I still can’t figure out why former President Donald Trump came to Howell on Tuesday. The return on investment for what was essentially a tiny, odd campaign event held inside a county storage building (ironically nestled between the Judicial Center and the Livingston County Jail on the west side of Howell) was low.
But maybe not as low as the energy of the former president.
Now, I couldn’t see Trump. Members of the media were relegated to a single riser area, and those with cameras got the prime spots. Because my knees were screaming on Tuesday, I wrangled a chair and sat around the media riser with other journalists who were supporting on-air reporters or who didn’t have to see the former president in order to do their jobs.
For those with a view, here’s what they saw:
Here was my view during the event:
But not having eyes on Trump actually gave me a unique perspective: I got to listen to a speech that both surprised and disappointed. It was nearly an hour of Trump’s low-energy, stream-of-consciousness whining about how horrific life is, how these are essentially the apocalyptic end times.
“You can’t walk across the street to buy a loaf of bread,” Trump said. “You get shot. You get mugged. You get raped.” (It kind of makes you wonder where Trump shops.)
According to the former president, we are not safe, and we have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. There is only one thing standing between us and the horde of migrants he says have been let loose from prisons and insane asylums and who are ringing Livingston County, ready to rape, murder, and plunder; that one thing is him. (And I am not going to fact check his speech, which was a rambling hodge-podge of dis- and mal-information.)
I was expecting to hear something more like Trump’s rally speeches — while not always rooted in reality, they seem amusing — and while there is no way I would ever vote for him, I was looking forward to kind of a fun event; was I disappointed! Trump sounded so old, so tired, and so sad.
Generously, there were less than 200 people in attendance, half of whom were there to cover it for media outlets. Represented were state and local media, like The Livingston Post and Michigan Advance; and then there were the national outlets like the New York Times, New York Post, Fox News, NBC, CBS, and MSNBC.
Security at the event was tight, and rightly so after the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump at an outdoor rally in Pennsylvania in which the gunman and an attendee were killed. There were snipers on roofs; dogs sniffing vehicles; Secret Service agents searching purses, wanding and patting down bodies, and inspecting cell phones. Livingston County’s courts and offices in the complex were closed for the day, as was the nearby Howell dog park. A lot of people who had nothing to do with the event were inconvenienced.
I asked a handful of the local Republican movers and shakers there what they thought of Trump’s speech. To a person, it boiled down to shoulder shrugs and “meh,” though each will certainly cast their votes for him.
In attendance was a veritable who’s who of Livingston County’s Republican elites. Wes Nakagari — arguably Trump’s biggest fanboy — was there, as were other county commissioners, including Jay Drick, Jay Gross, Doug Helzerman, Nick Fiani, and Roger Deaton.
U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers gave a short speech, as did Livingston County Sheriff Mike Murphy, who coordinated the event.
Michigan Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt was there, as was 10th District U.S. Rep. John James and 8th District candidate Paul Junge.
Jason Woolford, who beat incumbent 50th District state Rep. Bob Bezotte in a messy primary, was there, as was Dominic Restuccia, the biggest fund raiser in that same election.
County employees, including administrator Nathan Burd, Chief Deputy Clerk Kristi Cox, and Prosecutor Carolyn Henry were there. Howell City Manager Erv Suida was in the crowd. I saw former Brighton mayor and county commissioner Kate Lawrence; as well as businessmen Steve Gronow and Joe Parker.
Me? I was most excited to see Vaughn Hillyard of NBC News, one of my favorite reporters, in person. (Thanks to Jon King for snapping the pic for me.)
There was an effort on the part of local Republicans to get Trump to stay for a rally event Tuesday evening. Though the local GOP said it had secured a site that would accommodate 10,000 people, Trump apparently didn’t stay.
Even the supporters and the lone protester I saw when I was leaving were low energy. There were far fewer people outside the rally than I would have expected.
It was a far different when President Joe Biden came to Howell in 2021 — the first sitting U.S. president EVER to visit Livingston County — when the local GOP put together a raucous protest, complete with some vulgar flags and signs. How raucous, you ask? There was actually a Trump supporter operating a chain saw there.
You can read our coverage of that incredibly wild gathering by clicking here.
