligence and hypersonic technology.
“The Space Force is very important. Very, very important,” Trump said. “We’ve been just getting destroyed in space, and now we’re leading.”
New Support
About 18 minutes into his speech, Trump handed the stage to Tulsi Gabbard, a former Hawaii congresswoman who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. Gabbard, who served in Iraq as a member of the Hawaii National Guard in 2005, endorsed Trump.
Gabbard said Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration has put the United States “facing multiple wars on multiple fronts” and “closer to the brink of nuclear war than ever before.”
“I am confident that his first order of business will be to get the job done to pull us back from the brink of war,” Gabbard said. “Without peace there can be no prosperity.”
Ms Gabbard’s speech drew applause from the audience, after which Mr Trump suggested he was “not sure” Ms Gabbard would fully support him.
“I’ve heard that might happen,” Trump said.
Amar Moosa, emergency operations director for the Harris campaign, on Monday slammed Trump’s foreign policy record.
“While Trump cannot be trusted to keep us safe, Vice President Harris is a proven leader on the world stage who will use her expertise to keep America safe, defeat our adversaries, and stand with our allies around the world,” Moussa said.
Focus on Afghanistan
In his speech in Detroit, the former president also criticized the Biden administration for its handling of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan three years ago this week, which ended a nearly two-decade U.S. military occupation.
Trump also warned that the war between Russia and Ukraine could escalate into a global conflict, and said that if voters return him to the White House in November, he would resolve the war before taking office.
“I will prevent World War III,” Trump once said.
President Trump said that when he returns to the White House, he will “rid the federal government of the warmongers and profiteers.”
“We will bring back peace to the world,” he said, drawing thunderous applause.
Sunny Davenport, a Florida native, was a vendor at the National Guard Association conference and attended Trump’s speech.
Davenport said Trump drew cheers on Monday for the Biden administration’s missteps in withdrawing from Afghanistan, for not supporting Israel enough and for implementing an “open borders” policy.
“The current administration has been really negligent and is not as strong as it has been in the past,” Davenport said. “America was once one of the world’s great powers, but it’s not anymore. We need to get back there.”
Trump spoke in Detroit 71 days before he faces Harris in the Nov. 5 election, focusing on foreign policy and immigration but also on “fair elections” and the correct pronunciation of Missouri.
“I love Missouri,” Trump said, “I love that state. That’s how they put it. I never really understood it. But I won by 25 points, so that’s how I put it. So that’s how I put it.”
Trump won Missouri by 15 percentage points in 2020 and 19 percentage points in 2016.
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Trump is the only Republican presidential candidate to win Michigan since 1988. In 2016, he won the state by less than one percentage point, 47.5% to 47.3%, or about 10,700 votes, against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
But four years later, in 2020, Trump lost Michigan to Biden by 154,000 votes, or 3 percentage points, 48% to 51%.
Trump last visited Detroit on June 15 to speak at a convention organized by a conservative group. After the 2020 election, Trump claimed, without providing evidence, that voter fraud was “rampant” in Detroit, Michigan’s largest city and a Democratic stronghold.
“It would be good if someone voted and their vote actually counted,” Trump said Monday.
The National Guard Association is an organization that works to “promote and support the national security of the United States” and “maintain a strong National Guard,” according to its 2022 tax filing.
Each year, the agenda for the National Guard Association’s General Meeting and Exposition includes speeches from Department of Defense leaders and lawmakers, according to an announcement distributed last week. In presidential election years, the association also invites Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to give speeches, the announcement said.
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The Associated Press contributed.
