Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said that former President Donald Trump needs to “stop sh---talking America” during a visit to Flint on Thursday.
Shapiro made the comment during a stop on the “Driving Forward Blue Wall Bus Tour” that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer organized and also features Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers.
Former President Donald Trump said during a recent visit to Detroit that “our whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Vice President Kamala Harris is elected in November — a comment the Harris campaign quickly turned into an ad.
During an appearance in Chicago on Tuesday, Trump doubled down, saying the city is an example of the United States being a “third-world nation.”
“We’re a developing nation, too. Take a look at Detroit, take a look at our cities,” Trump said during an appearance before the Economic Club of Chicago.
The three Midwest governors are touring their respective states together with an understanding that each swing state will be key to Harris’ path to victory in November.
But Shapiro said they are also united by Trump attacking cities in each of their states, pointing to the comments about Detroit, as well as remarks Trump made leading up to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee before adding, “I’m sick and tired of him attacking Philadelphia.”
“A guy who wants to lead the greatest nation on Earth keeps attacking his fellow Americans,” Shapiro said. “Donald Trump better stop s----talking America, stop talking down to Americans and start lifting people up.
Whitmer’s federal political action committee announced a six-figure radio advertising purchase Thursday focused on Trump’s comments.
DNC Chair Jaime Harrison joined the Midwest governors at the Flint Farmers’ Market for their first stop of the day.
“The other party likes to say, ‘Make America great again.’ In essence, what they’re saying is that America’s greatness is in her past,” Harrison said. “But we in the Democratic Party understand that America’s greatness isn’t in her past; it’s in her future.”
The bus tour kicked off in Wisconsin earlier this week and will continue on to Pennsylvania after spending three days in Michigan. Stops in Muskegon, Grand Rapids and Jackson are scheduled for Friday.
Shapiro and Evers credited Whitmer with the idea to embark on the tour, with it being planned and executed through her Fight Like Hell PAC.
Whitmer said that by planning the tour themselves, the governors can “be more nimble” in deciding which areas of each state to visit than if the events were organized through the Harris campaign apparatus.
“One of the things that we wanted to do was to be able to get into communities in a way that the official Harris-Walz campaign can’t,” Whitmer said.
After the Flint stop on Thursday, the governors also visited Saginaw, Midland and East Lansing.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey joined Whitmer, Shapiro and Evers for the East Lansing rally, representing one tenth of the nation’s governors in the Michigan State University Union’s ballroom.
“This is not a common thing, to have four other governors come to your state to help rally people,” Whitmer said.
The rally – which was significantly less attended than the final rally of Whitmer’s own reelection campaign, when she filled the field behind the Rock on Farm Lane – was briefly interrupted by a person shouting that his friends had been arrested for protesting the war in Gaza at the University of Michigan. Whitmer said as he was being removed that she would follow up.
Moore said that residents of blue states are counting on the residents of swing states like Michigan to determine the outcome of the election.
“We need you to be our representatives,” Moore said.
Whitmer pointed out that each stop Thursday was taking place in an area with a key U.S. House race — and that they weren’t limited exclusively to heavily blue areas. They were joined at different stops by state Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City), who’s facing GOP nominee Paul Junge for the open 8th District seat, and former state Sen. Curtis Hertel (D-East Lansing), who’s up against former state Sen. Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte) in the open 7th District seat.
“I also want to do a little bit of outreach to people who are maybe, you know, [former Michigan Gov. Rick] Snyder Republicans or [former Michigan Gov. Bill] Milliken Republicans – or even [former President Ronald] Reagan Republicans,” Whitmer said. “If you don’t see a Trump presidency as something that represents your values, there’s a seat for you at the table.”
Healey warned that many moderate Republicans, who at times served as a check on Trump during his first term, would no longer be in government during a potential second term.
“He was able to appoint judges to courts, so we don’t have that protection this go-around,” Healey said. “Even in a state like Massachusetts, I tell folks that I can only do so much as governor. Everything is on the line here, because the way he speaks, the way he wants to weaponize, the way he wants to retaliate, the way he wants to withhold funding — say nothing of the misinformation and the chaos he’s going to foment — we’re all at risk here.”