A conservative commentator faced pushback after insisting that Donald Trump had not bashed Detroit while visiting the city earlier this month.
Kamala Harris poked fun at the former president for making insulting remarks about the city while campaigning in Michigan, but Republican strategist Scott Jennings claimed her joke was unfair.
"Harris is heading to Grand Rapids, Lansing and Oakland County, which is a suburb of Detroit," said CNN host Kate Bolduan. "Donald Trump is going to be an Oakland County, as well, I don't think there's going to be a joint appearance. This will be the first time that he's heading back to rally there since he was in Detroit and trashed Detroit. Do you think that should be his message this time around?"
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Trump spoke Oct. 10 at the Detroit Economic Club, where he warned "our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president," but Jennings tried to minimize and justify his remarks.
"Oh, look, I think his message ought to be that under Republican governance whether that's at the White House level or at the U.S. Senate level – we have a big race going on in Michigan – you're going to do better, and that was this message when he was at the Detroit Economic Club before – everybody said he trashed Detroit."
"He did, though!" Bolduan interrupted.
Jennings pressed on undeterred.
"No one can deny the decades of decline in Detroit, and he's asking them to try something different," he said.
"I know a lot of people in Detroit, and one thing they will say –" Bolduan said, before Jennings cut her off.
"You don't know as many as you used to because not as many people live there anymore," he interjected.
"Oh, stop!" Bolduan replied. "I will be there next week, Detroit is doing very well. Detroit is coming back. Detroit, from where it was, is doing very well, and people are very proud."
"It's utopia," Jennings said, chuckling to himself.
"Stop," Bolduan added. "But people are very proud of changing of changing the narrative and the view of Detroit."
Jennings again insisted that Trump's potshot toward the city was a strategic message on conservative policies.
"You know, I think his message here is, under Republican policies, you'll do better, and under Democratic policies you got decline," he said. "It's a pretty simple message, and that's really his message for a lot of urban areas in the country."
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