Trump strangely asserted that rallygoers are "just going to the bathroom" and not abandoning his events in response to criticism that the former president could not maintain a reasonable crowd size.
While speaking to the Detroit Economic Club, he asked, "Do they mind a little bit of a longer speech? I haven't noticed anybody leaving."
"A man was over there, but he returned; he needed to use the restroom," Trump added, Express US reported.
"The fake news takes a picture of one empty seat and say, 'people are fleeing'. Nobody is leaving! If they start to leave I just end the speech," the ex-POTUS said.
Trump then criticized Detroit, asserting that the entire nation would resemble the city if his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, were to be elected, Globe Magazine reported.
“The whole country will be like — you want to know the truth? It’ll be like Detroit,” the Republican presidential nominee stated, “Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president.”
Throughout the speech, he made conflicting remarks about Detroit, referring to it as a "developing" city in an apparent compliment.
In the state, Democrats swiftly condemned Trump for his remarks. Mike Duggan, the mayor of Detroit, saluted the city's recent decrease in crime and expanding population.
“Lots of cities should be like Detroit. And we did it all without Trump’s help,” he stated on his social media platform.
In a social media post, Trump was told to “keep Detroit and our people out of your mouth” by Detroit's U.S. Representative Shri Thanedar. Attorney General Dana Nessel made the comment on X about Trump's attempts to win Michigan, saying, “This guy is calling us ugly and then asking us out on a date."
On X, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has served as a significant surrogate for the Democratic presidential ticket, also expressed her dissatisfaction with Trump, stating, “And you better believe Detroiters won’t forget this in November.”
“By contrast, my opponent, Donald Trump, yet again has trashed another great American city when he was in Detroit, which is just a further piece of evidence on a very long list of why he is unfit to be president of the United States,” she stated, Harris praised her current location as a "great city" while speaking to reporters in Las Vegas.
In prior elections, Wayne County, which is the location of Detroit, has been unkind to Trump, The Washington Post reported. In 2016 and 2020, Trump received approximately 30% of the vote in Wayne, resulting in a significant loss for the county.
Detroit has “suffered from globalist policies championed by Kamala Harris" that have resulted in manufacturing shifting overseas, according to a statement released by Trump's campaign following his appearance.
