Trump assassination attempt unsettles Michigan's already tumultuous presidential campaign

The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump over the weekend upended an already tumultuous White House campaign season as Democrats reassessed how to argue against a second Trump presidency Sunday while Republicans sought to capitalize on a moment of party unity heading into their national convention.

This comes as Michigan politicians from both parties acknowledged the need to tamper down the heated messaging around the presidential race to avoid inciting further violence.

“Everybody’s got to recalibrate. Period," said U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, an Ann Arbor Democrat and close ally to President Joe Biden. "We’ve got to lower the divisiveness in the country. ... I hope this was a wakeup call to America because I would not want anything to happen to Donald Trump."

As video of a bullet grazing Trump's right ear at a Saturday campaign rally filled cable news screens and social media feeds Sunday, Michigan Republicans began arriving in Wisconsin for the start of a national convention unlike any in modern U.S. history — one day after their presidential nominee narrowly escaped death on the campaign trail.

"We gotta get back to messaging on the issues and stop the rhetoric," said U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain, a Republican from Macomb County.

The Trump assassination attempt by a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man came 16 days after Biden's disastrous debate performance against Trump threw the Democratic incumbent's campaign into a tailspin, causing some fellow Democrats to call for him to leave the race and emboldening Republicans.

Trump's most ardent supporters in Michigan expressed optimism over the weekend that the GOP former president's survival of a would-be assassin's bullet not only unites a fractured Republican Party but spurs national unity at a time when political divisiveness is widespread.

McClain likened the image of Trump — bleeding from the apparent gunshot to the ear — shaking his fist in the air as Secret Service agents whisked him off stage to the iconic photo of then-President George W. Bush standing on a pile of rubble from the World Trade Center towers alongside New York City firefighters three days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The images of Trump's fist gesture to the crowd in Butler, Pa., as his supporters chanted "U-S-A, U-S-A" conveyed, "You can try and take me down, but freedom, democracy will always prevail," McClain said.

"I think that was a very patriotic moment," she said.

Other Republicans saw that moment as one to contrast their candidate's strength with the halting images of Biden in the June 27 debate.

“Compare that side-by-side with Joe Biden with his mouth agape on the debate stage,” said state Rep. Bill G. Schuette, a Midland Republican and delegate to this week's national convention. “It’s pretty striking.”

'Ratchet it down'

A key aspect of Biden's reelection campaign messaging has centered around sharp criticism of Trump's past and frequent use of violent rhetoric and urging his supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, leading to a deadly riot and cops being assaulted by Trump supporters in a bid to stop Congress from certifying Biden's election victory. The Democratic president reiterated the theme in remarks Friday night at a campaign rally in Detroit, saying he would become more aggressive in how he highlights Trump's record and role in the Jan. 6 insurrection attempt.

"It's going to be all about Trump from here on out," Biden told supporters.

Biden's campaign has been airing a television ad in recent weeks featuring Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson criticizing Trump for not stopping the violence that his supporters carried out at the Capitol. In the aftermath of Saturday's shooting at Trump's rally, the Biden campaign began taking down its current ads, including the Swanson commercial that was still on the air earlier Saturday in the Detroit market.

Some Michigan Democrats acknowledged Sunday that their message that Trump is a threat to democracy because of his actions in 2020 and 2021 gets harder to sell to undecided voters after they witnessed a threat to Trump's life being carried out on television and phone screens.

“Certainly, in an instance like this, it will shape the dialogue,” said U.S. Rep. Hayley Stevens, D-Birmingham. "It's going to shape the dialogue on both sides of the aisle."

Trump's allies were quick Sunday to link Biden's rhetoric to the assassination attempt after he was recorded at a fundraiser a week ago telling supporters, "We’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye."

"If you're going to use that same logic that Donald Trump is responsible for Jan. 6, for example, because of his words, wouldn't the same be true for the assassination attempt for Biden? Because Biden said we need to put a bullseye on Donald Trump's back," McClain said.

Dingell argued Biden never meant a literal bullseye, but a rhetorical term that is so often used in politics to frame a targeting of an opponent.

Trump once openly suggested Dingell's late husband, longtime Michigan congressman John Dingell, might be in hell. But that doesn't mean she wished any ill will against Trump, Dingell said Sunday.

“I’ve had my moments with Donald Trump, but I’m just so grateful that he’s OK, nothing happened to him,” she said. “You could point fingers at a lot of things that have been said, but I just don’t want to go there.”

Dingell said she hoped the presidential campaign would get back to a debate about issues and public policy "without the fear of violence."

Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg of Tipton, the most senior member of Michigan’s U.S. House delegation, said the Democrats need to reassess the rhetoric that’s been used for some time, particularly the party’s talking point that Trump represents a threat to democracy.

“Cut down the crazy rhetoric and the violent rhetoric about Donald Trump and Republicans taking away democracy. I consider that crazy talk,” Walberg said.

“In this emotional campaign period, that could cause some people to think irrationally. I think we all need to ratchet it down.”

Walberg said he’d been “extremely” impressed by Trump’s response, from the moment he stood up after the shooting on stage to reassure the crowd, pump his fist and say, “Fight!” — which Walberg interpreted as him saying he’s not giving up. He also emphasized that Trump was positive and showed compassion for the crowd victim who died and the others who were critically wounded rather than lashing out and blaming or using incendiary language.

“He's also grateful to a higher power than even himself, and for a New Yorker to say that — 'This is God' — I think was pretty special,” said Walberg, a former pastor.

A tight race before shooting

Before Saturday night’s assassination attempt, the presidential race in Michigan was looking like a jump ball. That’s despite Biden’s weak debate performance last month and a number of high-ranking Democrats openly calling on him to step aside so someone else can run.

The Lansing-based consulting firm Marketing Resource Group conducted a poll of 600 registered Michigan voters over the three-day period of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, essentially the days before Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania.

The survey found Trump leading with 39% of participants saying they planned to vote for him or leaned in his favor and 36% going for Biden, according to results reviewed by The Detroit News. In addition, 11% either didn’t know or refused to answer, and 14% favored a third-party candidate. Trump's three-point lead was within the survey's margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Michigan was basically a tied race before Saturday, said Jenell Leonard, a Republican political consultant and the owner of Marketing Resource Group.

The numbers marked an improvement for Biden since a similar poll by Marketing Resource Group in October 2023 found Trump up 7 points at that point, 42%-35%.

But the attempted assassination and the responses of Biden and Trump to it could reshape things, Leonard said.

“It’s too soon to tell,” Leonard said of the potential impact.

Some political leaders cautioned Sunday that there's still little known about the shooter and his motivations to try to kill Trump. Authorities identified Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the shooter and said they still haven't determined why he carried out the shooting.

"But what we do know is disturbing and goes beyond what happened last night: America’s political climate is toxic," U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the Democrats' leading U.S. Senate candidate, said in a statement. "It’s become a zero-sum contest using the language of war to describe people who have different political views."

Slotkin's potential GOP rival in the November general election concurred in his own statement.

"We must lock arms against hate and work to regain political discourse that allows for dissent without violence, for optimism without anger, and fierce determination for a better America," said former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, the Brighton Republican who has been endorsed by Trump.

Convention convenes Monday

McClain said the only changes to the GOP's national convention she expects are heightened security measures and an added law enforcement presence at Fiserv Forum, the Milwaukee Bucks basketball arena where the political confab is taking place.

"I think you'll see a continued focus on the issues, whether it be the (southern) border, whether it be economic policies, whether it be foreign policies," she said.

In downtown Milwaukee, streets around Fiserv Forum were heavily fortified by police and steel fences on Sunday afternoon.

A sign on the black fences that lined the roadways read, “Fence jumpers will be prosecuted.”

Groups of police officers on bicycles patrolled the area near the arena, access to the street in front of the stadium was restricted, and large barriers were positioned outside the main security checkpoint.

Near the hotel where media credentials for the convention were being distributed sat a vehicle with an electronic billboard that said, “Fight the leftwing media!”

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