Politics - News Analysis

Trump Claims He Was Named Michigan’s ‘Man of the Year’ — But There is No Such Award

During his “Keep America Great” rally on Thursday night, Donald Trump said some crazy stuff. This time, Trump claimed that he was named Michigan’s Man of the Year. The award, however, doesn’t appear to exist.

So yeah, Trump is probably lying…again.

The statement came about 30 minutes into Trump’s 90-minute speech at his re-election rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, as the president thanked Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel for her work.

McDaniel is the former Michigan GOP chair, who Trump credited in the speech with helping him win the state during the 2016 general election.

“I used to complain and you know I just –– I’d go to Michigan and I’d say, ‘They’re stealing your car business,'” Trump said. “I’d go for years. In fact, five or six years before I even thought about running, for whatever reason they named me man of the year in Michigan. I said, how come? I didn’t even understand it myself, but I was named man of the year. I wasn’t even political. That was years before I did this, but I was always complaining that our car business is being stolen.”

Trump continued by saying that Mexico has gained 32 percent of the U.S. auto industry adding that it “all left the state of Michigan.”

“We are bringing it back at a level that nobody has ever seen before — our car business,” Trump added.

While Trump has often touted the success his administration is having on bringing back manufacturing jobs to the United States, the claim of receiving Michigan’s Man Of The Year award is the seventh time he has made such a statement.

CNN’s resident fact-checker Daniel Dale says no such award exists.

Dale attributes Trump’s comments to a speech made in 2013 at the Oakland County, Michigan GOP Lincoln Day Dinner. According to Dale, Former Michigan congressman Dave Trott said he invited Trump to speak at the dinner but there was no award given to him.

Trott also told Dale that he was present at the 2017 roundtable when Trump mentioned the award, but that he didn’t correct the president at the time since he was then a member of Congress.

Twitter had a field day:

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meet the author

Nicole Hickman James is a lifelong Democrat and political activist who first cut her teeth as a teenager volunteering for Mike Dukakis’ presidential campaign. She has worked and volunteered for John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, HFA (Hillary For America), and Organizing For Action. She’s passionate about liberal and progressive causes and considers President Obama her favorite president ever. She holds her Bachelor’s from Boston College in Economics and her Master's from Columbia, also in Economics. When not working as a writer, she enjoys traveling and spending time with her three college-aged children.

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