DV Journal

The Keystone State is the key to winning the presidential election. And Bucks County may well be the key to winning Pennsylvania.

That was the message Saturday evening in Newtown as supporters gathered for a Get Out The Vote (GOTV) rally for Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick, with guest U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.).

“This is the campaign we’ll never forget,” said Pat Poprik, Bucks County GOP chair. The candidates, former President Donald Trump, McCormick, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick “are all working so hard. But it’s all down to us.”

She asked people to make phone calls, man the polls and talk to their friends about why they should vote for Republicans. Bucks County is on all the television stations and news outlets across the country.

“They’re all watching us,” said Poprik. “And there’s a reason.  We deliver. When the going gets tough, you want Bucks at your back.”

Pennsylvania GOP Chair Lawrence Tabas called on Republicans to “do like the Eagles do and give [McCormick] the tush push and get him over the goal line on Nov. 5.”

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.)

“It’s no coincidence we are the Keystone State,” said Tabas. “It’s clear we are the key state.” Tabas noted Republicans have improved their voter registration numbers in the commonwealth. Five years ago, when he was elected state chair, the Democrats’ registration edge was more than 815,000. Now it’s down to 281,091.

“The voters in Pennsylvania have lost confidence in the Democrats when you see that kind of shift,” said Tabas. And Democrats’ mail-in ballots this fall are down by 700,000 from 2020, he said.

Dina Powell McCormick introduced Donalds, saying they both benefited from a Catholic education. Donalds was raised by a single mother in Brooklyn “with the values of our country,” she said.

Donalds said he was in Pennsylvania to do everything possible to turn out voters to make McCormick the next senator and Trump the next president.

“Dave is fantastic. A businessman. He’s done it in his life. Raising children. His wife, Dina, is amazing. [Washington, D.C.] needs people like Dave. Somebody who has built his life,” said Donalds. “Somebody who did not rely on Washington to do everything for him. He did it for himself. And you need that kind of tenacity. You need that mindset. You need that intellect in the halls of Washington.

“Compare that with your current senator,” said Donalds. “You have one. But nobody’s ever seen him. I’ve seen a lot of the other members. I’m what you call one of the more outgoing members. I meet and see everybody. If I haven’t seen you, you’ve got a problem. Pennsylvania, let me tell you the first time I ever saw what Bob Casey looked like was from a TV ad. That’s a problem.”

“He’s been playing the game of sitting back, following the leadership, not making any waves, not doing anything of substance. And then coming back here every six years and lying to you, saying that he’s fighting for you.

“He was one of the key votes in passing the bill that started inflation which has hurt all of you,” said Donalds. “He voted for the very inflation that has hurt your pocketbooks.”

McCormick took the stage to cheers and applause.

“What happens in Bucks County is going to determine who is the next president,” said McCormick. “We’ve got to change things.

“Can you think of another election in your lifetime where the consequences of getting it wrong seem so big? Where having the wrong leaders in place will take our country over the cliff, will take us to a point where we wake up and don’t recognize the America, we all love?

“It could not be more important,” he said. “The choice couldn’t be more clear.”

“At the top of the ticket, the choice between strength, that guy you saw on the stage at Butler, I was standing right there– ‘Fight, fight, fight’–against weakness,” McCormick said. Casey votes 98.6 percent of the time with the Biden-Harris administration “for that weakness.”

Voters have a choice between commonsense not to spend so much to drive up inflation and to unlock our energy sector, he said.

“We’re standing on top of the fourth largest natural gas reserves in the world. It’s great for our economy. It’s great for our security. Right here in Pennsylvania.”

“It’s commonsense we’ve got to secure our border and stop this scourge of fentanyl that kills 4,000 Pennsylvanians a year,” he said. “And the only way to have peace is have strength.”

On the other side is “a radical, liberal San Francisco agenda,” said McCormick. “Just listen to Kamala Harris in her own words. She wants to ban fracking. She wants to have mandatory buybacks of your guns. She wants to legalize the 11 million illegal immigrants and make sure they get federal benefits. She wants to eliminate your private health insurance. She wants to defund the police. And this is the one that ticks off my friends in Bloomsburg [his hometown], she wants to reduce your red meat consumption.

“This political stuff is a team sport and we need to have leadership up and down the ticket, not just President Trump, all these officials that are running,” said McCormick. “And President Trump needs a majority in the House and a majority in the Senate to get these commonsense policies in place.”

Casey has been in elected office for 30 years, 18 of them in the Senate.

“It is time for change,” he said. “Someone asked me very innocently, ‘Are you running for the Casey seat?’ and I said, ‘I’m not running for the Casey seat. You don’t get to have a seat because you’re from a political dynasty. No. This is the people’s seat.’”

Powell McCormick said, “People sometimes ask me about Dave, what made him strong? Was it wrestling, going to West Point, serving in the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq?…But the thing that has tested my husband more than anything in the world is having six daughters [between them].  And they have tested that man more than you can imagine. And there’s three things those girls know. First, he loves them unconditionally. Second, he supports anything that they want to do. And the third, because he’s proven it over many years is, he has never let them down.”

“That’s how he feels about our country. He loves her unconditionally. He has served her with all his heart. And he will never let Pennsylvania or America down.”

(For an alternative point of view, see:” Counterpoint: Kamala Harris is the Best Choice to Lead the United States”)

Donald Trump or Kamala Harris? The answer to the question of 2024 couldn’t be more straightforward: Trump.

Even without the failures of the Biden-Harris administration, there are plenty of reasons to support a second Trump term. As one of the most successful businessmen in American history, Trump would be a free-market president again by backing job creators large and small with tax cuts, reduced regulations, increased energy production, and other pro-business policies that create real economic growth. As one of the most successful businessmen in American history, Trump would be a free-market president again by backing job creators large and small with tax cuts, reduced regulations, increased energy production, and other pro-business policies that create real economic growth.

Next is mass illegal immigration, which a Trump administration would address on day one with increased law enforcement and a reaffirmation of reasonable legal immigration that makes our country an actual country. And again, on foreign policy, Trump has a proven track record of peace through strength — without endless wars.

Trump has many proven answers, from economic growth via lower energy costs to reduced inflation and border security. That’s why American voters overwhelmingly support Trump on these issues, despite unrelenting Washington establishment attacks. Voters especially like Trump’s ability to handle the large and complex U.S. economy. After years of increasing prices, voters in battleground states are ready for another Trump presidency.

There is another reason to support Trump, and it is no less critical. For decades and with heightened intensity in recent months, the former president has been a champion of free speech, defending the rights of Americans — left, right and center — to speak their minds regardless of what they believe. Trump is by far the best candidate for the First Amendment, fighting back against leftist attempts to censor him (see his infamous ban from Facebook) and appearing on countless new-age podcasts to make the case for our right to free expression. Explicitly and implicitly, Trump’s embrace of free speech by appearing on alternative platforms proves his passion for the First Amendment.

Further proof is Trump’s recent rally in Butler, Pa., where he triumphantly returned after the first attempt on his life. Trump returned to Butler with Elon Musk by his side, with the owner of X claiming 2024 is a “must-win” election for the supporters of free speech. This speaks volumes coming from the head of X (formerly Twitter), which was once a breeding ground for censorship before Musk’s leadership. For years, Twitter had been known for suppressing conservative and libertarian voices that happened to disagree with Democrats — before Musk restored the platform as a haven for free speech.

Any candidate with Musk’s support deserves to win. Any candidate who has fought establishment politicians and their allies for years, tooth and nail, to make America great again deserves to win.

Trump is perhaps the most criticized and vilified candidate in U.S. history, and yet he continues to make the rounds and make his voice heard for Americans who are sick and tired of left-wing politics. Despite an attempt on his life, Trump is a living testament to the power of the First Amendment, and it would be in safe hands in another Trump administration.

If you don’t believe me, listen to Musk or Amber Rose or Tulsi Gabbard or the countless other former Democrats who have decided to give up on radical leftism and support a true Republican leader in 2024. To quote Gabbard at a recent pro-Trump event, “The choice is between freedom and tyranny.”

Don’t believe me? Then listen to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who recently acknowledged that the Biden-Harris administration pressured the company to censor COVID-related content in 2021 — censorship in favor of government propaganda. Democrats even targeted “humor and satire” that didn’t toe the government line, and Zuckerberg is hardly a MAGA Republican.

The answer to the 2024 question is simple: You either support free speech, or you don’t. And, if you believe in the First Amendment, only one presidential candidate deserves your vote: Donald J. Trump.

During a campaign swing through western Pennsylvania this week, former President Donald Trump met with local farmers to talk about inflation, energy costs and, perhaps surprisingly, foreign policy.

Trump says the unique threat to America’s security posed by China means it’s time to ban Chinese nationals from purchasing U.S. farmland. He made his remarks in Westmoreland County at an event hosted by the Protecting America Initiative led by Richard Grenell, a former ambassador to Germany, and former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick and Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) also attended.

Trump said he negotiated a deal requiring China to buy $50 billion of American farm products. But the Biden administration isn’t honoring that agreement.

“Now they don’t enforce it. I enforced it. Every single week, I’d go into the office, I’d say, ‘How’s China doing, buying the product?’

“‘Good, sir. Good. They’re doing good.’ And they were doing good, because they knew I was watching,” Trump said.

“I don’t think Biden is exactly watching. Do you? Does anybody think that Biden is? Let’s check it. I don’t think so. And it’s a shame. And that number is way lower than it’s supposed to be.”

Grenell warned China poses a direct threat to American democracy and national security.

“China has quietly but strategically worked against us whenever we are distracted by wars or COVID,” said Grenell. “China goes in and absolutely tries to distract the American people. Quietly, they go after our local and state politicians, they go after our manufacturing. And there is no question that they are looking at some point to leverage that activity.”

“China is getting into our farmland,” said Grenell.

Zeldin said Trump understands the CCP threat and protected America. China now owns 449,442 acres of agricultural land in the U.S., up 82 percent from three years before. Pennsylvania is 26 percent farmland.

“America’s food supply and the farmland that produces it is critical to our national security interest, especially due to China’s aggressive ventures into the U.S. food supply,” said Zeldin. In 2018, Trump signed a law requiring the government to review CCP land purchases around critical infrastructure like ports and military bases. Trump put in place the USMCA trade deal to replace NAFTA that resulted in $2 billion in annual exports. Vice President Kamala Harris, then a California senator, voted against it.

Harris also opposed Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports and cast the deciding vote for the Biden-Harris bill “that sold our auto industry to China,” said Zeldin.

Nick Steffari is a farmer who raises freezer beef and hay in Fayette County.

“I married the farmer’s daughter,” he said.  “My wife and I are both energy workers. With the energy transition in Pennsylvania, our ability to take our pay and put those resources back in the farm has been tremendous. Without that energy job, we wouldn’t have been able to better our farm and better our situation.

“As you sit here today, you’re sitting on top of the Marcellus and Utica shale, the most prolific shale plays in the world are underneath your feet. My family depends on my salary and my wife’s salary.

“Appalachia produces nearly 30 billion cubic feet of gas per day. We could double the amount if we were just given the opportunity. Common sense policies allow for infrastructure to be built here. Pipelines. We need more pipelines. Doubling the output would be the equivalent of putting 10 million barrels of energy on the market for the world stage, providing opportunities for families to remain in farming because (gas companies) pay those royalties,” he said.

Kevin Sweeney, a cattle farmer from Washington County, wants to leave his farm to his kids and grandkids.

“I’m being approached by companies to put solar panels onto his farm for $3,000 per acre a month for 30 years,” he said. “Who subsidizes that? Our government?”

“They are,” said Trump. “And they’re allowing China to come in and just dominate the industry.”

Sweeney worries the federal government will condemn his land and turn it over to solar panel companies. He asked Trump about the “death tax” or inheritance tax.

Trump noted that he had rescinded the federal inheritance tax in his tax 2017 package that’s due to expire next year, so small farms and businesses could be passed down to the family. Democrats want to reinstate it.

“A lot of farmers are land rich but cash poor,” said Trump. “You leave it to your children…And [those heirs take out] big liens on the farms” and end up losing them to the banks.

“We got rid of the estate tax or the death tax and it will come back into play under Comrade Kamala,” said Trump. “They have unrealized capital gain…you’ll have every business person, every company leaving this country…It will affect farmers.”

McCormick, a military veteran and former hedge fund manager, accused the Biden administration of encouraging Chinese aggression through its lack of leadership.

“China is our adversary, smells weakness in all of its relationships with the United States because of the weak policies of Harris, Biden and Bob Casey… We have 52,000 farms [in Pennsylvania] and under the Biden-Harris-Casey administration it’s been a disaster,” McCormick.

Trump blasted McCormick’s opponent, incumbent Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D) as a do-nothing senator.

“Bob Casey has done nothing for farmers,” said Trump.

Casey did not respond when asked his position on selling farmland to China. Neither did Democratic Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Delaware) nor Madeleine Dean (D-Montgomery).

However, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester) voted for the Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024 when it passed the House two weeks ago. Dean and Scanlon voted no. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks) voted yes.

That bill requires the secretary of agriculture to report to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the government body that reviews foreign purchases and other investments from outside the United States. At CFIUS’ recommendation, the president may block transactions deemed threatening to American national security.

Please follow DVJournal on social media: X@DVJournal or Facebook.com/DelawareValleyJournal

.

Former President Donald Trump was expected to visit the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa on Sunday but his campaign spokesman said  on Thursday that Trump will not be coming after all.  The reason for his change of plans was not given.

On Sunday, the church will unveil a statue honoring those who gave their lives during the Solidary movement that led to the overthrow of Communism in Poland.  Polish President Andrzej Duda is expected to come to attend.

Michael Blichasz, president of the Polish American Cultural Center in Philadelphia, said Trump and Duda are friends.

Trump was “very supportive of the Solidarity movement,” said Blichasz, before Trump got into politics, when he was a developer in New York in the 1980s.

“This should be a very beautiful event,” said Blichasz. “The unveiling of the statue, the monument, is the most important event.”

The ceremony is not political and there will not be a rally. However, “people will be interested to see the former president of the United States and the president of the homeland of Poland there.” The two men have “known each other a long time,’ added Blichasz.

“I think it’s a great and beautiful thing to see two friends unite, coming together at America’s Polish shrine and unveiling this beautiful monument commemorating Solidarity,” said Stephen  Smolczynski, community outreach director for the Polish American Cultural Center. “It’s something you don’t see every day.” He added that the ceremony will be about Solidarity, not politics.

“No campaigning,” he said.

There are 824,146 Polish-Americans in Pennsylvania or 6.7 percent of the population. Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, mentioned them when the two debated in Philadelphia earlier this month. Harris slammed Trump over the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, claiming that if Trump were president, Russian leader Vladimir Putin would invade the rest of Europe, beginning with Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine. She said Putin would “eat you for lunch.”

When Trump was president, Russia did not invade any neighboring nations, unlike during the Obama (Crimea) and Biden (Eastern Ukraine) administrations.

Warminster resident Maryanne Brown said, “I’m all for Trump. A lot of my friends, who are Polish-American, are all for Trump because when he was in office, gas was cheaper, groceries were a lot cheaper. The economy was better, and more people were working.

“I definitely think he’s going to win,” said Brown, noting all the Trump signs she sees in Bucks County. “It’s going to be close, but he’s going to win.”

Jadwiga Heally of Doylestown, who is a Polish American, supports Trump.

“I think we [Polish Americans] are for Trump because most of us lived under socialism, and it’s coming to the United States in small steps. But a lot of people put blindfolds on. They don’t want to hear it. They think, ‘It’s not going to affect me.’ Well, guess what? It’s going to affect everybody.”

She believes Trump will do something to fight it.

“He knows how to move it the right way,” she said. “And people just need to let him do his job.”

Heally came to America from Poland at age 19 with $8 in her pocket, found a job and worked hard to get ahead.

“I don’t want to go back to the conditions I was living in. I came to the United States to have a better life, not be controlled, not be manipulated.”

“Many people say he’s all for money,” Heally said about Trump. “He is for saving this country because he loves his family. He loves his children and grandchildren.”

Media resident Richard Micun, whose dad was Polish, also supports Trump and said it’s good for Trump to reach out to the Polish American community.

“I absolutely think he needs to connect with voters and the Polish community, the Christian community. He’s reaching out to people of faith… I’m excited for Donald Trump to come to our area again. He’s reaching out to people of faith and connecting with them, and I hope they support him.”

Theresa Romanoski, special events coordinator with the Polish American Cultural Center, said she was planning to attend the unveiling and blessing of the monument.

The people in the Solidarity movement “meant so much. They’re the ones, the heroes, who broke down communism. (Eastern) Europe is free because from Poland, everyone else started to democracy.”

A Mass celebrated in Polish will precede the unveiling of the monument.

Please follow DVJournal on social media: X@DVJournal or Facebook.com/DelawareValleyJournal

Tuesday’s debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris continues to trigger reaction from Delaware Valley voters. Most tell DVJournal they think Trump missed an opportunity to win undecided voters.

Philadelphia resident John Featherman, a Republican who ran for mayor in 2011 and Congress in 2012, said, “Harris won on debate points, but I’m not sure it will make any difference in how people vote. Most people watching this debate already had their minds made up. The question is whether it had any effect — even marginal — on undecided voters.”

Skippack resident Debbie Jr. “D.J.” McGinley said, “There were so many lies with Kamala. Why do they continue letting her lie? It won’t change my vote even though Trump was flustered: Trump 2024. She had three and a half years and has done nothing. Also, it’s 9/11 today. This should’ve been a conversation last night between the two of them (to) close the borders.”

“Both candidates were losers as neither did anything to convince undecided voters that they were the better choice,” said Tim Daly, of Lower Makefield. “Harris was overly rehearsed and confirmed again to the public she is disingenuous. Trump was Trump, acting boorish while taking the bait with stupid responses to Harris’ prepared script about rallies and getting money from Fred Trump. Nobody cares and she did this to use up time and get the spotlight off her.

“The biggest loser of the night was (moderator) David Muir, who carried out the orders of ABC execs to gang up on Trump to demand answers to questions of and fact check Trump, while not doing the same to Harris when she did the same,” said Daly. “Worse, Muir pushed liberal false narratives on the fact checks as there is badge cam video of the Haitian migrant arrest over the cat and the National Crime Victimization Survey data produced by the BJS (Bureau of Justice Statistics), which details the increased crime seen across the nation.”

Felice Fein of West Goshen also believes the moderators were unfair to Trump.

“Having watched the CNN debate between Biden and Trump, which I thought was well done, I was disappointed to see that the ABC moderators did not press Harris to provide specifics like they did Trump. There are some very simple facts regarding policies, economic numbers, and immigration about which moderators could have questioned Harris’ record, yet they did not. Overall, she seemed well rehearsed, ready with bait to draw Trump’s ire, and he took it. Had Trump stuck to the Biden-Harris record and juxtaposed it to his own, then Trump could have wrapped up the election last night. As it is, voters still have more candidate and policy research to do and potentially another debate to make decisions about the future of this constitutional republic,” said Fein.

New Hope resident Gee Moses said, “It plays into the Democrats’ side for sure. Kamala and the Democrat operatives from ABC baited Trump over and over. It was clear he wasn’t prepared, seemed frazzled and rambling. Pushing things that may be true but (they) seemed exaggerated, especially to a majority of the country who gets its news from MSM (mainstream media). So, they would not of heard of the realities on the ground, like animals being eaten. The 21 million-plus illegals, and other comments will seem like a lie especially after MSM will claim they are.

“Trump blew his opportunity to define Kamala for 31 percent of people who said they need to learn more about her,” said Moses. “He missed his opportunity to challenge her and put her on the defensive, exposing what a weak and flawed candidate she is.

“The Democrats have exposed the American public for being shallow and easily manipulated,” said Moses. “They turned Harris from an extremely unlikable anchor on the party to the next coming of Obama without her doing interviews or having policies. It was a pure PR campaign, and they learned from COVID if you just tell the lies enough, people will not only believe them but pass them along as truth. Trump needed to push back and expose this hollow shell of a human, and he failed miserably.”

Springfield’s Joy Schwartz ran for Delaware County Council last year.

“Trump appeared somber and pre-occupied,” said Schwartz. “His demeanor may not have been attractive to some, but it was completely appropriate given the gravity of the problems facing our country, and his obvious frustration with having to debate the two biased moderators as well as the candidate. Trump won on the issues.”

“Vice President Harris’s fake gravitas, smugness, and over-rehearsed facial expressions did not enhance her otherwise confident and polished delivery.  As usual, she was short on substance. All fluff, no stuff,” Schwartz added.

Scott Presler isn’t a Delaware Valley resident, but he’s been active in getting Republicans in the area registered to vote. He’s widely credited with helping Bucks County GOP registrations pass the Democrats for the first time since George W. Bush was president.

“What I saw during the debate is a Vice President — Kamala — who currently has the power to make changes & has failed to use her position for the last 3 and 1/2 years,” Presler posted on social media.

“I saw a politician who doesn’t care that her failure from the Afghanistan withdrawal killed 13 soldiers; her failure to secure the border killed daughters, like Laken Riley; her failure to cut our bloated spending budget has resulted in crushing working class families; her failure to show strength lead to Putin invading Ukraine; & her plans to increase taxes are going to drive Americans into homelessness. Kamala came off as pompous, smug, & arrogant.”

But Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) posted about Trump’s mention of reports of immigrants eating pets in Ohio: “I don’t know who needs to hear this but stop asking me about fracking when the other side’s call-to-arms is people eating dogs.”

Please follow DVJournal on social media: X@DVJournal or Facebook.com/DelawareValleyJournal

Former President Donald Trump says he’ll make America’s economy great again.

And, according to the Trump campaign, the latest jobs numbers show American workers are in trouble and it’s time for a change.

“Just 114,000 jobs were created in July, while unemployment shot up to 4.3 percent — its highest since October 2021 — as economists warn the U.S. is in the early stages of a recession,” the Trump campaign said in a statement Friday.

A day earlier, Trump gave a speech on economic policy to the New York Economic Club, where he said a key to returning economic greatness is America’s energy sector, particularly in Pennsylvania.

“Energy [policy] is what caused our problem initially. Energy is going to bring us back.”

He contrasted his approach to that of Vice President Kamala Harris, who he said “wants four more years to impose a radical left agenda a threat to every American family.”

Trump laid out a plan to increase domestic oil and gas production.

“First, I will end Kamala Harris’ energy crusade and implement a policy of energy abundance, energy independence, and even energy dominance. We have more liquid gold under our feet than any other country, including Russia and Saudi Arabia. We’ll be using it. My plan will cut energy prices in half, or more than that within 12 months of taking office.”

By bringing gasoline prices lower than $2 a gallon, other prices, from airfares to electricity, will go down, he said.

“Meanwhile, Kamala Harris cannot bring down the price of anything because her energy policies are driving up the cost of everything. Everything is up, way up,” said Trump.

The Biden-Harris administration shut down the Keystone pipeline in America “on day one” while allowing the Russian Nordstream 2 pipeline to go through, Trump reminded his audience.

“If I was president, oil production would be four times higher than it is right now,” said Trump. Additionally, he had opened up the ANWAR site in Alaska to drilling but the Biden-Harris administration closed it.

And, the Biden-Harris EPA has shut down “more than 50 power plants…setting the stage for a catastrophic energy shortfall that will make inflation far worse than it has ever been.”

Trump said he would issue an energy emergency declaration to cut through bureaucratic red tape to open more energy plants.

“We will blast through every bureaucratic hurdle to issue rapid approvals for new drilling, new pipelines, new refineries, new power plants, new electric plants, and reactors of all types.

Prices will fall immediately in anticipation of this tremendous supply that we can create very quickly. And we’ll be the leader instead of the laggard,” said Trump.

Trump said Harris wants to “ban fracking in Pennsylvania and everywhere else, take away your private health insurance and perhaps most pertinent to the very brilliant people in this room, raise your business and corporate taxes, and unbelievably she will seek a tax on unrealized capital gains…She’s been after this for years and as everyone knows, she’s a Marxist who destroyed almost singlehandedly San Francisco.”

“Kamala Harris is the first major party nominee who fundamentally rejects freedom and embraces Marxism, communism, and fascism,” Trump said.

As for her claim that she’s reversed her position on fracking and now opposes a ban, Trump dismissed it as unbelievable.

“Harris recently said her values have not changed,” Trump said. “That’s what she wants.”

“Communism is the past. Freedom is the future, and it is time to send Comrade Kamala Harris back home to California,” Trump added.

Trump also promised to end the “Green New Deal” and its mandates for electric vehicles; cut unnecessary regulations; prioritize government efficiency, saying Tesla CEO Elon Musk agreed to help; encourage domestic manufacturing; and improve affordable housing by reducing inflation to lower mortgage costs.

“She’s promising communist price controls, wealth confiscation, energy annihilation, reparations, the largest tax increase ever imposed, and mass amnesty and citizenship for tens of millions of migrants who will consume trillions of dollars in federal benefits and destroy Social Security and Medicare,” Trump said.

The Harris campaign said Thursday, “Vice President Harris has a plan for a new way forward on the economy to boost the middle class, working Americans, and small businesses. She has an agenda that is responsible, funding her plans by ensuring billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share. She has an agenda to reduce Americans’ grocery, healthcare, and housing costs and other everyday expenses where most Americans just need a little help.

“Trump may try to distort objective reality on his dangerous plans, but mainstream experts agree on the devastating results of his agenda: shrinking the economy, undermining job growth, driving up inflation, exploding the national debt, and raising taxes on the middle class.”

Trump argues he’s the best choice for the economy.

“For four straight years, I fought for American workers like I would fight for my own family,” Trump said. “I took care of our economy like I would take care of my own company. In every decision I asked, will I create jobs here or will I be sending jobs overseas? I always put America first.”

Please follow DVJournal on social media: X@DVJournal or Facebook.com/DelawareValleyJournal

During an appearance at a medical products company in North Philadelphia, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance offered his own diagnosis of American politics: Democrats are gaslighting you.

“We have a country that’s being failed by its present leadership,” said Sen. Vance (R-Ohio). “Don’t let anybody gaslight you here. Kamala Harris is running around the country and saying ‘On Day One,’ she wants to bring the cost of goods and the cost of housing under control. She says ‘On Day One,’ she wants to make the cost of groceries and housing more affordable to American citizens.

“Kamala Harris, where you have you been?” Vance asked. “Day One was three and a half years ago!”

Vance’s speech came after Harris revealed her economic plan that includes giving first-time homebuyers $25,000 and imposing government price controls on groceries.

Vance was introduced by DiSorb Systems CEO Ted McLaughin, who told the enthusiastic crowd America needs experienced entrepreneurs like former President Donald Trump to run the country, noting that Democrats Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) have no business experience.

“Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the epitome of career politicians,” he said.

Vance came to prominence as a best-selling author who wrote about his experiences growing up in the economically-depressed environs of Appalachia, and he’s been an outspoken advocate of Trump’s “America First” policies that promote domestic economic activity, in part by imposing tariffs on imported goods.

“We’ve got to stop the Chinese and everybody else from undercutting the wages of American workers.  If you want access to American markets, you ought to deal fairly with the American people. Union and nonunion alike, we’re going to stop the Chinese from building their middle class on the back of the American middle class,” Vance said.

Vance noted Harris has also said she wants more manufacturing jobs in the U.S.

“Well, Kamala, if you really, really want to bring American manufacturing back to this country, might I suggest you vote for Donald Trump,” said Vance. “Get out of this race.”

Vance, who sat down for a series of tough interviews on the Sunday news shows, called out the Democratic ticket for refusing to take questions from the press.

“It is disgraceful that Kamala Harris pretends to run for the presidency of the United States, but she refuses to stand before the American people without a teleprompter standing between.  What are you so afraid of? The American people are good and kind.”

“If you want to be the people’s president, you ought to be willing to stand before the American people and answer a few tough questions. I don’t think that’s too much to ask, is it?”

Vance also turned his fire on Harris’s running mate, who has been besieged by video clips and press statements he’s made that were less than accurate about his service in the National Guard.

“Everything that comes out of [Tim Walz’s] mouth about his military service is 25 percent of a lie,” Vance said, adding:  “It occurred to me the closest that Tim Walz has ever come to combat, even though he said he ‘carried a weapon in war,’ is when he let rioters burn Minneapolis to the ground.

“The American people deserve to be led by someone who is willing to get out there and talk to somebody,” said Vance. “Kamala and Tim, stop hiding in the basement. Get out there and campaign.”

When a reporter asked Vance about abortion, the crowd booed.

Vance said he and Trump are “focused on making the American Dream affordable again.”

But added Trump said that Pennsylvania will have a different abortion policy than Ohio or California. “Let the states decide.”

Their Democratic opposition is talking about “taxpayer-funded abortions up until the moment of birth,” said Vance.

“We want Americans to feel like they can afford to have families again,” said Vance. “You talk to young women who have an unexpected pregnancy, a lot of them feel like they don’t have options. How are you going to feed a baby? How are you going to house a baby?”

DVJournal asked him what a Trump-Vance administration’s position on Israel and the war in Gaza would be.

“Our position is pretty simple. The best thing for Israel and the best thing for the United States is for this war to be over as quickly as possible and for Hamas to be destroyed in the process,” Vance said. “You have Kamala Harris, who said she’s really concerned about civilian casualties. Well, I’m concerned about civilian casualties, too. If you’re concerned about civilian casualties, you want the war to be over as quickly as possible, and you want to destroy Hamas’ ability to fight.

Carolyn ‘Bunny’ Welsh

“She’s pursued policies that are just the opposite,” Vance said. “Not allowing Israel to finish the job against Hamas is the worst of all [outcomes].”

Former Chester County Sheriff Carolyn ‘Bunny’ Welsh was at the Philly event, and she noted that he grew up poor and served in the Marines.

After the event, attendees told DVJournal they were impressed.

“He’s a strong partner for Trump,” said Welsh. “He’ll go through a wall for him. He’s articulate and measured.”

“I think he was great,” said Melissa Hertenberger of Langhorne after the event. “He had a clear presentation, and he knows what it is to be in business and how to get things done.”

Gary Heasley, a Chester County resident, said, “JD Vance has the ability to articulate the platform that is necessary to restore this nation. And he’s already voting to implement it [in the Senate]. He’s a great choice. You can see it when he goes on Democrat TV channels, CNN, MSNBC. He’s consistently fighting for the pro-America agenda to get these policies through, not the globalist agenda.”

Vance “can explain it, but he can also execute it,” Heasley said.

“He’s very quick on his feet. I like what he says,” added West Goshen resident Felice Fein. “He says what he means, and he means what he says. He believes it.”

Please follow DVJournal on social media: X@DVJournal or Facebook.com/DelawareValleyJournal

A new Franklin & Marshall College poll of Pennsylvania voters found 46 percent support Vice President Kamala Harris and 43 percent support former President Donald Trump in the race for the White House. Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received six percent support while Libertarian Chase Oliver and progressive Jill Stein each received one percent.

The results reflect how tight the presidential race is in the Keystone State.

“The size of a Beaver Stadium football crowd is going to determine the outcome of this election,” quipped Mercury Senior Vice President Vince Galko, a longtime state GOP strategist.

Harris’s margin in the Franklin & Marshall poll is similar to the leads she held in the Quinnipiac and New York Times/Siena polls released this week.

“The greatest change in the presidential race comes from the consolidation of support for Harris among the Democratic factions,” said Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research and the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at Franklin & Marshall College.

About half of the 920 registered voters felt Pennsylvania was “on the wrong track.” Residents tagged the economy, specifically unemployment and gas and utility prices, as the most important issue in the state at 31 percent.

Seventeen percent of voters who support Harris said it was because she wasn’t Trump. Another 17 percent cited women’s rights while 15 percent praised her character.

Almost 30 percent of voters who support Trump cited the economy. Another 20 percent said the issue was immigration.

Galko thinks Harris will experience a reality check once next week’s Democrat convention is over.

“The more America sees the Democratic Party of 2024, the more they’re gonna realize, ‘This is not my cup of tea,’” he said.

That won’t stop the Harris and Trump campaigns from spending millions on campaign ads in Pennsylvania. They’re expected to pay a combined $211 million on TV, digital, and radio ads in the state this election cycle. About $42 million has been spent since Harris replaced President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket. That’s the most of any state in the U.S.

In the high-stakes U.S. Senate race between Democrat incumbent Bob Casey Jr. and Republican challenger Dave McCormick, Casey leads McCormick 48 percent to 36 percent. Another 15 percent said they weren’t sure. Of that bloc, 20 percent were considering McCormick to Casey’s 12 percent.

Galko suspects the undecided are mostly made up of Republican suburban voters who left the party due to dissatisfaction with previous statewide candidates. He thinks McCormick has the resume to bring them back into the fold, so long as he focuses on issues that matter to the state.

“He obviously knows Pennsylvania, he’s invested in Pennsylvania, [and] he has deep roots in Pennsylvania,” said Galko.

At the same time, Galko suggested McCormick turn his campaign from a statewide campaign into more regional one with ads tailored to different Pennsylvania markets. Galko said that was how Republicans like Pat Toomey and Arlen Specter succeeded in winning their U.S. Senate races.

The F&M poll results appear to agree with McCormick’s message resonating with certain sections of Pennsylvania. He led Casey 46 to 39 percent in Northeast Pennsylvania, 47 to 40 percent in Central Pennsylvania, and 50 to 29 percent in Northwest Pennsylvania. Casey’s support coalesced around Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley where he leads McCormick 60 to 20 percent. He also led McCormick 51 to 34 percent in Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas.

On the generic congressional ballot, Democrats led Republicans 44 to 42 percent. Thirteen percent were undecided.

Please follow DVJournal on social media: X@DVJournal or Facebook.com/DelawareValleyJournal

Former president Donald Trump, who has offered little details surrounding his planned economic policies for a possible second presidency, has made headlines by announcing his proposal to eliminate federal tax on tips for service workers. The proposal is aimed at securing working-class voters despite tipped workers making up only 2.5 percent of all employment. Of these, 12.6 percent are teens ineligible to vote and 37 percent had incomes low enough they faced no federal income tax.

This policy has sparked enthusiasm and criticism. Vice President Kamala Harris has even endorsed the idea.

As Senate Republicans swiftly introduce related legislation, it’s crucial to examine the broader implications, particularly in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling in Snyder v. United States.

During a June campaign stop in Nevada, Trump unveiled this proposal, which he has since made a central part of his platform. Some Republican senators have introduced the “No Tax on Tips Act.” The legislation would allow taxpayers to claim a 100 percent deduction for tipped wages, if passed.

The proposal could result in a significant loss of federal revenue — which the Committee for a Responsible Budget estimated to be between $150 billion and $250 billion over the next decade. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that these cuts if extended past 2025 would cost nearly $4 trillion between 2025 and 2035. This comes on the heels of Trump’s tax cuts from his first administration, which reduced the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, with an additional 20 percent cut promised.

Supporters argue the act provides much-needed relief to service workers who rely on tips for a significant part of their income. However, critics from both sides of the aisle question the effectiveness and fairness of the proposal. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board and experts from the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution’s Tax Policy Center contend that the proposal could ultimately harm many workers and slow efforts to raise the minimum wage.

To understand the potential legal ramifications of Trump’s proposal, it’s crucial to look back at the Supreme Court ruling in Snyder v. United States. In the June ruling, the court addressed the issue of tax exemptions and the federal taxation system itself. The case concerned the legality of paying government officials “gratuities” or “tips” under federal bribery law and whether “section 666 criminalizes gratuities … payments in recognition of actions the official has already taken or committed to take, without any quid pro quo agreement in those actions.”

In the 6-3 opinion, the court remanded the case to the lower court, which held that section 666 “prohibits bribes to state and local officials but does not make it illegal for those officials to accept gratuities for their past actions.”

Harkening former Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s Citizens United ruling in his majority opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh drew the conclusion that bribes and gratuities are not the same thing:

“Bribes are payments made or agreed to before an official act in order to influence the official with respect to that future official act. … (Gratuities) are typically payments made to an official after an official act as a token of appreciation.”

As Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson explained in her dissent, for the purposes of public corruption, there is simply no distinction between a bribe and a gratuity: “Because reading (section) 666 to prohibit gratuities — just as it always has — poses no genuine threat to common gift giving but does honor Congress’s intent to punish rewards corruptly accepted by government officials in ways that are functionally indistinguishable from taking a bribe.

As the “No Tax on Tips Act” does not affect a large enough segment of Americans to provide a sizeable electoral effect and also fails to address the many factors the act could have on the economy, could the act really be in direct response to these newly legalized “bribes”?

While the act appears to be a straightforward benefit for service workers, the effect is far-reaching, with its potential to create a large loss of federal revenue and worsen wage stagnation. Most important, with the Snyder v. United States ruling, questions arise about the act’s intent and potential for far-reaching legal ramifications. As lawmakers and the public scrutinize this proposal, we must weigh the immediate benefits against the long-term consequences on our nation’s ethical governance.

Please follow DVJournal on social media: X@DVJournal or Facebook.com/DelawareValleyJournal

As Congressional review of what happened on the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump has gotten underway, it is imperative that state and local law enforcement are offered a state-level forum to discuss what happened and what can be done better from their point of view.

It is with this need in mind that I recently introduced House Resolution 501 in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

This resolution would form a purely bipartisan Select Committee on the Trump Assassination Attempt, made up of three Republicans and three Democrats, to probe what happened on July 13th by giving state and local law enforcement a platform to describe what happened from their perspective. It will also offer policymakers ideas about how to improve state and local law enforcement practices, especially as they coordinate with federal law enforcement agencies, as Pennsylvania will remain the epicenter of political and cultural events in the coming years.

What happened on July 13th is an undeniable tragedy. One Pennsylvanian was killed shielding his family from the errant bullets of a would-be assassin. Two more were critically injured.

From the perspective of the head of the U.S. Secret Service, the day represented the “most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades.”

But there were also stories of heroism, patriotism, and citizens and law enforcement officers doing the right things in the right way. From what we know, state and local law enforcement responded with bravery and professionalism while keeping Pennsylvanians and high-profile individuals safe during a chaotic time.

These frontline heroes should not be pushed to the sideline or under the bus in how this story is told. They deserve the ability to have a more nuanced forum where they can present their story, their perspective, and their expertise in explaining what happened and how it can be prevented from happening again.

And the latter part of that is imperative as we look toward the future.

Pennsylvania is and will remain a political battleground state throughout the course of the 2024 election cycle and well into the future.

Our electoral votes are some of the most coveted among Presidential contenders and, as such, it is obvious that July 13th will not be the last time a Presidential candidate will be campaigning within the borders of the Commonwealth.

Also, as we approach the 250th anniversary of our nation’s independence, Pennsylvania will be the home of many major celebrations commemorating that event, including major sporting events like the World Cup, the MLB All Star Game, the NFL draft, and the PGA Championship.

Combined, all of this means that it is not the last time state and local law enforcement, and other first responders, will have to coordinate with federal law enforcement partners to keep civilians and high-profile individuals safe from harm.

This committee will not look to assign blame but will inform Pennsylvania policymakers about what we can do to provide law enforcement and first responders with the tools they need to meet or create best practices that ensure the type of tragedy that happened on July 13th is not repeated.

Initially, reaction from the other side of the aisle in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has been unreceptive with Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton (D-Philadelphia), saying federal investigations should be enough.

Not only does this take an incomplete view of what federal investigators are looking at, but it is very on brand for Democrats to want to deny front-line law enforcement officers a voice and hear from their perspective.

While the Pennsylvania House of Representatives is not due back in session until the end of September, I would hate to think this commonsense imperative would go unmoved because of House Democrats in Pennsylvania no longer having a numeric majority in our chamber after two of their members just resigned.

The bottom line here is politics should not get in the way of looking into this serious matter and giving state and local law enforcement a voice.

Congress has seen the urgency in beginning a review of what happened and how to prevent it in the future.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives should join them.

Please follow DVJournal on social media: X@DVJournal or Facebook.com/DelawareValleyJournal