President Donald Trump made a recent campaign rally stop in Tennessee, where safety in Memphis was among his talking points.
With supporters holding "Tennessee is Trump country" signs behind him, the president held a midterm campaign rally in Clarksville Oct. 10.
Here's what he had to say about Memphis.
Trump touts Memphis Safe Task Force's success
The president kept his comments about Memphis largely to public safety. Trump spoke on the Memphis Safe Task Force, his administration's widely known intervention in the city's law enforcement efforts, which just hit the one-year mark.
He painted a picture of being pulled into Memphis affairs by local leaders, including Mayor Paul Young — an
account that doesn't exactly line up with Young's nuanced stance on the Task Force and all its components over the past year.
Trump repeatedly said at the rally that Young, Gov. Bill Lee and others called him asking for help, saying that Memphis was "out of control," which is what spurred the federal intervention.
Following Trump's remarks at the rally, Young's administration did not comment explicitly on whether such a phone call took place.
Young has welcomed some federal law enforcement help, including additional U.S. Marshals in Memphis. But at the outset of the Task Force, he said he did not ask for the National Guard's deployment in Memphis.
Prior to the establishment of the Task Force, he did confirm that he had been in communication with federal officials to bring in the help of other agencies, such as the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Trump also bragged about the "incredible" results of the Task Force's policing efforts, including "removing ... dangerous career criminals" off the streets. He also seemingly implied that the majority of the Task Force's over 12,000 arrests were immigrants without legal status.
But best guesses from local officials put the number of immigration-related arrests from the Task Force much lower than that. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy told the Commercial Appeal last month that about 20% of arrests were immigration-related.
U.S. Attorney Mike Dunavant for the Western District of Tennessee, a Trump appointee, said very few of the immigration arrests involved criminal charges.
"I'm really only interested in those cases where we have an illegal re-entry involving someone who's continuing to commit crimes and victimize people here in this community," he said. "That's a fairly small subset of those persons who are being taken into custody by ICE."
Predictable campaigning ensues
Trump used the rally as a chance to promote several statewide candidates, like Sen. Bill Hagerty, who is seeking reelection, and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who is gunning to be Tennessee's first woman governor. The president also platformed several local names, including Charlie Hatcher and Brent Taylor, both Republicans seeking election to U.S. Congressional seats, who Trump pulled on stage with him.
He urged voters to go Republican all the way down the ballot next month.
"Pretend that I'm running ... and in a way, we are running," he said.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Trump also denounced two of Memphis' own — Memphis City Councilwoman and gubernatorial candidate Jerri Green and state representative and Congressional candidate Justin J. Pearson.
Trump also mentioned Memphis-area Rep. David Kustoff, who joined the President on Air Force One along with Rep. Andy Ogles. In seeking reelection for the Tennessee District 5 seat, Ogles lost the Republican primary to Hatcher in August.
Commercial Appeal reporter Lucas Finton contributed reporting.
Annie Goldman covers government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at annie.goldman@commercialappeal.com or 901-930-7431, and followed on X @AnnieSGoldman.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: What Trump said about Memphis, Task Force during Tennessee rally
