GRAND RAPIDS, MI — In the hours leading up to Donald Trump’s final campaign rally — perhaps ever — there was a palpable anxiety among his supporters here at the Van Andel Arena.
In the last two weeks, Trump’s campaign has struggled with its closing argument, mostly because Trump has struggled to deliver a coherent message. It was more of the same Monday night — or, technically, Tuesday morning, after the former president showed up here after midnight.
During his final stop of the 2024 campaign, Trump was, at times, reflective.
“My last rally, can you believe it?” he said, almost sounding surprised that his political movement ever “caught on.”
He called out the “brick wall man,” also known as Trump supporter Blake Marnell, who frequently attends rallies wearing a suit that’s painted to look like a redbrick border wall. (Trump said it was “always my ambition to buy a suit like that and wear it one time.”)
The former president claimed he had done more than 900 rallies in the last nine years, and he praised his unique speaking prowess. At one point, he touted his ability not to read his prepared remarks — “Don’t you like a president that doesn’t need to use a teleprompter?” — at another point, he admired his iconic comb-over, claiming he was having a “modestly good hair day.”
But he was also his normal, crass self. Trump spent considerable time attacking former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who he suggested was a “bitch” without ever saying the word, though he did silently spell it out.
“It starts with a ‘B’ and I won’t say it. I want to say it,” he said, as the rallygoers chanted “Bitch!”
And yet, even as the Trump-adoring audience lapped up his every rambling word, even as Trump claimed he thought he had a “95% chance” of winning the election later Tuesday, there was some doubt in the crowd.
When NOTUS asked attendees about their election projections earlier on Monday, predictions ranged from “narrow landslide” to acknowledgments that Trump may have already lost.
Supporters like Mark Minciotti told NOTUS that, despite his confidence in the former president, he was bracing for the worst on Election Day.
“I’m nervous. I’m hopeful that he wins,” Minciotti said. “Put it this way: I’m confident, but there’s always that chance.”
Donna and Rich Vegter, both southwest Michigan captains for the Trump campaign, told NOTUS they hoped Trump could eke out a win, but a loss was well within the realm of possibility.
In calls with thousands of other captains, Donna said her concerns about potential “fraud” were largely assuaged by her counterparts, citing Trump-affiliated poll watchers and lawyers.
“I do feel that the Trump campaign is smarter and wiser to implement precautions to prevent this kind of nonsense from 2020,” she said. “I really feel confident that all of these protective security measures are in place.”
Rich said he was less confident that Trump’s team could prevent a repeat of the former president’s loss four years ago.
“They are amazing at stealing elections and in games and whatnot,” he said, adding that he hopes “tomorrow restores my faith in this country.”
Concerns about election fraud came up repeatedly in conversations with Trump’s supporters here.
Ashley Rosati told NOTUS she was “absolutely” worried about the prospect of voter fraud, repeating the former president’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
“It’s a scary time for Americans,” she said. “I honestly think that if Trump doesn’t get in, I think this might be one of the last elections that we ever have. If Kamala Harris wins, we’re screwed.”
Trump in recent weeks has continued to repeat baseless claims of widespread fraud, working to cast doubt on the results in key swing states like Pennsylvania.
(One attendee said he believed California’s electoral votes should be invalidated because of “illegals voting.”)
But even if the doubts were grounded in unfounded anxieties about voter fraud, no one seemed to think Trump had a lock on the election. And even the most fired-up Trump superfans were anxious for Trump’s late-night rally to end, with MAGA-hat-wearing supporters streaming out of the arena an hour after he took the stage.
By the time he finished around 2:09 a.m., nearly half of the crowd had already left.
Trump himself also seemed to have run out of steam. But as Trump said, if he loses later Tuesday, “we would only have you” — meaning the voters at the rally — “to blame.”
“Go out today and — I guess, 7 o’clock or whatever, whatever the timing is, it doesn’t matter,” he said.
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Mark Alfred is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.