GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Donald Trump is trumping ArtPrize during an impromptu visit to Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.

School children and other people viewing art at the downtown museum encountered the Republican nominee for president and Secret Service personnel during the noon hour Friday, Sept. 30. Trump arrived at Gerald R. Ford International Airport to attend a private fundraiser before a scheduled public rally at 5 p.m. today in Novi.

Trump made a surprise visit to the museum, a popular ArtPrize site, where he checked out the President Ford-era replica of the Oval Office and placed flowers at the burial site for President Ford and Betty Ford.

"How come everyone's here?" Trump said after arriving at the museum. "Everybody's here."

Trump was pulled aside by an on-site WZZM reporter, who tried to educate Trump about ArtPrize and why so many people were in and around the museum. The Ford Museum is a busy ArtPrize venue hosting many of the 1,400, drawing schoolchildren, tourists and ArtPrize voters.

Asked about a USA Today editorial stating that Trump is "unfit for the presidency," Trump brushed it aside with a derisive comment about the newspaper.

The people are really smart in cancelling subscriptions to the Dallas & Arizona papers & now USA Today will lose readers! The people get it! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2016

Some people gathered outside the museum joined a "Trump" chant as the candidate exited the museum and left the premises via motorcade.

Trump was accompanied by Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor.

Hannah Salem, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, declined to answer questions about Trump's "off the record stop" at the museum. A museum security guard said she didn't find out about Trump's visit until about an hour before he arrived, but that her supervisor learned of it Thursday night.

After visiting the museum, Trump met with donors inside the J.W. Marriott hotel downtown as Campau Avenue was blocked off for a time. Amway co-founder Rich DeVos and former Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land were among the people in attendance. Some members of the DeVos family, which is a big donor to conservative causes and political candidates, have been

hesitant to support Trump

.

Trump later visited Kent County Republican Party headquarters in Grand Rapids to thank and rally campaign supporters.

"We win here (in Michigan), we're winning," Trump said. "We'll be back a lot."

On the Democratic side, several surrogates for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton also made stops in Michigan this week or have plans to.

Chelsea Clinton was in several areas of the state last week and will return Friday for an event in Traverse City. Anne Holton, former Virginia Secretary of Education and wife to Tim Kaine, campaigned for Hillary Clinton Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Saturday, former Maryland governor and presidential candidate Martin O'Malley is making stops in West Bloomfield, Flint, East Lansing and Kalamazoo.

Michigan Republican Party chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel issued a statement Friday suggesting that "Michigan is in play this cycle," and that while Trump keeps returning to the state, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton "continues to duck Michigan voters" by sending surrogates to speak for her.

Ron Bieber, president of the Michigan AFL-CIO labor union, also issued a statement suggesting that Trump is out of touch with the state's residents: "Donald Trump, go home. You are not welcome here and you are unfit and unqualified to be president of the United States."