About halfway through one of the final speeches of his third campaign, former President Donald Trump called out to his children in the audience: Eric, Tiffany and Don Jr.
“They are very good children,” he said. He then mentioned his wife, Melania, and his absent children, Ivanka and Barron.
“This is our last time forever,” Trump said. “Think how sad it is. We actually started this as a family unit nine years ago. We had the biggest rallies, the most spectacular rallies in the history of politics. This is by far the largest and most powerful movement in the history of our country.”
He then criticized “fake news” for inaccurately representing the size of his “powerful movement” and questioned the 2020 election results.
“We won 50 states and then we won the presidency,” Trump said of his 2016 campaign. “And as you know, we did even better the second time than the first time.”
Trump held the first of two events in Pennsylvania on the final day of the 2024 campaign at Santander Arena in Reading.
During his speech in Reading, Trump oscillated between nostalgia for the near-constant interruptions of election campaigns over the past nine years (even he organized rallies when he was president) and the corrosive advertising that came to define them. But for about an hour and twenty minutes, on the final day of what will almost certainly be his final campaign, Trump played mostly hits.
He said he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to carry out his mass deportation plan. He said anyone who later tries to re-enter the country would be sentenced to “10 years in prison without the possibility of parole.” And he called for the death penalty for any migrant who kills an American citizen or law enforcement officer.
He talked about his plan to boost U.S. fossil fuel production and his distaste for wind energy.
“It’s killing all your birds,” Trump said. “It doesn’t work. It is the most exorbitant energy in the world. And then after 10 years when it gets rusty, they don’t look very good anymore.
He revealed his nicknames: “Radical Left Marxist” for Harris. “Pocahontas” for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma.) For Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.): “Am I calling him crooked? “Maybe ‘crazy’ is a better word,” Trump said.
He announced that he would get rid of taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security benefits.
He also touched on the issues of the culture war. “We will banish critical race theory and transgender madness from our schools,” Trump said.
There was also novel material.
Trump discussed the October jobs report released Friday, which showed that only 12,000 jobs were created that month, well below estimates. This was probably influenced by the hurricanes that were moving back into the background.
“It’s an unbelievable – unimaginable number,” Trump said. “I have never heard of such a low number.”
Trump, however, has governed worse. When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in 2020, hundreds of thousands of jobs disappeared. And earlier, when two hurricanes made landfall in September 2017, the report for that month showed that the country it actually lost 33,000 jobs.
He also discussed Harris’ appearance on Saturday Night Live.
“He takes advantage of everything I do,” Trump said. “They even copied ‘Saturday Night Live’… I think I actually did it better.”
At the end of his rally, Trump again recalled the “tremendous number” of rallies that have been held over the past nine years. He estimated it at 900.
“They did a great job, didn’t they,” he said. “From time to time I spoke aggressively, which people did not like. Don’t forget that I rarely appear on a teleprompter. “Isn’t it nice to have a president who isn’t on the teleprompter?”
But Trump said the rallies made his presidency possible. “We are fighting the most sinister and corrupt forces on earth,” he said. “That’s true. With your vote in this election, you can show them once and for all that this nation does not belong to them. This nation belongs to you.”
However, just before he finished his speech, Trump changed his tone.
“We will do a great job for everyone,” he said. “For 100% of the people. We will do it for the Democrats. We’ll do it for liberals or progressives if they prefer and they prefer. But we will do it for the independents. We will do it for everyone.”
As the comedian said, the Trump campaign is still struggling to cope with the fallout made racist jokes about Puerto Rico during his October 28 rally at Madison Square Garden. According to 2020 Census data, Reading is 69% Latino, making it the largest in Pennsylvania and one of only three cities in the state with a Latino population above 50%. The other two towns, Hazleton and Allentown, are within a two-hour drive of Reading and some call them Pennsylvania’s “Hispanic Belt.”
The Reading event was Trump’s second visit to the city; he was holding A we gathered there at the beginning of last month also in Santander Arena.
Trump campaign in eastern Pennsylvania with rallies in Scranton and Reading
After the Reading rally, Trump traveled to Pittsburgh for an evening rally at the PPG Paints Arena in the Hill District. The rally is Trump’s first public campaign event in Pittsburgh in 2024.
Pittsburgh Public Schools were on half-days, and Allegheny County and City of Pittsburgh employees will be furloughed at noon Monday, and Harris and Trump will be in Pittsburgh tonight.
Both the candidates and their surrogates campaigned tirelessly in Pennsylvania throughout the race, and 19 electoral votes were key to either side winning the White House.
First stop of the campaign in Pittsburgh
Surrounded by thousands of supporters, including men wearing helmets standing behind him at PPG Paints Arena, Trump promised an “America’s golden age” and mocked Harris’ nearby turnout.
“That’s not quite it,” Trump said to thunderous applause.
Trump asked the crowd if things were better now than they were four years ago and promised to cut grocery prices. He also referred to the attempted attack on Butler, which “tried to stop our movement,” Trump said. “And this is by far the largest political movement in the history of our country.
Trump ‘secure’ after shooting at campaign rally in Butler; one spectator and the suspected gunman were killed
The crowd hurled insults at President Joe Biden and Harris. After Trump called the crowd “riotous,” he said, “a lot of people say God saved me to save America. Many, many people say so. And with your help, we will complete this extraordinary mission together.”
Before the rally, thousands of Trump supporters formed a line around PPG.
Entrepreneurs set up stands with stickers, buttons, T-shirts and posters depicting Trump shaking hands with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., posing shirtless with artistically sculpted muscles and protecting animals. When fans entered the rink where the Pittsburgh Penguins play, they lined up for nachos, popcorn, chicken tenders and pop. One fan at the bar joked that “the prices are un-American.”
The scoreboard screen featured voting information, clips of various alleged Kamala Harris flip-flops and photos of the crowd. The pastor took the stage to lead the crowd in prayer, and then someone sang the national anthem, followed by chants of “USA!”
Guests included several members of the Pittsburgh Fraternal Order of Police, Army veterans and thriller authors Sean Parnell and Kimberley Brown, Slippery Rock Mayor Jondavid Longo, Congressman John Joyce, daughter of legend Jim Brown, and a player for the Cleveland Browns, the bitter rival of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Brown, who spoke out against transgender athletes competing in sports and portrayed Trump’s former presidency as a victory for African Americans, drew the audience’s most enthusiastic applause. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also drew applause for comments such as boasting about his reputation as Trump’s “most loyal” cabinet member. He introduced Dave McCormick, the Republican Party candidate competing against Democratic Senator Bob Casey.
Capital-Star’s Kim Lyons contributed
This story has been updated with details of the Trump rally in Reading and details of the event in Pittsburgh
