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A day after threatening to withhold federal funding from Michigan, President Trump visited a Ford plant in Ypsilanti and held his fire, delivering a re-election pitch for himself in a battleground state where his campaign advisers have become increasingly concerned that his support is declining. After falsely claiming the state was engaged in voter fraud and had acted illegally by sending out absentee ballot applications to millions of voters, Mr. Trump dropped his criticism of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and other state officials. (Karni, 5/21)

Making his first visit to Michigan since the coronavirus pandemic began in the U.S., President Donald Trump on Thursday praised the ingenuity and pluck of Ford Motor Co. and its employees for turning its Ypsilanti components plant into a ventilator factory. In remarks after a brief tour of the plant and a sit-down with African American officials, ministers and Republican U.S. Senate candidate John James, Trump noted Ford's quick turnaround in ramping up ventilator production, but said it's time to get the American economy — and especially manufacturing — roaring again. (Spangler, 5/21)

Surrounded by Ford executives wearing masks, Trump told reporters he had put one on out of the view of cameras. “I had one on before. I wore one in the back area. I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it,” Trump said. When asked if Trump was told it was acceptable not to wear a mask in the plant, Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford said, “It’s up to him.” (Mason and Klayman, 5/21)

For a moment, he also teasingly held up a clear shield in front of his face. A statement from Ford said that Bill Ford, the company’s executive chairman, “encouraged President Trump to wear a mask when he arrived” and said the president wore it during “a private viewing of three Ford GTs from over the years” before removing it. The United Auto Workers union noted in a statement that “some in his entourage’” declined face masks and said “it is vitally important that our members continue to follow the protocols that have been put in place to safeguard them, their families and their communities.” (Superville and Lemire, 5/22)

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's coronavirus response order calls for people to wear masks in close quarters and Ford policy requires it. But Ford said it was Trump and the White House's decision whether he would wear one or not. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, meanwhile, asked Trump to wear a mask during his visit as well. (Spangler, 5/21)

For two days before President Trump’s visit on Thursday to a Ford factory in Michigan, controversy raged over whether he would — or should — wear a surgical mask while he was there. Ford had put out the word that masks were mandatory in the Ypsilanti factory — which is making personal protective equipment — though Trump had previously made it clear that, counter to federal recommendations and Michigan law, he didn’t see masks as his kind of thing. So the Michigan attorney general put out a statement imploring the president to comply. (Farhi, 5/21)

Instead, Trump — who publicly prizes strength and symbols of masculinity including height, firm handshakes and deep voices — suggested he considers it unseemly or unpresidential to be seen in a mask. Trump said he had worn a mask in another area of the plant, “where they preferred it,” but declined to wear one in view of the cameras. (Gearan, 5/21)

The trip was Mr. Trump’s third foray in as many weeks to a key state for the 2020 election, and it perhaps was the most tense politically, coming amid Mr. Trump’s protracted clash with the state’s Democratic governor over her coronavirus-response policies, including stay-at-home orders. It also occurred as Mr. Trump has criticized the state’s plans to send absentee ballot applications to all registered voters and as floods devastated the central part of the state. (Lucey, 5/21)

Since resuming their travel schedules, President Trump and Vice President Pence have focused on battleground states crucial to their reelection chances, staging official government events at a time when presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his top surrogates say they are unable to safely return to the campaign trail. (Nakamura, 5/21)

During a tour of a Ford plant in Michigan, a reporter asked the president if he was concerned about a potential second wave of the illness. “People say that’s a very distinct possibility. It’s standard. And we’re going to put out the fires. We’re not gonna close the country. We’re going to put out the fires — whether it’s an ember or a flame, we’re going to put it out. But we’re not closing our country.” (Reiss, 5/21)

“Whether it’s an ember or a flame, we’re going to put it out. But we’re not closing our country,” the president continued. All 50 states have announced plans to begin loosening restrictions meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus, opening their economies at varying speeds so that Americans can begin to return to normal life. (Chalfant, 5/21)

As U.S. businesses prepare for gradual reopenings, the number of Americans filing for unemployment seems to be leveling off. Still, the Labor Department says more than 38 million people sought jobless benefits in the past nine weeks. But as he departed for Michigan to tour a Ford factory now making ventilators, President Trump insisted that economic recovery is imminent. Yamiche Alcindor reports. (Alcindor, 5/21)

At the intersection of Rawsonville and Textile Roads, on a slender stretch of turf that runs the length of a half-deserted strip mall, Kathryn Prater and Kelra Rise are dancing. The longtime friends, white women in their early 40s, haven’t had much to celebrate recently. Rise lost her job as a shipping clerk two months ago and is now uninsured and struggling to get by; Prater, a school bus driver, will receive her final paycheck in two weeks with no obvious prospect of income thereafter. Their pain is representative of Michigan on the whole, a state battered by Covid-19 to the tune of 5,000 deaths; a state crushed under the weight of a 22 percent unemployment rate; and now, a state reeling from a 500-year flood in mid-Michigan that has displaced tens of thousands of people. If America has a headache, Michigan has a migraine. (Alberta, 5/21)