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Washington Township, Michigan — President Donald Trump held a campaign rally here on Saturday, again pledging to build a border wall, criticizing what he called "fake news" and taking a large measure of credit for talks between the leaders of North and South Korea.
The rally was held on the same night as the White House Correspondents' dinner, which Trump for the second year in a row skipped in favor of a rally before supporters.
"You may have heard I was invited to another event tonight, the White House Correspondents' dinner," Trump said, which was greeted by boos from the crowd. "But I'd much rather be in Washington, Michigan, than in Washington D.C. right now, that I can tell you."
Trump returned to many of the themes of his presidential campaign during his address, touting law and order and promising to "drain the swamp."
At one point Trump brought up recent talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in amid tensions over the North's nuclear program, and the crowd chanted, "Nobel," referring to the peace prize.
Trump smiled, pointed at the crowd, and seemed to enjoy the chant. "That’s very nice, 'Nobel,'" Trump said, chuckling. "I just want to get the job done," the president said, to cheers.
"Remember what they were saying? He's going to get us into nuclear war, they said," Trump said. "No, no, no — strength is going to keep us out of nuclear war, not going to get us in."
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Trump could meet with Kim under a proposed meeting that could take place in May or June. He appeared to take a victory lap for the inter-Korean talks.
"I had one of the fake news groups this morning, they were saying, 'what do you think President Trump had to do with it?" the president told the crowd. "I'll tell you what — like how about 'everything.'" The crowd cheered.
If Trump was going for contrast between the rally in Michigan and the White House Correspondents Dinner, he hit the mark with the venue and fare.
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Rather than the ornate but cramped ballroom of the Washington Hilton, his fans waited in line to get into a hangar-like facility called Total Sports in the other Washington — Washington Township, Michigan.
While the menu at the correspondents dinner included roasted beet baklava salad and seared monk fish, the Trump rally offered submarine sandwiches — turkey, ham or Italian — a bag of chips and bottled water poured into a styrofoam cup (with no ice).
Instead of a red carpet, they stood on synthetic grass under a ceiling of metal beams and a tarpaulin-like material. And instead of tuxedos and ball gowns, the informal dress code here is jeans, fall jackets and MAGA gear.
Trump also returned to old attacks on former FBI director James Comey, whose firing by Trump last year set the stage for special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the presidential election; defended withdrawn Veterans Affairs nominee Ronny Jackson; and called the Democratic Party "obstructionist."
Trump also repeated a phrase that was a cornerstone of his presidential campaign, pledging to secure the nation's borders, build a wall, and telling the crowd "We're going to finally put America first, OK?"
The president also urged voters to elect Republicans and predicted "we're going to win the House" in the 2018 midterm elections.
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Washington township sits in Macomb County, a thatch of suburbs to the north of Detroit that is famous in political circles for being the poster area for "Reagan Democrats" in the 1980s.
Trump won Macomb County by 48,348 votes, or more than four times his overall margin in the state of fewer than 11,000 votes.
Obama won it twice. In fact, since Michigan native Gerald Ford was on the ballot in 1976, the only time the eventual president wasn't the choice of Macomb County was 2000, when it went for Al Gore, who won the popular vote. In other words, Macomb went for Reagan twice, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton twice, George W. Bush once, Obama twice and Trump.
Trump also skipped last year's White House Correspondents' dinner, instead holding a campaign-style rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The president at Saturday night's rally said he was happier in Michigan than he would be in Washington.
"Is this better than that phony Washington White House Correspondents' thing? Is this more fun?" Trump told the crowd. "I could be up there tonight, smiling like I love where their hitting you shot after shot, these people they hate your guts."