Trump to hold rally Tuesday in Michigan

Former President Trump will hold a rally next week in the battleground state of Michigan, where he is expected to focus on the situation at the southern border.

Trump's campaign announced the former president will deliver remarks on "Biden's Border Bloodbath" in Grand Rapids on Tuesday afternoon. He will hold a rally in Wisconsin later the same day.

The use of "blood bath" is a reference to Trump's comments earlier in the month, when he got in hot water for saying at an Ohio rally that there would be a "blood bath" in November if he lost. Critics seized on the comments and suggested Trump was warning of political violence, but Trump and his allies insisted he was specifically talking about the auto industry, pointing to the context of his use of that term.

The Michigan rally, paired with the Wisconsin event, will mark a rare event for Trump since he became the presumptive GOP nominee earlier this month.

The former president’s ability to hold rallies moving forward may be limited after a New York judge set a trial date for April 15 in Trump’s case over an alleged hush money scheme during the 2016 campaign. Trump will be in court four out of five days during the week, leaving him scarce time to hold large events for his campaign.

Michigan is expected to be one of a few critical battleground states that will determine November's election. President Biden won the state in 2020 by roughly 155,000 votes, but polls show a neck and neck race there with less than eight months until Election Day.