MT. MORRIS TWP., MI -- Instead of, "Make America great again," a defaced pro-Donald Trump message along I-75 now reads, "Make America hate again."

A Flint businessman, Donald Sampson, announced in September 2015 that he was creating the billboard-sized message on the side of a semi-truck trailer and planned to take it on tour throughout the state during the 2016 presidential election.

The full-sized, white semi-truck trailer features a black-and-white painting of Trump's face with the words, "Vote Donald Trump for president. Make America great again."

Monday, March 21, the trailer was parked alongside southbound I-75 near the Mt. Morris Road exit with a slightly different message.

The word great was blacked out, with the word "hate" written in red just above it. A toothbrush mustache - similar Adolf Hitler's - was added in black spray paint to Trump's upper lip.

Township police were checking to see if anyone had filed a vandalism complaint Monday. Sampson could not be reached for comment Monday.

Tom Stanley was passing through the area Monday when he saw the defaced message.

"That's crazy. That ain't right at all. This is America. Hitler? I don't like that at all," he said.

Stanley said whether or not Trump is like or would lead like Hitler doesn't matter - whoever spray painted the message was in the wrong.

"Everybody's got the right to their own opinion," he said, talking about the initial message.

Maria Schriener, who was also in the area Monday, agreed.

"I think that's wrong. I just don't think it's OK to vandalize anybody's property," Schriener said.

She said she wasn't sure who she was going to vote for yet, but did say despite political opinions, the vandalism was not OK.

"I just think it's wrong to vandalize anybody's property," she said.

Another woman, Sandy Keirns, was fine with all of it.

"I think it's OK. People are voicing their concern, their opinion," she said.

Keirns said it's a sign of separation in the country and she said this campaign has brought out the hatred in people. She fears the nation is moving back to the riots and bigotry seen in the 1960s.

"Campaigns then were so turbulent with the Vietnam War and the protesting going on, and police were out in with their riot gear and tear gas," she said.

She added that she doesn't think today's protests and political speech are that extreme, but said that it does remind her of those times. She said she fears that if Trump gets elected, the country will continue inching back to that time period.

"A lot of people feel like they haven't been listened to for years and years, and (Donald Trump) tapped into that, that hate and that bigotry," she said. "I'm just frightened that he's going to get elected...I don't know what he has planned for immigrants and Hispanics."

In 2013, Sampson, owner of Junk Iron & Metal, 120 S. Center Road, gained attention for his "Justice for George Zimmerman not guilty" message posted on the side of one of his trailers. On the other side was a message that read, "No gays running the Boy Scouts."

Sampson was unable to be reached for comment Monday, but previously said he created the billboard because he believes Trump is a smart businessman that can help change the United States' economy.

"We have to change the way American people think," Sampson said. "We have to put our people back to work here. This isn't a white issue, a black issue or a Mexican issue."