JD Vance tells Flint crowd Donald Trump will make American Dream affordable
Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance made a final pitch to voters in Genesee County on Monday, telling them that he and his running mate former president Donald Trump will fix the economy that has been marked by inflation.
He said rising numbers of Americans are becoming delinquent in paying their credit card debts and their auto loans.
"This election is fundamentally about whether the American Dream is going to be affordable for our fellow citizens and I think that we have got to do better," Vance said. "There are so many people out there that are struggling."
The Ohio Senator arrived with his wife, Usha, and spoke for about 35 minutes to a crowd of about 800 people at the FIM Capitol Theatre in Downtown Flint. He said it was a great place for his final campaign visit to Michigan and he promised to return as vice president.
Vance reiterated the campaign's call for tariffs, saying some Chinese companies employ slave labor and shouldn't be able to sell their products in the U.S. without paying a price. He also blamed Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris for a porous southern border that allows fentanyl to flow into places like Michigan.
"We're going to wage war against the Mexican drug cartels and stop this poison from coming into Michigan communities," Vance said.
He also blamed Harris and President Joe Biden for a flow of migrants into the U.S. that he said is overwhelming schools and hospital emergency rooms and threatening to bankrupt local communities. He said Americans are the most generous and compassionate people on earth but they have limits.
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"The compassion of the American president belongs to American citizens, to people who have the legal right to be here, not to people who shouldn't be here in the first place," he said.
Vance spoke on a stage with a banner behind him that read "jobs jobs jobs." Attendees were handed red and blue placards reading "Trump will fix it." Warm-up speakers included Republican candidates for the U.S. House and Senate.
Local Democratic leaders, including retiring U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint, and Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley held a press conference to counter the Vance speech. Kildee said Trump is ending his campaign with a "venomous and scary approach" to politics.
"There's a huge difference between what a Kamala Harris presidency will mean – hope, optimism, rolling up our sleeves and getting the work of the American people done – versus what a Donald Trump presidency will look like – anger, venom, a dark, dystopian view of what America should be," Kildee said in a statement.
Harold Lawrence, 46, of Flint does HVAC work and is a poker aficionado. He attended the rally and said he's eager to cast his third vote for Trump on Tuesday. He said his grandfather was a World War II veteran and a lifelong Democrat, but he feels the party has changed since those days.
"If he were alive today, I think he'd be voting conservative. Trump," he said. "I'm all in on Trump. I'd bet the ranch on Trump."
Donna Smith, 64, is a retired nurse who lives in Linden. She saw Trump when he visited Flint in September but she was eager to see Vance, hoping he'd discuss the economy.
"Just the reassurance of our safety and the economics, you know, of groceries and stuff," she said. "Everything's getting so expensive you can't really make it right now."
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Vance closed urging everyone who hasn't voted yet to do so.
"We gotta get out there tomorrow and take every single person you know," Vance said.
Trump and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz were both slated to speak in Michigan later Tuesday.
Contact John Wisely: [email protected]. On X @jwisely
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: JD Vance tells Flint crowd Trump will make American Dream affordable