Whitmer defends 'this beautiful city' of Detroit after Trump blasts Michigan's urban 'mess'

Last month, during his speech at the Detroit Economic Club, Trump said: "The whole country will be like - you want to know the truth? It'll be like Detroit."

"Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your president," he said. "A mess."

Detroit still faces big problems, like a high unemployment rate and many residents living below the poverty line. 

In 2023, the number of homicides fell to 252, the lowest since 1966, but the city has had a changing population. Detroit had nearly 1.7 million residents in the 1960s, but that number dropped to about 620,376 in 2022. 

Detroit police are currently investigating a double shooting that killed an 18-year-old early Monday afternoon. And just a day after the rally, two men are in critical condition after being shot Wednesday morning near Detroit's New Center district.

Trump told supporters, "Your beautiful place, your beautiful city" was "decimated as if by a foreign army."

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Team Trump Michigan communications director Victoria LaCivita said: "Like many Americans, President Trump remembers when Detroit was lauded as the gold standard for auto manufacturing success and revolutionized the industry. Detroit has suffered from globalist policies championed by Kamala Harris that have shipped manufacturing overseas. Detroit's population has dropped over 60 percent since 1960, maintains the third highest homicide rate in the nation, and a poverty rate for full-time workers three times as high as the rest of Michigan. As President Trump emphasized in his speech, his policies will usher in a new era of economic success and stability for Detroit, helping the city reach its fullest potential."