ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Harris campaign — along with media allies — has made an extraordinary claim, implying Donald Trump’s Tuesday visit to discuss crime and safety in Howell, Mich., is motivated by racism.
And Howell residents are mystified.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also denounced the former president’s coming speech — and suggested the city in the state she represents is racist — Monday at the Democratic National Convention, telling ABC, “Anyone who’s doing a little bit of research might have said, ‘That’s really a bad idea, look at the optics.’ You’re showing up where the KKK was just at the same time you’re in Michigan.”
Around a dozen pallid young men dressed in black held a racist protest July 21 in front of the Livingston County Courthouse. The motley crew held signs that read “White Lives Matter” and shouted through megaphones, “We love Hitler, we love Trump.”
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign thinks Trump’s Tuesday event at the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office in Howell, a city of 10,000 near Michigan’s major population centers, is a sign of solidarity with these young men.
“The racists and white supremacists who marched in Trump’s name last month in Howell have all watched him praise Hitler, defend neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, and tell far-right extremists to ‘stand back and stand by,” said Kamala Harris’ Michigan spokeswoman Alyssa Bradley.
“Trump’s actions have encouraged them, and Michiganders can expect more of the same when he comes to town.”
A Washington Post article boosted this narrative: “Howell has long been associated with the Ku Klux Klan because of the rallies Michigan-based Grand Dragon Robert Miles held on a nearby farm in the 1970s and 1980s.”
And Reuters headlined a piece “Trump to campaign in Michigan town with historic links to white extremism.”
Anonymous user Carlstak extensively edited Howell’s Wikipedia page Aug. 17 to emphasize claims of racism after the announcement of Trump’s event.
The user, for example, changed the line “For many decades, Howell had the reputation of being associated with the Ku Klux Klan,” to say “For many decades, Howell has had” that reputation.
Livingston County Sheriff Michael Murphy, who is hosting Trump, rejects any insinuation that a culture of racism attracted the Trump campaign.
“I’ll call 100% bullsh-t on that,” Sheriff Murphy told The Post.
“Frankly, I get a little bit fired up when people bring that up,” he said, “We did have the Grand Dragon that lived here in Livingston County. But we somehow as a result of that got labeled with ‘racist, unwelcoming community,’ which truly couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Commenting on last month’s demonstration, Murphy said, “I know that in the last month or so, we’ve had a couple of dipsh-ts running around with a megaphone and spewing white-supremacy crap. But that’s not our community. Those are outsiders.”
Luke Babut, a 21-year-old student who lives in Howell, seemed completely unfamiliar with the Klan associations media such as The Washington Post and Reuters point to.
Asked if he had ever heard of or witnessed racism in the city, Babut replied, “Heck no. Not at all. Not in the slightest.”
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Michigan’s Republican top brass similarly rejected claims of a culture of racism in the city attracting Trump.
Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, who has appeared alongside Trump at rallies, told The Post, “Some notion that that’s tied to racism is absolute absurdity. A few racists that gather in any town in America shouldn’t taint that town.”
Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s national press secretary, said, “Did the media write this same story when Joe Biden visited Howell in 2021, or when Kamala Harris visits cities where racist protests and marches have occurred in the past? No, of course not.”
Trump’s Michigan spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita emailed The Post a list of cities where Kamala Harris has campaigned that have seen racist incidents in the past, including Eau Claire, Wis., Pittsfield, Mass., Philadelphia and Atlanta.
“You should ask the Harris team why she believes all residents of Howell, Michigan, are racists and if that also applies to the cities she has visited with their own divisive histories,” said LaCivita.
The Harris campaign did not reply to a request for comment.
