Trump’s Fascist Michigan Speech
April 4, 2024
On Tuesday, Donald Trump held an event in Grand Rapids Michigan in which, flanked by law enforcement officers, he accused the Biden administration of creating a “border crisis.” He used the most inhumane of language, calling the situation a “border blood bath” and describing people coming to the United States as “prisoners, murderers, drug dealers, mental patients and terrorists, the worst they have.”
As he did in previous campaigns, Trump appropriated stories of grisly murders – usually of women – in an attempt to make his point. (The anti-immigration groups Federation for American Immigration Reform and the Remembrance Project, both of which have supported Trump’s campaigns in the past, use similar tactics.) Trump mentioned the death of Ruby Garcia, a woman found dead in Grand Rapids a month ago; the man arrested for her death had been deported to Mexico in 2020. The GOP nominee falsely claimed he met with members of Garcia’s family, a story her sister refuted in the press. (The story of Garcia’s death at the alleged hands of her abuser seems to go unremarked considering the rank misogyny the GOP endorses.)
Among the law enforcement present were over a half-dozen sheriffs who stood behind Trump while he spoke, all in official uniform, which seems like it violates an electioneering law. All 83 Michigan sheriffs were allegedly invited, and it appears that there was also a “closed door” session with law enforcement that I cannot confirm. (The Police Officers Association of Michigan also endorsed Trump during the event.) Michigan sheriffs have elections this year, so all of these guys are facing re-election. Coincidence?
Those sheriffs included the following:
Van Buren County Sheriff Daniel Abbott: Abbott spoke during the event, claiming that 10% of the people housed in his county jail were from “Mexico or Guatemala.” “They’re not in our jail by coincidence,” he went on, claiming that those in his jail (who are not yet convicted of a crime) were guilty of “heinous crimes.”
“President Trump is the leader we need to get the job done,” he concluded, which does not sound at all like a “campaign event.”
Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole: Cole was a Claremont Sheriff Fellow. He claimed later that he only attended out of a sense of duty.
Allegan County Sheriff Frank Baker: Baker also spoke at the event, calling immigration and drugs a “big problem.” He also referenced the Garcia case, saying his deputies were involved.
Chippewa County Michigan Sheriff Mike Bitnar: In 2022, Bitnar wrote a weird Facebook post telling people to “stop criming” and then claimed he was “venting.”
Berrien County Sheriff Chuck Heit: Heit was recently appointed as interim sheriff last year and is running for election.
Hillsdale County Sheriff Scott Hodshire: Hodshire was weirdly wearing a tactical vest. He did not get the memo to wear his dress uniform.
Crawford County Sheriff Ryan Swope: Swope later said he was “shocked” to be standing next to Trump for a 45-minute diatribe.
Leelanau County Sheriff Mike Borkovich: Borkovich evidently held a two-hour meeting with a prominent election-denier. He also defending his choice to appear in uniform, calling the event “not a rally.” “We did not go there for a rally. We went there to talk about the issues with again, human trafficking, the narcotics influx in our country, and what's happening with the situation security at the border.”
Finally, some might ask, where was Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf? Well, I can’t say whether he was invited or not, but according to a comment he made on Facebook, he did not attend because he thought it would be a conflict of interest in his “election integrity” investigation.
Trump and Law Enforcement
Trump was the first president to be endorsed by major police unions, including the Fraternal Order of Police. The Police Officers Association of Michigan endorsed Trump in both 2016 and 2020, so this is hardly new. What is worth considering is why law enforcement organizations would endorse a presidential candidate who defunded local police by billions of dollars and who opposes unions.
My response to this is the reinforcement of the Law Enforcement Baronial Class. Law enforcement members are a special class of people, “super-citizens” as two law scholars wrote, and, as a result, are not subject to the same rules as anyone else. Trump, too, thinks he is not subject to the same rules, and he has been proven correct time and time again.
Some people might be quick to say, well duh, cops are fascist and so is Trump. But I would argue that even if this is true, it’s worth a moment of analysis. Democrats as a strategy have run away from “defund the police” and insisted on adding billions of dollars to local policing while also supporting mechanisms of accountability, like registries of officers who break the law, limits of the use of violent tactics, and oversight through local oversight boards and the Department of Justice. In other words, Democrats have supported the general idea that police are a public good that can be reformed.
These policies are misplaced, in my opinion, but still worth giving a serious think if only because they dominate mainstream Democrat policies. Law enforcement is the solution to everything, in their world, and it’s backfiring mightily. Trump? Arrest him and put him in jail. (That’s going well.) Right-wing militias? Infiltrate them with undercover informants and prosecute the heck out of them. (Also working great.) January 6? (Created martyrs.) Gun violence? (Mass incarceration redux.) Fentanyl? (Same.)
Trump throws all of that out the window. He admits the truth, as he posted on Truth Social, in arguing for full presidential immunity:
EXAMPLE: YOU CAN’T STOP POLICE FROM DOING THE JOB OF STRONG & EFFECTIVE CRIME PREVENTION BECAUSE YOU WANT TO GUARD AGAINST THE OCCASIONAL “ROGUE COP” OR “BAD APPLE.” SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE TO LIVE WITH “GREAT BUT SLIGHTLY IMPERFECT.”
Law enforcement wants to know that they are good and special boys, entitled to privileges and guns and all sorts of financial goodies. They just want to bash heads and not worry about silly little laws. As a group, they care more about feeling free to enact violence on outgroups than they care about being part of the social fabric. Heck, if police are willing to endorse someone anti-union, that says a lot.
Brown shorts, all in a row, with their money masters behind them.