Macomb County has received post-election attention from numerous publications and TV news broadcasts after it was credited with winning Michigan for Donald Trump in November, a victory that propelled him to the White House.
But Mark Binelli of Rolling Stone has written the best encapsulation of all, deftly explaining the county’s history and people – the blue-collar workers, the ethnic populations, the racial tensions and the decline in good-paying jobs.
The piece presents Macomb as a microcosm of the Democratic Party’s difficulties – and Trump’s surprising success — at the ballot box in 2016. The headline declares Macomb emerged as “Trump County, USA.”
A native of St. Clair Shores, Binelli talked with County Executive Mark Hackel, retired Macomb Community College president Jim Jacobs, former congressman David Bonior and pollster Stan Greenberg who, after studying county voters in depth in 1985, declared Macomb the home of the “Reagan Democrats.”
For those who live there, or know of the county due to its high profile in the political world, the article presents a familiar story, though told with rich detail.
Clinton talks with workers at Futuramic Tool & Engineering in Warren
But one anecdote about Hackel springs off the page, offering a glimpse into the county executive’s nonpartisan political instincts. In August, the Macomb Township Democrat had chatted with factory workers after a Hillary Clinton speech at a Warren plant. His reaction to that discussion certainly would not have pleased Democratic Party officials.
Here’s how the executive related the story to Binelli:
“I said, ‘So what’d you think? You were on CNN!'” Hackel recalls. “And almost to a person, they said, ‘Yeah … but I’m not voting for her.'” Around that time, Hackel made a three-part bet – “breakfast, lunch and dinner” – with one of his top aides: Trump would win Macomb County, the state of Michigan and the presidency. “I have never seen as many election signs in this county for a presidential candidate as I have for Donald Trump,” Hackel says. “And I’m sitting there going, ‘I know signs don’t vote. But that’s a statement.'”
