Former President Donald Trump warned of high-stakes midterms and flirted with a 2024 presidential run before a large crowd gathered at a rally in Michigan on Saturday.
Mr. Trump said that America is “living through the most dangerous period of our lifetime.”
“The stakes of this year’s midterm elections could not be higher,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a time in our country where we felt so low, so dejected.”
Saturday’s gathering in Washington Township near Detroit was Mr. Trump’s first visit to Michigan since the eve of the November 2020 election and comes just weeks before the Michigan Republican nominating convention in Grand Rapids.
“You’re going to throw out [Michigan Governor] Gretchen Whitmer,” Mr. Trump said. “You are going to elect an incredible slate of America first Republicans up and down the ballot and together we are going to end crazy Nancy Pelosi’s political career once and for all.”
Mr. Trump laid out his litany of grievances from the border to foreign policy, blasting “the radical left” for creating a “catastrophic mess.”
“The choice this November is very simple: If you want high crime, high prices, high taxes, high corruption, and high incompetence, vote for radical Democrats,” Mr. Trump said. “If you want a country that is strong, sovereign, solvent, safe and secure, you must vote for America-first Republicans.”
Mr. Trump also doubled down on his claims of a stolen 2020 election, a mainstay of his rallies since leaving office.
“From the border crisis to the energy crisis from the Afghanistan disaster to the Ukraine disaster, all of this is a consequence of the rigged election,” he said.
Mr. Trump also continued to fuel intrigue over his plans to run for office in 2024, as he has done in nearly every public appearance this year but stopped short of officially announcing his bid.
“The truth is, I ran twice, I won twice, and I did much better the second time,” Mr. Trump told the crowd. “And now we just may have to do it again.”
