By Michael Piwowarski and Billy Badour
SAGINAW — Republicans in the Great Lakes Bay Region can now get their Make America Great Again, or MAGA, fix.
The headquarters for the Donald Trump reelection campaign in Saginaw held its grand opening Saturday, Jan. 25. The event started with lunch followed by speakers of various groups for Trump.
Several groups – including Black Voices for Trump, Students for Trump and Gun Owners for Trump – came to show their support for the incumbent president.
Black Voices for Trump, and Women for Trump.
(Michael Pieper/Creative Director)
Making pro-life great again?
“I most support President Trump’s pro-life view,” said Linda Lee Tarver, representing Black Voices for Trump. “7% of the Michigan population is black women and we make up 51% of the abortions and I consider that a genocide. He is very much pro-life which is saving lives.”
A study done by the Guttmacher Institute shows that black patients accounted for 28% of abortions in America.
In addition, Trump has not had a consistent view on abortion at all. In 1999, he declared: “I am pro-choice in every respect.”
On the campaign trail in 2016, Trump stated that women who have abortions should face “some form of punishment.” Later on during the campaign, however, he angered anti-abortion groups by saying, “It would’ve all been better if it were up to the states.”
Despite his contradicting statements, Trump recently gave remarks at the March for Life rally in Washington D.C.
Trump versus the black majority
On how Trump has helped black Americans, Tarver pointed to recent statistics showing the unemployment rate for African-Americans at a record low.
“He’s done a great job with opportunity zones,” says Tarver. “He’s done a phenomenal job with respect to unemployment and the economy, which helps those who are in an urban center.”
When asked about a recent poll showing that eight in 10 black Americans believe Trump is racist, Tarver claimed that the results are “farcical” and that Trump is getting more support from the black community.
“He was not a racist for liberals until he ran for president,” says Tarver. “And so he was a champion. Every rapper wanted to be Donald Trump. Every person wanted to be Donald Trump. Even Barack Obama, at the time, quoted that everyone wants to grow up and be Donald Trump.”
Tarver is referring to a popular Facebook post which claimed that, in 1991, Obama said “the American dream is to be Donald Trump.”
However, Obama did not actually say that. In a paper from his time at Harvard that he wrote with a friend, about Americans’ expectations to be financially secure in the future, he wrote: “The depth of this commitment may be summarily dismissed as the unfounded optimism of the average American — I may not be Donald Trump now, but just you wait; if I don’t make it, my children will.”
“I want to live the American dream.”
Dominic Jakubowski, a student at Kettering University in Flint, spoke on behalf of students for Trump. Jakubowski stated that the economy is the issue that matters the most to him.
”Most definitely the economy, because I want a job when I graduate,” says Jakubowski. “I want to live the American dream.”
On what Trump has done to help students, Jakubowski said: “It begins with deregulations; by allowing educators to be able to teach the way they want. Also synthesizing and allowing different organizations and institutions to be successful. Not necessarily public education, but also private education so that there is a competitive economic market.”
showed up to show their support for Donald Trump. (Michael Pieper/Creative Director)
Policy Matters Ohio is a non-profit research institute on issues affecting Ohio. When the group researched the effect of deregulation on higher education, their analysis concluded that “deregulation does not increase college completion, make college affordable or close the higher education gap. In many cases, deregulated states seem to perform worse than the nation on many indicators of accessible and affordable higher education.”
Gary Glenn is a former representative for the state of Michigan and came to represent Gun Owners for Trump. However, Glenn said he could have easily represented other groups, including Veterans for Trump and Christians for Trump.
When it comes to the possibility of Trump winning Michigan and other swing states again, Glenn pointed out that Trump won Michigan in 2016 in spite of not being ahead in any of the statewide polls.
“So obviously he did something right, and obviously he was able to win support from more than just the traditional Republican voters,” says Glenn, who believes that Trump is well positioned to win the Great Lakes State again.
The only right choice for veterans?
Fellow event attendee Nancy French stated which policy of Trump she most supports.
“I’m a veteran, and the first thing that drew me to him was that he said he’d be supporting the veterans and he is the only one I’ve heard that said that,” says French.
However, Democratic candidates have made promises to support veterans. Elizabeth Warren, for example, released a plan in 2019 to invest in mental health care for veterans, vowing to cut their suicide rate by half, as reported by The Hill.
French supported the event saying, “This has been fun because Saginaw hasn’t been all that wonderful for me. I grew up in Flint and this helped me to meet people that I never would have met otherwise.”
For MAGA folks who missed the grand opening, the Trump headquarters is located at 4607 Bay Rd and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The office sells campaign merchandise — including signs and T-shirts — and allows people to register to vote.
