THINK of it like the season finale.

Donald Trump’s loyalists are descending on the US state of Michigan, buzzing with excitement for one last chance to see their champion deliver his greatest hits in his traditional final stop before Election Day – and totally convinced of his inevitable victory.

“If you look at the number of people, you look at the rallies, it’s crazy how much support Trump has,” said Mark Perry, 65, who works for a telephone company in Indiana.

“If it goes the other way, I think we’re going to be extremely wary,” he told AFP outside Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, where fans brave hours of rain in ponchos and perched on folding chairs. .

Immigration tops the list of concerns for many, inflation for others, while some are eager to see new restrictions on abortion or an end to gender transitions among young people.

But whatever their position on these issues, they share a deep skepticism about the legitimacy of a Kamala Harris victory, despite the proximity of the election.

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“It would be very difficult to accept,” said Jacob Smith, 41, an area HVAC technician, as his wife Danielle chimed in, expressing concerns about alleged voting machine irregularities in Michigan.

Trump has ramped up allegations of voter fraud since his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden and ahead of this year’s vote, although no evidence of widespread fraud has come to light.

Yet an NPR poll last month found that 88 percent of voters who support the former president fear fraud, compared to 29 percent who support the Democratic candidate. Most voters also say Harris would concede and Trump would not if defeated, according to a Pew Research survey.

Queues began to form outside the venue early in the morning, although doors were not expected to open until after 6:30 p.m., with the former president expected to address the crowds well into the night.

Grand Rapids was Trump’s grand finale in 2016, when he won — and again in 2020, when he fell short — but his affection for Michigan’s second city has not wavered.

Witness to history

For Jeff Dickerson, a 70-year-old handyman from Bonita Springs, Fla., it was his eighth attendance at a Trump event, including the Jan. 6, 2021, protest against the certification of Biden’s election victory.

“I’m just a die-hard Trump supporter,” he said, citing the flow of undocumented migrants along the U.S. southern border as his main concern. “I love everything he’s done.”

Dickerson had come with his nephew, psychiatrist Nigel Mahabir, 48, who marveled at the historic nature of this moment — the final stop on the Trump train on the eve of Election Day.

“It feels like a moment from 1776,” he said, drawing a comparison to the Declaration of Independence.

“If we get this done and we have Trump in the White House, he’ll bring Vance, he’ll bring Elon Musk, he’ll bring RFK, he’ll bring Tulsi — that’s Team America.”

A major concern for Mahabir is “the movement to introduce children from a young age to the gender reassignment procedure” and its impact on the “mental health of our children”.

That concern was shared by Ruth McDowell, a 65-year-old administrative assistant at a local college.

“They want children to be able to say what they want for their bodies when they don’t even know what they’re actually doing,” she told AFP, expressing dismay for the future. of his grandchildren if Harris wins.

But Chuck Lu, a Chinese immigrant and small business owner from Chicago who said this was his third Trump event, said he didn’t think Harris could win fairly.

“If, God forbid, she becomes president, she is someone installed and not elected.” AFP