While Trump has yet to commit to accepting the outcome of the presidential election, several of his supporters who attended rallies in Michigan Friday said they’re ready to do so even if he loses.
Jordan Walton, 24, of Warren, is a restaurant worker and Trump supporter who was too young to vote in 2016. In his first opportunity to participate in a presidential election, Walton backed the former president’s reelection bid in 2020. But unlike some Trump voters, he accepted Trump’s loss as legitimate that year.
“It sucks. But yeah, he lost,” Walton said before heading into the town hall event in Warren.
He said he expects a close election this time and would accept another Trump loss. “Ain’t going to be happy, but you know, it is what it is,” he said.
Walton plans to vote in person, but said Trump’s past railing against absentee voting hurt the Republican presidential candidate’s chances four years ago. “Well, I think he kind of screwed himself to be honest, because he wasn’t promoting among his voters vote-by-mail,” Walton said.
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Thomas Van Overloop, a 19-year-old currently studying at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, said he wanted to make sure his first vote in a presidential election is cast at the polls, likening it to a rite of passage.
While Trump disputed, and continues to dispute, his 2020 electoral loss in Michigan, Van Overloop said he doesn’t plan on contending any election results, should Harris win the state.
“I wasn’t a big fan of (Jan. 6) and the stolen election thing,” he said. “I think we’ve got to look to the future instead of looking back.”
Standing across from a table urging Trump voters to request an absentee ballot, David Ortez, 28, of Northville, said he plans to vote in-person on Election Day because he likes “the vibes.” He said he likes going with other people in his life to go vote together, saying it feels like more of an “event” than absentee voting.
Ortez said he would accept another Trump loss and doesn’t think the election was stolen four years ago. He said he’s had conversations with other Trump supporters who disagree, but he said when that happens, he nods his head and tries to avoid an argument.
No matter who wins in what he expects will be a close presidential race, he said he hopes voters will accept the outcome and doesn’t want to see a repeat of Jan. 6. “No crazy s***. We don’t need that. We have too much nonsense in the world right now, and we don’t need more violence. That’s the last thing we need,” said Ortez, who works at a hospital.
While some Trump voters say they’re certain Trump’s 2020 loss was illegitimate, Lauren Marougy, 38, of Commerce Township, hasn’t made up her mind on the matter. “I don’t know, like I really don’t know. I think he won,” she said after a long pause. Marougy said it’d be sad if Trump really did win the 2020 election but didn’t end up in the White House. “I wouldn’t really want to believe that,” she said.
Marougy said she would accept a Trump loss in November. “I accepted it last time,” she said. “I mean, what can I do? I’m not going to like lose my mind over it.” She said she wouldn’t protest his loss, “Because it wouldn’t get me anywhere.”
I can’t imagine there’s going to be another January 6th even if Trump calls for one. They know it’s futile. And J6 was always motivated as much as a (lame) answer to the Women’s March, which naturally turned violent, as anything else. But this time I worry about some discrete militia types deciding to do a little terrorism instead of protest. Blow up a building or two, something along those lines. That would not surprise me at all. But a big protest in DC? I doubt it.
And I think a whole lot of the MAGA types will react the way those quoted above did. After year after year of listening to their Dear Leader lie and whine and complain, I would guess that many of them are tired of it. They’ll vote for him of course. And if he wins again they will feel vindicated. But if he loses, there’s a big part of them that will be resigned if not relieved. He’s exhausting for everyone.
