Warren — On the 100th day of President Trump’s second term, he chose the Mitten State—a battleground state key to his 2024 election victory—to mark the fastest start to an American presidency in modern history.
With a looming governor’s race and a rising star in John James as a potential nominee, our state is of paramount importance to the Republicans, and the Senate race ignited by Sen. Gary Peters’s retirement is a specific priority to prevent a razor-thin Democrat majority in the upper house.
The political intrigue of this moment was salient. President Trump’s first 100 days feels like four years for any other President. Democrats are in disarray, seemingly unable to keep up with him.
But the question remains, are Trump’s executive orders—many of which are now facing legal battles—actually working? Judging by the size and intensity of the MAGA faithful arriving at Macomb County Community College where Trump spoke, his strongest supporters think so, and the vibe shift in Michigan is quite apparent.
Upon taking the stage, President Trump declared his presidency the most consequential in history and reported that only three illegals have managed to enter the nation over the southern border since taking office, quipping that he’s upset with Border Czar Tom Homan for even those three making it in.
The question that everyone was asking was: “Is John James going to show up?” Many of the VIPs I spoke with off-the-record insisted James was likely to make an appearance.
Prior to the event, President Trump encouraged the Michigan delegation of House Republicans to remain in Washington and continue working on the “big, beautiful bill” that codifies most of Trump’s executive orders into federal law, leading some pundits to question who, if any, of the current members of the House would attend.
Sure enough, James entered at the last moment and was ushered to the VIP seating area, only minutes before President Trump took the stage, and disappeared into the crowd.
The national—and international—media at Macomb County Community College had arrived at 10 a.m. and fought for dominance in the risers. The sense of urgency was thick in the air, with photojournalists elbowing each other out of the way and correspondents trying to find the perfect angle, only to stand around for hours waiting and watching.
One friendly photojournalist saddled up next to me and said, “I’m standing next to you when the jockeying begins. It’s going to be a bloodbath.”
Giving an unusually brisk 90-minute speech keying on his executive orders, specifically his efforts to close the border and deport illegal criminals associated to international gangs, President Trump asked Michigan voters to oust Shri Thanedar from Congress in the upcoming 2026 election.
Thanedar, who represents Michigan’s 13th Congressional district, filed articles of impeachment against Trump on the eve of his 100th day in office, sparking mostly humorous responses to his ham-fisted video address to Michigan voters on X.
Mentioning John James by name twice during his speech to great applause, Trump stopped short of endorsing him in the 2026 gubernatorial race, while mentioning other possible GOP contenders including Aric Nesbitt. Left out of Trump’s remarks was the name “Mike Cox,” who was sitting to the right of the stage.
President Trump carefully thanked Gretchen Whitmer for help in bringing F-15s to Selfridge Air National Guard Base and stated it would be nice to gain additional Democrat support on these sorts of initiatives.
Unexpectedly, the most energized moment of the speech was when Trump called White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller to the stage. The audience exploded in cheers as Miller lamented the chaos of the previous administration border policy and promised swift and harsh treatment for “illegal gangbangers and drug dealers and cartels,” with a voice that cut right through the exuberance of the moment.
Miller’s speech was proceeded by a short video of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members being arrested and deported, with shots of their arrival and processing at an infamous El Salvador prison, followed by Trump promising more deportations to come and a declaration that order would be restored.
Moving through the crowd before and after the speech was Mike Rogers, who recently announced his intent to run for Gary Peters’s vacated Senate seat after losing a close race to Elissa Slotkin last year. Looking ready for a fight, he drew considerable attention upon entering the event and was repeatedly stopped by attendees and well-wishers.
In closing, President Trump played his greatest hits. “I’ve ended the diversity, equity, and inclusion bullshit,” he declared, burning the house to the ground. He keyed on his firing of woke military leadership and reported a recruitment surge so massive that a waiting list has formed for enlistment.
Trump’s final message to Michigan voters in the room was perhaps his most clever and signified his hyper-awareness of the ground-game politics Democrats are attempting to play here. “You must not allow rank-choice in Michigan,” Trump declared in a last pitch to the audience.
Many in the room appeared confused and or unaware of why the President was ending his powerful speech on an issue getting little attention in local media, and there’s a good reason for it. Michigan Democrats and progressive activists—frustrated by their failures in the 2024 elections—are quietly trying to push a rank-choice voting proposal onto the 2026 ballot which, if implemented, would include federal and state elections. The intent behind this initiative is to add yet another convoluted and confusing process to voting that most experts believe is advantageous to Democrats.
In an era of ubiquitous carpetbagging Democrats who have little clue about the very people they represent, it seems remarkable that a president with no ancestral connection to Michigan is paying close attention to the quiet games Democrats play here.
Jay Murray is a writer for Michigan Enjoyer and has been a Metro Detroit-based professional investigator for 22 years. Follow him on X @Stainless31.
