SCRANTON — Former president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump kicked off his Wednesday afternoon rally at Riverfront Sports with confidence.
“Just 27 days from now, we are going to win Pennsylvania. We are going to defeat lying Kamala Harris,” he declared.
Trump encouraged the audience to vote on Nov. 5, Election Day, which he called “the big poll,” but laced that encouragement with a warning.
“They’re going to cheat like hell and everything else,” Trump said of his political opponents. “If they only cheat a lot, we’re in great shape. But if they cheat in record-setting numbers, which they’re capable of doing, I can’t promise.”
The former president has consistently called the American election process into question since his loss to President Joe Biden in 2020, despite there being no credible evidence to support widespread voter fraud.
Trump shuffled between a number of topics throughout the nearly hour and a half long speech, ranging from his rally in Butler last Saturday, to Pennsylvania’s role in the American energy sector, to immigration, and his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Butler assassination attempt
The Butler rally on Oct. 5 was Trump’s first appearance there since surviving an assassination attempt on July 13. The attack claimed one victim, Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old volunteer fireman from Sarver. Trump referred to Comperatore, as well as two others hit by bullets on July 13, as “all Trumpers, I mean, to the nth degree.”
At one point, the crowd erupted in a chant of Comperatore’s name, to which Trump pumped his fist in support.
He also praised the efforts of Pennsylvania doctors, who he claimed saved the lives of David Dutch and James Copenhaver, the other two men who were shot during the assassination attempt.
The Saturday Butler rally featured billionaire Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, an electric car manufacturer. Trump appeared open to the use of electric cars in general but noted he did not want to mandate their use.
Pennsylvania as a champion of energy
Trump championed the possibility of Pennsylvania being a leader in the energy sector.
“We will make Pennsylvania an energy supplier to the entire world, and I will cut your energy prices in half – 50%, 5-0 – within 12 months of taking office,” Trump promised.
Fracking, a process for extracting oil or natural gas from the Earth, came up several times throughout the afternoon, and Trump framed it as both a policy position and a slogan.
“On Day One, I will tell Pennsylvania energy workers to frack, frack, frack, and drill, drill, drill, drill, baby, drill,” said Trump. “We will have energy independence and energy dominance, as we did just four short years ago.”
Earlier in his remarks, Trump described wind energy, an alternative to natural gas, as “bullshit.”
Immigration policy
Trump also took aim at immigration policy, especially as it concerns the United States’ southern border with Mexico. Trump vaguely claimed that funds that could have gone toward Hurricane Helene relief efforts instead went to illegal immigrants.
Trump also claimed that 325,000 migrant children have disappeared during the Biden administration. Trump pinned the children’s “missing” status on Harris.
“They’re gone. Nobody knows where they are,” Trump claimed. “Many are dead. I would say most are dead, I don’t know. We probably won’t find out.”
Various sources, including the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, have disputed Trump’s 325,000 figure as being far off the actual number of unaccompanied migrant children (UCs).
Attacks on opponents
Trump’s personal attacks on Biden and Harris included calling the sitting president a “sad, pathetic guy” and the vice president as “not a smart person.” Trump also predicted that Biden and Harris would feud between Wednesday and Nov. 5.
“There’s going to be an explosion before the election with them,” Trump said.
Trump doubled-down on his approach to talking sharply about others at his rallies.
“Somebody said, ‘You should be nicer, women won’t like it,’” Trump said, drawing cheers of support from some women in the crowd.
“The women want safety, and the women want to have a country that they can be proud of,” Trump rebutted.
Praying for Florida
Trump also took a moment to discuss Hurricane Milton, the storm that was expected to make landfall hours after Trump’s speech concluded.
“I also want to send our love to everyone in Florida. They’re going through a big [hurricane] tonight. … We’re praying for them and asking God to keep them all safe.”
Before heading off to another campaign event in Reading, Trump left his supporters with a final call to action.
“Everyone will prosper, every family will thrive, and every day will be filled with opportunity and hope. But for that to happen, we must defeat Kamala Harris and stop her radical left agenda once and for all. We want a landslide that is too big to rig.”
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