Mike Duggan: Donald Trump Used Detroiters 'As Props'

DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan says he supports the word "deplorable" when talking about the behavior of at least some of Donald Trump's supporters.

Speaking before an appearance by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Midtown on Monday, Duggan compared her visit to a stop in Detroit by her Republican rival last month.

"They snuck him in and out of here as quick as they could,"  the mayor told an enthusiastic audience at Wayne State University. "And afterwords I was doing an interview on CNN, about a 15 minute interview, and they asked me about it and I said, you know, when you come in this way, all you're doing is using Detroiters as props."

"There was no conversation about what he was going to do to improve the city; not one single proposal."

The next day, Duggan said, he started getting what he called "hate mail" from Trump supporters.

"It was vile, it was hateful, it was racially tinged," Duggan said. "And they started coming in from around the county...these emails were deplorable. It was the right word."

Duggan, a Democrat, said he was shocked to see that those sending the hate male signed their names.

"They sent them to me from the state of Washington and from Utah and from Arizona," he said, "and I thought to myself: What Donald Trump has done to this country is he made it acceptable to behave in a deplorable way. That's what's been going on this year."

Duggan said that, although the letter-senders forgot about him after a couple of days, Clinton has been "taking that kind of grief" every day.

"We hit the low point last night when Donald Trump said after the election he was going to try to send her to jail," Duggan added.

It should be noted that Trump's campaign manager said in interviews Monday that Trump does not really plan to put Clinton in jail if he becomes president, shrugging off comments made during Sunday's presidential debate as "a quip."

Kellyanne Conway told MSNBC's Morning Joe that Trump was just "channeling the frustration he hears from thousands of voters out on the stump," adding: "Whether she goes to jail is not up to Donald Trump."

Clinton told multiple jabs as Trump before a packed house at WSU's Matthaei Center.

"We now know who Donald Trump is, but the real question for us is, who are we?" she asked the crowd. "I would argue we are not who he is."

Clinton also urged the crowd to make sure everyone is registered to vote as the deadline for that in Michigan Tuesday.

Many in a crowd of dozens outside Clinton's event in support of Trump held signs reading slogans such as, "Honk 4 Trump," "Hillary War Criminal," "Detroit Is For Trump" and "Democrats For Trump."

"I've been a Democrat all my life until now," said Ron Kaminski of Warren. "I think Trump is for the middle class and I think he will bring jobs back to this country."

"These kids going to school, they don't remember the way it used to be, they don't," he told WWJ's Jason Scott. "I'm trying...I don't know why they won't listen to me, you know? It was good in this country. It was really good. They're going to get out of school and they're not going to be able to find a job."

Trump, meantime, is scheduled to appear in suburban Pittsburgh Monday before heading to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in the evening.

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