Bill Clinton headlines ‘Souls to the Polls’ event for Harris in Muskegon

Former President Bill Clinton speaks at Muskegon Heights event for Vice President Kamala Harris on Oct. 30, 2024 | Sarah Leach

Michigan may be the biggest battleground state in the race to the White House, as former Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris are fighting to the finish line with Election Day just six days away.

And that fight has drawn big political names, with former President Bill Clinton making an appearance with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, both Democrats, making the case for voters to opt for Harris as the 47th president of the United States.

Clinton and Whitmer appeared at the “Souls to the Polls” breakfast event at Christ Temple Apostolic Faith Church in Muskegon Heights in West Michigan on Wednesday.

“What I think former presidents are best for is going to places where presidents don’t show up and sending a message to people that everyone deserves to be heard,” Clinton said. “I decided to do this for only one reason. I don’t want anything. I don’t want an appointment. I want to assure the American dream for my grandchildren. I don’t want my 10-year-old granddaughter to have fewer freedoms than her 44-year-old mother.”

U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Grand Rapids) said it’s important that the 42nd president of the United States is campaigning for Harris.

“Isn’t that telling? Someone who knows the job is willing to come out here and campaign for Kamala Harris to be the next president of the United States?” Scholten said. “Kamala Harris has the endorsement and support of every living Democratic president, and the support of many family members of former Republican presidents.”

Scholten is being challenged by attorney Paul Hudson for her 3rd Congressional District seat.

Scholten pointed out that former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, has endorsed Harris. Other notable Republicans who have joined her include: former U.S. Rep. Dave Trott, Susan Ford, daughter of former President Gerald Ford, and Barbara Bush, daughter of former President George W. Bush.

“Trump doesn’t have a single endorsement of a former president,” Scholten said. “In fact, his own vice president, Mike Pence, won’t even endorse him. He said the American people deserve to know that President Trump ‘asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution, but I kept my oath, and I always will.’”

Scholten said her Christian faith has long shaped how she has approached public service.

“It’s taught me to think critically, to stand up for what’s right, and to never get lost in the partisan bickering that happens in Washington every single day,” Scholten said. “I talk to constituents who are so afraid of what this election holds, of what Donald Trump represents. They don’t know what the future will hold if he wins again in November … but our faith teaches us not to give in to fear.

“We need to hold fast to that spirit now, because Donald Trump and his allies are counting on us to give up. They think if they’re more outrageous, more angry than ever before, then we’ll lose our faith and we’ll just stay home … but they’ve got another thing coming,” she said.

As she introduced Clinton, Whitmer acknowledged that the election results will be close, but that the stakes are higher than ever.

“Of everyone in the country, we’re the only ones who aren’t surprised by this development,” she said. “We have prepared for this. But here’s what else we know: We’ve got a candidate who is superior on every front.”

Whitmer said Harris “has the receipts” on the issues that matter to people, such as better policies on affordable housing, disposable income and shoring up supply chains “so that we get good-paying jobs and are protecting our fundamental rights.”

“She is the candidate who’s lived a life like Michiganders, and gets it and is going to fight for us every single day as president,” Whitmer said of Harris. “So while this race is going to be close, I would much rather be playing our hand, because we got a better candidate on the issues that matter, and we got a better ground game.”

Clinton spent most of his remarks reminiscing on how politics of the 1990s, during his eight-year run as commander-in-chief, were just as complicated as present day but that there were some standards officials weren’t willing to lower.

“I want you to know why I’m here enthusiastically. … I don’t like it when we don’t get along, and I don’t like it when we are supposed to be mad at our neighbors. And I know a lot of people, even in my little town, have gotten caught up in all this identity politics and see the rest of us as some sort of moral threat to them. But the ones I know, they’re good people,” he said. 

He described present-day Republicans, using the term “MAGA,” or Trump’s slogan of “Make America Great Again,” as “obsessed with this sense that we are somehow worlds away from them, and they think it’s OK to demean, divide, attack. It’s crazy. I mean … it’s crazy; who does this?”

He said Trump could run a master class on taking credit for things he didn’t do.

“Trump is the best guy I ever saw to claim credit,” Clinton said. “‘The sun rose this morning … I did that. But it rained yesterday. If I had been president, it never would have rained.’”

Clinton compared American politics to that of professional sports, noting that as the various games have evolved they’ve added checks and balances beyond regulating officials’ observations to ensure fairness and objectivity.

“Think about why we all like these contests, and how we can talk about them and fight with each other and then marvel about it all when it’s over,” Clinton said.” Why do we like it? Because No. 1, it’s very exciting. No. 2, the reward. No. 3, we’re all playing the game under the same set of rules.

“When a referee makes a mistake, they join the human race. Nobody’s perfect, but they’re trying. And we’ve now got some directives with the football replay and the baseball monitors. We’re trying to live under the same set of rules. And the only great area of contest where we don’t do that all the time is that the modern-day Republicans, the last thing they want to do, is live under the same set of rules. And so what happens? We wind up fighting with each other, not trusting each other, and undermining our ability to do great things,” he said.

Despite the fact he was the third-youngest president ever to be sworn into office — behind Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy — Clinton said it was his extensive experience as the attorney general and then governor of Arkansas that prepared him for the weight of the Oval Office responsibilities.

“I want the young people here to remember one of the reasons I got elected is that I was a long-serving governor, so I might not be from a big state, I might not be super-rich, but I have made a bunch of decisions,” Clinton said. 

This, he said, contrasted with Trump’s complete lack of political experience prior to his 2016 bid for the White House. Clinton pointed to Trump’s mentor Roy Cohn, a lawyer and prosecutor best known for his role as notorious Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel, as a guide to how Trump learned to navigate politics. 

“Trump’s father hired as his political organizer, or guru, Roy Cohn … who had one constant message: Whatever they charge you with? Deny, deny everything, and always accuse other people of doing what you’re doing. … And do it with energy and sanctimony,” Clinton said.

This led to Trump demanding loyalty above anything else when it came to business and politics, Clinton said.

“The definition of a good administration under Trump would be to fill every single position, from the Supreme Court to the cabinet on down who are unquestionably loyal. “They’ve made it absolutely clear,” he said. “And I think that is a recipe for disaster, because nobody knows everything.”

Clinton acknowledged that most people, including in Michigan, are concerned about the domestic economy, but he cautioned that course corrections and positive change often take time to be measured and appreciated.

“The reason President Trump had a couple of good years early is that he inherited the tail end of something magical,” Clinton said of the afterglow of Democratic President Barack Obama’s presidency. “When you’re used to something good happening or something bad happening, it sometimes takes longer for people to feel and believe that it’s changed.” 

He pointed to his election performance in 1992 and 1996, when he won reelection, as a modest reflection of the voters realizing that his policies were working.

“When you’re used to something good happening or something bad happening, it sometimes takes longer for people to feel and believe that it’s changed,” he said. “But it took time. I woke up in a cold sweat for 15 years; I swear I had bad dreams about all the people who lost their careers because they had to stand for reelection before people felt the change.”

Clinton pointed to a similar situation with the Biden Administration’s policies, which came in the height of a global pandemic that “busted supply chains” and cause prices to skyrocket on everything from groceries to building supplies. 

“We are about to finish four years which produced the largest number of jobs in any four-year period in the history of the United States. But we don’t necessarily feel that yet, because we’ve had this turn of inflation for the first time in 40 years, and it’s debilitating, but it was unavoidable … because COVID busted all the supply chains,” Clinton said.

He noted that as supply chains were rebuilt post-COVID-19, inflation rose, which kept prices high. However, he said large business entities such as national grocery store chains have taken advantage of consumers.

“You want to know how much of this is due to continuing problems and supply chain and how much of it is due to the fact that most groceries are part of big chains today, and they have tens of millions of customers,” he said. “If their profit margin goes up literally 1%, it’ll make a huge difference to them.”

He said Harris, who previously served as attorney general of California as well as one of its senators, plans to seek a national price-gouging law to prevent consumers from feeling the squeeze of capitalistic opportunism.

“The Justice Department can monitor this every week so they can see what’s happening so that you don’t pay more than you have to,” he said.

Clinton closed out his remarks with observations on foreign affairs, noting that the U.S. plays a vital role in helping fledgling democracies around the world. 

“I think it’s important that we continue to be a leader in the world for freedom and human rights. I wear a Ukrainian flag on my lapel every day. They do not deserve what’s happened to them. And it is a consequence of political and economic greed,” he said.

Clinton addressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that flared once again one year ago, that saw Palestinian militant group Hamas killing more than 1,100 people. The Hamas-controlled health ministry says that more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed since then.

“I think we’re going to have to essentially start again on the peace process,” Clinton said.

Clinton said that conflicts in the Middle East are not new to him, as he attempted to broker a peace deal with officials representing the various affected countries during his time in the White House.

Although he didn’t offer a solution Wednesday, he was blunt in one thing: “I’m going to do everything I can to convince people that they cannot murder their way out of this,” he said. “You can’t kill your way out of this, and they have to make a new beginning.”

He cautioned Michigan residents who have indicated that they don’t plan to vote this year in protest of the Biden Administration’s policies on the Middle East conflict.

“When I read that people in Michigan are thinking about not voting because they’re mad at the Biden administration … to try to keep Israel from being destroyed … I think that’s a mistake. … This is far more complicated than you know,” he said. “All I ask you to do is to keep an open mind, but Kamala Harris has said that she will try to negotiate an end to the violence and end the killing and, I’m telling you, you will be proud of yourself for the rest of your days if we win this election.”

Attendees said they came to see Whitmer and Clinton to hear a message of hope on the eve of Election Day, which is Tuesday.

Larry Jackson, chair of the Ottawa County Democratic Party, said he wanted to feel motivated as Democrats look to get over the finish line of a long campaign season.

“Just stay hopeful. Keep it consistent,” said Jackson, a Holland resident. “That’s what we’re going to need to win this election. I mean, we can’t stop — we’re in a battleground state. I was watching the [Chicago] Bears game on Sunday. We didn’t run through the finish line and we lost on a Hail Mary play. We don’t want to lose on a Hail Mary play because we didn’t do what we’re supposed to do.”

According to the Secretary of State’s office, nearly 2 million voters have already cast ballots in Michigan: 1.6 million of those are absentee and nearly 390,000 through in-person early voting centers, which went into effect in 2024. Early, in-person voting continues through Sunday.

Tom Schaub, 64, of Muskegon, said he was hoping for Clinton to “talk to our hearts.” 

“It feels different than even 2020, with more energy on our side right now certainly more than what I felt in 2016. Polls have a methodology that can all be negated by getting out the vote … and it seems like we are the team to get out the vote,” he said.

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