Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Howell, Michigan, on Tuesday, a town that recently drew attention after a white supremacist rally occurred there

last month. This visit has sparked renewed criticism from Democrats, who accuse Trump of fueling racial tensions for political gain.

Trump plans to speak about "crime and safety" at the Livingston County Sheriff's Office in Howell, a town of approximately 10,000 people located northwest of Detroit. A spokesperson for Trump's campaign dismissed the criticisms surrounding the event, asserting that Trump will denounce "hate of any form."

This event is part of a series of appearances Trump is making this week while Democrats gather in Chicago to officially nominate Vice President Kamala Harris for the upcoming November 5 election. However, the Howell event has garnered significant attention due to the town's historical ties to the Ku Klux Klan. In the 1970s, Robert Miles, a Grand Dragon of the KKK, had a Howell mailing address and held meetings at a nearby farm.

Last month, around a dozen white supremacists marched through downtown Howell, chanting "Heil Hitler" and displaying signs with messages such as "White Lives Matter." Another group of demonstrators reportedly shouted "We love Hitler, we love Trump" from a highway overpass just outside the town.

The Harris campaign has criticized Trump's decision to hold the event in Howell, accusing him of failing to condemn the recent "blatant display of racism and antisemitism in his name." In a recent interview with Reuters after a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump did not directly address this criticism.

Trump has previously faced widespread condemnation for his remarks about Kamala Harris, who would be the first Black woman and South Asian person to serve as president if elected. Last month, during a gathering of Black journalists, Trump falsely suggested that Harris had recently "turned Black" to advance her political career, frequently questioning her intelligence, heritage, and appearance.

Additionally, a recent post from the official Trump campaign account on X (formerly known as Twitter) featured a side-by-side comparison of a traditional American front porch with a flag and an image of predominantly Black migrants outside a New York City hotel. The caption read, "Import the third world. Become the third world." The post was denounced as racist by the NAACP, though Trump's aides defended it, pointing to Trump's frequent warnings of an "invasion" of migrants from the southern border.

Nicole Matthews Creech, executive director of the Livingston Diversity Council, an organization established in 1987 in response to KKK activities in the area, noted that most residents either ignored or rebuked last month's rally. "They're not welcome here, and hate is not welcome here," she said.

Nazita Lajevardi, a political science professor at Michigan State University, emphasized that Trump's visit to Howell should not be viewed in isolation. "The timing is important, the symbolism is important, and it can't just be seen in a vacuum," Lajevardi said, questioning the decision to hold the event in a relatively small town.

Livingston County Sheriff Michael Murphy, a Trump supporter, speculated that the campaign chose Howell because criminal activity in the county has remained low for about 15 years. Murphy expressed frustration with efforts to associate the county with racism, stating, "We can’t change the fact that at one time the grand dragon of the KKK lived in our county, but history is just that—it's history."

Trump campaign officials indicated that the event was chosen to attract media coverage from outlets in Detroit, a critical area in the swing state of Michigan. Additionally, the event will highlight Sheriff Murphy's office and its resources, they said.

Campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt pointed out that President Biden visited Howell in 2021 and emphasized that Trump will use this visit to "deliver a strong message on law and order," reaffirming that "crime, violence, and hate of any form will have zero place in our country when he is back in the White House." Photo by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, Wikimedia commons.