Trump holds rally-style town hall in Lancaster, drumming up rural base on Pa. tour

By Benjamin Kail / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

LANCASTER, Pa. — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump campaigned across Pennsylvania on Sunday — from behind the counter of a McDonald’s near Philadelphia and a Lancaster town hall to Acrisure Stadium for the Pittsburgh Steelers game — as he sought to bolster support among the critical battleground state’s rural and working class voters two weeks before Election Day. 

“To me, they’re big people,” he told broadcaster and podcaster Sage Steele, the moderator of the Lancaster County Convention Center event, when she thanked him for “taking time with the little people.”

Billed as a town hall, the packed event featured many of the hallmarks of a typical Trump rally: the yacht rock heavy opening playlist, guests clad in sparkling red-white-and-blue jackets and “Make America Great Again” hats and jerseys and buttons, and shirts with slogans ranging from “Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president” to “Kill all pedophiles” and “You missed, [expletive]” — under a photo of Trump with his fist held high after the attempted assassination on July 13 in Butler, Pa.

While he took a handful of questions from audience members, he also used almost every one to tee off on the Biden-Harris administration and to hit the same talking points and pledges he makes at his signature rallies. 

Trump promised to protect Social Security and Medicare, to eliminate tax on tips and Social Security, to lower interest rates to help young people buy a home, and to immediately secure the border to help reduce crime and “make our economy great.”

Trump argued that the wave of immigrants who have come to the country under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have undercut job opportunities for Black and Latino Americans.

“If we don’t have strong borders or good elections, we’re not going to have a country,” said Trump, who also pledged to “drill, baby drill, and frack, baby, frack,” and slash Americans’ energy costs in half within his first year back in office.

Trump promised to restore authority to police officers because “our cities are blowing up” and law enforcement officers feel hamstrung, he said. 

“It’s a very dangerous profession,” he said of law enforcement. “Of course, being president is a very dangerous profession,” he added, referencing the attempts on his life this summer and on previous presidents through history. 

Decked out in a MAGA winter hat, a Trump basketball jersey, blue pants with white stars and red sneaks, Philip Harada told the Post-Gazette before the event that he believed if Ms. Harris is elected, the country would go to “hell and a handbasket.”

Mr. Harada, who said he was disabled and a recovering alcoholic, said he was working at a McDonald’s in the area to help to make ends meet. He appreciated Trump’s visit to the fast food chain Sunday, and said Trump’s policies would make him better off in the long run. 

Asked about Democrats’ recent push to appeal to rural voters and narrow the gap in Pennsylvania’s Republican strongholds, Mr. Harada, 37, said he still had concerns about Democrats taking away gun rights, curtailing free speech and reversing restrictions on abortion enacted in many states since Roe v. Wade was overturned. 

“We’ve got to get out and vote,” he said.

Democrats quickly pounced on Trump’s McDonald’s visit, characterizing it as a political stunt and insult to workers.

The visit arose after opponents of Ms. Harris questioned whether she indeed worked at McDonald’s as a college student, which she has said many times over the last several years. Trump also sparked controversy earlier this year by saying he only recently learned that Ms. Harris was Black, and several years ago he baselessly questioned the citizenship of former President Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii.

“Trump’s plans serve up more wealth and greed for fast food CEOs while leaving Pennsylvania workers with nothing but crumbs,” said J.J. Abbott, a Democratic strategist who leads People Power Pennsylvania, a Democratic political action committee. 

Mr. Abbott said Trump-aligned policies as laid out in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 would gut overtime protections, block minimum wage increases, rollback child labor protections and go after unions. Trump has publicly disavowed Project 2025, but several of his former administration members led the effort.

“Trump’s unserious stunts and empty promises are meant to distract from these terrible deals for workers and families,” Mr. Abbott said. “Pennsylvania workers have a choice between two different futures in this election. They can go backwards with a greedy career conman, or they can have a brighter future under President Harris with lower costs, better pay and benefits, and more unions.”

Trump said one kind thing about Ms. Harris, wishing her a happy 60th birthday, “and many more, and I mean that.” 

But he also said that she may suffer from cognitive problems (he offered no evidence) and on multiple occasions after he complained about criminals and human traffickers taking advantage of Biden-Harris administration’s border policy, there were shouts from the crowd of “Lock her up.”