Former president Donald Trump spoke for 52 minutes Monday at the Precision Components Group headquarters in York, hoping to attract some attention at the start of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The speech was promoted as a political speech in which the 45th president would outline his agenda to free up American energy and lower costs for American families. It became a vehicle for Trump to cover multiple bases, echoing his four years in the White House and making many promises about what he would do if he returned in January.
The former president mostly stuck to the message, reading key messages from a prompter. But he occasionally strayed from the subject, firing a few salvos at the enemy, Vice President Kamala Harrisand her involvement in the Biden administration.
He drew laughter and applause from the nearly 250 supporters gathered at the York factory, who tossed out nicknames such as “Comrade Kamala” and “Screaming Joe.”
“I’m here today to deliver a simple message,” he said. “When I return to the White House, America’s future will be built here in Pennsylvania. It will be built by American workers like you all across the country, but Pennsylvania is always a factor.
“Our plan will dramatically cut taxes, unlock American energy, reduce regulation, increase the ratio, crack down on trade fraud and stop outsourcing, rebuild our industrial base and bring back those beautiful words – Made in the USA.”
He attacked Harris, saying the vice president had his priorities wrong.
“Kamala puts America last. I put America first,” Trump said. “I have kept every promise I have made to the workers of Pennsylvania everywhere else in our country.
“When I left office, I handed Kamala and the crooked Joe Biden a growing economy with no inflation. There was no inflation. You had everything. Great paychecks, no inflation. Now you have inflation at levels that I don’t think anyone has ever seen before. The 30-year mortgage rate was 2.6%, but it was actually closer to 1.9% if you look at it the way most people look at it. And gas was up and basically $1.87 a gallon, but we had months and moments where it was even lower. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
“Simply put, Kamala Harris is a destroyer of the economy and the country. Our country will be destroyed if she gets in there. In seventy-eight days, Pennsylvania will tell her we’ve had enough…we can’t take it anymore…’Comrade’ Kamala, you’re fired.”
Trump even found a moment to hit out at his favorite punching bag – the media.
“Our country is doing really badly under (Biden-Harris) and nobody wants to talk about it. The media doesn’t like to talk about it because the Democrats are really protecting themselves. It’s amazing. One day the media is going to be real media, not imitation media.
“We have had great success, both politically and otherwise, here in Pennsylvania, and we expect to do so again.”
A pair of congressmen from Pennsylvania – Scott Perry Representatives (R-10) and Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-15) – were in attendance along with several York County elected officials.
“November 5th will be the most important day in our nation’s history,” Trump concluded, urging fans to vote early if they can, or on Election Day.
