Trump still the Man in Macomb County — though Dems wish otherwise

This is the second part in a six-part series reporting on the presidential campaign in Michigan in different locations across the state. This series is paid for by contributions from you to the City Pulse Fund for Community Journalism. To contribute, please go to lansingcitypulse.com/donation.

Harrison Township, Michigan — Excited and unchained from their masks, hundreds of Macomb County residents swarmed alongside the Clinton River in Harrison Township. Make America Great Again flags bled off of yachts and powerboats.

Like a new age gladiator stadium, roars echoed off the water as  Donald Trump Jr.'s girlfriend, Kitty Guilfoyle, exclaimed, “Close by, liberal heads must be exploding.”

At Trump Jr. and Kid Rock’s concert/rally combo last week at Bumpers Landing Boat Club, treasured by Lake St. Clair’s patrons, COVID-19 and sensitivity were overlooked.

It validated how one doesn’t need to be “socially conscious” to win an election in Macomb County — they need to be someone that its blue-collared inhabitants can enjoy a cold beer with. 

After serving him with 53.6% of the county’s vote in November 2016 — when Trump won Michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes and went on to carry the nation through an Electoral College victory — the county continues to nourish Trump with yard signs that outlast Election Day and flags that are paraded across the lake. Trump’s trademark has been embedded into its escapism and patriotism as the younger generation looks forward to fleeing from the nest to Royal Oak and Ann Arbor. 

“If you’re an 18-year-old white kid and it’s fun to be a Trump supporter where you live, then you’re going to go vote for Trump for the memes. Like, why not?” said Jeremy Agosta, a 22-year-old from Macomb Township. “Trump created an identity that makes pickup truck dads buy into the Trump brand.” 

There’s more to it than that, though, right? How is it that in this former bastion of blue-collar, union Democrats that Trump was and still is so popular?

According to Warren political consultant Chris Marchione, there is a wide scope of things a Macomb County voter is willing to take from candidates ate who prove their worth on any level of government. 

“This is where things sort of separate because in Macomb County, they want someone who is anti-establishment and yet somehow holds their traditional values or they’re perceived to. Some of these values are sort of frightening,” Marchione said. “So long as they know you and you’re their guy in Macomb County, they will ride with you until the end unless you get indicted.” 

The county has been subjected to its fair share of corruption, oddball politicians and vulgar dialogue. The 2016 Macomb County Clerk Karen Spranger was kicked out of office for not really living in the county. Chuck Rizzo of the local garbage empire bribed four public officials and embezzled $900,000 in April 2018. 

There’s also former Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith, who resigned amid embezzlement charges this March. 

“That’s kind of the big thing among county residents — it’s kind of just getting things in order and electing people who are honest and transparent,” said Nick Mordowanec of C&G Newspapers. “I just think that’s bigger than what’s going on and what you see on cable news.” 

Although a part of the Detroit Tri-County Area, the county’s participation in Trump’s 2016 victory illustrated a detachment from its neighbors — 51.7% of Oakland County and 66.8% of Wayne County voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton. Marchione described this as “the politics of resentment.” 

“You have working people who feel every, every small ebb and flow in the economy,” Marchione said. “My dad told me growing up, ‘Oakland County — that’s management. We’re the working people — and that’s management.”

More than 75% of Macomb County’s 25-year-olds and older residents did not attain a bachelor’s degree or higher from 2014 to 2018. At the same time, Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler have invested more than $7.4 billion into the county from 2010, surpassing a 27% job growth in 2017.

Marchione explained that Macomb County residents were voting Democrat in solidarity with “the working man” while Oakland County was subjected to a Republican stronghold. He said all that was required to have Macomb County in the bag was a Democrat ID card and an endorsement from the United Auto Workers. 

Auto workers employed by one of the Big Three were unprepared for the Great Recession. 

Sterling Heights Councilman Michael Radtke Jr., a Democrat, said he remembers a for-sale sign in front of every other house because people thought they were going to lose their auto jobs. 

“We’re working-class people, and working-class people have different values than other folks. People act like we’re a swing district, but we’re not really. We care about trade and about putting food on the table, and that’s why you will see people align with different political parties depending on their answers to those questions,” Radtke said. 

In 2008, 53% of Macomb County residents voted for President Barack Obama. Radtke said Obama, delivered back to his voters by contributing to the auto bailout of 2009, which lent about $55 billion from his administration to the industry and its lending entities. 

Radtke said Trump has not delivered for the people who live in his community — unlike Obama who placed a Band-Aid over the wounds caused by the Great Recession. 

“I don’t even know if they’re going to support Donald Trump at the level that they did the first time around,” Radtke said,  because he “not improved their circumstances. What they’re looking at is kitchen-table issues. Jobs are still going overseas, currency is still being manipulated, people do not feel like they’re better off today than they were four years ago.” 

Is that for real or is that wishful thinking? Joe Biden recently made his first public Michigan stop in Warren in the hopes of reconnecting with these blue-collar voters, something Clinton failed to do.

Sterling Heights Councilman Henry Yanez, a former Democratic House member, said the face of Macomb is also changing. 

“I remember growing up as a teenager — and people know this, I’m not telling any secrets — this community was known as Sterling Whites,” Yanez said. Today, the city is experiencing growing Chaldean, Muslim and African American populations. Warren Consolidated Schools educate nearly 4,000 English Learner students in their K-12 system.

That all may be true, but then there’s regular folks like Rick Reiff, of Saint Clair Shores Shores, who sound a very common message across the county. The trucking company owner said he is voting for Trump because the Democrats have flipped out. 

He said he is voting for Trump because he is the lesser of two evils. Trump may not be keeping people together, but he is “taking care of business.” 

“Right now, the Democrats are just nuts and doing stupid shit,” Reiff said. “They’re pushing the Black Lives Matter. They’re pushing riots. They’re pushing stuff — and people don’t want that in their town.”