DV Journal

Former President Trump’s Delaware Valley supporters reacted strongly to the assassination attempt against him at a rally in western Pennsylvania on Saturday.

The shooting, which wounded Trump in the ear, left Sarver resident Corey Comperatore, 50, dead and injured two others. The State Police said they were in stable condition on Sunday.

“President Biden and the Democratic Party characterized our former president as Hitler and an existential threat to our democracy. Such talk invites action to save our democracy by killing the threat. Such talk negates any talk of uniting our country,” said Cheltenham resident Myron Goldman.

“It’s absolutely terrifying that an innocent man was killed and the republican candidate for president was almost assassinated in Pennsylvania. I don’t think Republicans are safe here. The consistent lies from liberal media about Donald Trump need to end,” said Jamie Cohen Walker, a Chalfont resident.

Philadelphia resident Elliott Tessler said, “This will have far-ranging ramifications – all in Trump’s favor. The picture of a defiant, bloodied Trump with his fist raised will be iconic and a rallying point and a campaign winner. The incompetence (purposeful?) of the Secret Service was an embarrassment.”

“This was an act of war against we the people, and we have four more months to come. The inability of the local police and the Secret Service is disgusting and needs to be fully investigated. By (President) Biden asking for a ‘bullseye,’ President Trump has cemented his second term,” said Richard Pruett of Drexel Hill.

West Goshen resident Felice Oliver Fein said, “The life lost and injuries sustained by President Trump and his followers at the Butler rally are tragic. I pray for all the families involved and those in the audience who were undoubtedly traumatized.

“The hatred that some feel for a man who is trying to save this Constitutional Republic stems, in large part, from the biased media reporting on Donald Trump and the social media censorship of conservative thought. As a result, people don’t know the truth about most issues and emotions escalated to the point of violence. Although I am not an expert in security, I find it incredibly suspicious that those in charge of planning the Butler rally had such a small security perimeter with a clear line of sight to the podium.

“The former PepsiCo executive and current Secret Service Director, Kimberly Cheatle, should resign.
Fein said. “Maybe Pepsi will take her back. Those in Congress who were calling for Donald Trump to lose his Secret Service security detail should also resign. Everyone knew that his life was in danger with the increased rhetoric, yet they wanted to put President Trump in harm’s way. Again, they should resign. In the corporate world, when someone can’t do the job or does it poorly, then firing is on the table. Here, the American public needs to fire the incompetent leaders in Washington D.C. by voting them out!”

Ellen Cox, leader of the Doylestown Republican Club, said she is “sickened and horrified by the attempted assassination of President Trump and appalled at the foul social media comments agreeing with it from people who claim ‘Hate Has No Home Here.’

“I strongly support Trump and oppose our opposition, but no one should be targeted like this, and I’m vehemently against any political violence. It is not how you win. It was ‘when,’ not ‘if,’ this was going to happen since violent rhetoric against Trump and his supporters has become the norm. And tragically, a man lost his life protecting his family yesterday at the Rally. Unreal.” Cox said.

Joy Schwartz, a Drexel Hill resident, said, “In the last several hours, Democrat leaders and journalists have repeated the mantra: ‘Theirs is absolutely no place for political violence anywhere in America!’ But they cannot bring themselves to utter Trump’s name or the word ‘assassination.’

“Since 2016, how many Democrat politicians, news outlets, and entertainers have repeatedly and viciously called for violence against President Trump and his followers.  In every Biden speech we hear dozens of variations of ‘Orange man bad!’” Schwartz added.

Newtown resident Fred D’Ascenzo said, “I had wondered and already had conversations that a last ditch effort would /could be an assassination attempt as all other efforts were failing. It didn’t help to see him depicted as Hitler,a rapist, a convicted felon, and an all around evil person by the left. I believe there was also a statement by Biden the he should be in the bullseye. My hope is that just maybe this event could bring down the temperature of both parties.”

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It is an old childhood truism that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” In the United States, where speech is protected with a constitutional and social ferocity like no other country in the world, this has always been the default position. We want strong, full-throated debates, and we don’t want to punish people for using language that offends.

But sometimes, language crosses the line. Sometimes, and even our own jurisprudence recognizes this, language can incite violence. That’s one of the exceptions to the almost absolute protection for free speech. And then we have those situations where language is used not so much to incite as to dehumanize. And if you are no longer human, you are no longer protected against inhumanity.

Take the Rwandan massacres. In 1994, the ruling Hutu government enlisted the aid of several radio stations, most notably Radio Television Mille Collines (RTMC), to spread propaganda among the illiterate Hutu population, urging them to look at their Tutsi neighbors as animals. RTMC exercised an immense amount of power and influence in the country. Concordia University has gathered the transcripts of some of those recordings, and they chill the blood. According to the preface to those transcriptions:

“From October 1993 to late 1994, RTLM was used by Hutu leaders to advance an extremist Hutu message and anti-Tutsi disinformation, spreading fear of a Tutsi genocide against Hutu, identifying specific Tutsi targets or areas where they could be found, and encouraging the progress of the genocide.”

We all know what happened. Starting in April 1994 and continuing for 100 days, over 800,000 people were murdered by the Interhamwe, the government forces. And those radio broadcasts helped gin up the anger against the Tutsis.

Of course, the genocide would have occurred without the radio transmissions. But the words used and disseminated by those in positions of authority were powerful weapons, turning people’s opinions against an innocent but hated ethnic minority. Words are cheap and plentiful, and the arsenal is easily replenished.

I write this not to compare what happened this weekend in Butler, Pa., to the Rwanda genocide. That would be a foolish use of my own words. Donald Trump is not dead, he survived an assassination attempt, and the killer was neutralized. We do not even yet know his motives, and it will likely be a while before we do. In the meantime, conspiracy theorists will weigh in with their tin foil hat opinions. I do not own any of those.

But I am also not insensitive to the fact that the political climate has become dangerously heated over the last eight years. When Donald Trump was elected back in 2016, women, in particular, acted as if they had been ordered to purchase burqas, leave school, and keep their wombs open for rental. Minority groups started screaming about the revocation of rights, and we were told that everyone in the Trump administration was one level down from Satan.

But it’s when he left office that things started to really ramp up, to the point that this past week alone, I counted at least 127 times on the combined networks of CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC and CBS that Trump was called “a threat to democracy,” or variations of that phrase. I started actually taking notes and writing down the times the words were mentioned after a roundtable on CNN used the terminology on every single broadcast between seven and midnight. It was a script, and they all used it.

When they call someone a “convicted felon” because they actually have been convicted, albeit under questionable circumstances, you can be annoyed at the lack of grace. Still, you can’t say it’s inaccurate. But when you paint someone as a dangerous man, a despot, someone who will destroy the country, force women to push out babies and then die on the delivery table, create concentration camps for immigrants and allow police to kill minorities at will, you create a very dangerous dynamic in society.

Most reasonable people won’t do anything. Most will just shake their heads and say, “Yeah, I hate the guy. What’s for dinner?”

But there are far too many people like the 20-year-old in Butler, Pa., who decided to go out in a blaze of glory targeting the “threat to democracy.” A troubled, diseased mind is susceptible to rhetoric and propaganda. It is political malpractice to give them the push they need.

Thank God Donald Trump survived. Now can everyone just shut up?

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A gunman tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a rally in western Pennsylvania on Saturday evening, apparently grazing his ear and setting off a wave of reaction from Keystone State politicians.

At least one person attending the Butler, Pa. campaign rally was killed, as was the shooter. Trump posted on social media that he was OK.

“I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick was at the rally preparing to go onstage when the shots were fired. He told Fox News the scene was “very chaotic” and estimated the crowd at 15,000 people.

“The crowd just sort of, you know, went to the ground, and the Secret Service came and very quickly tackled the president.”

McCormick was uncertain which direction the shots came from or whether there was more than one weapon.

“Sadly, someone behind me up in the bleachers was definitely wounded. And there was a lot of blood. The police came in and helped carry that person out of the stands so they could get the care they needed.”

“I was sitting to President Trump’s right as he was facing the crowd,” said McCormick, an Army combat veteran. “And I was in the front row. I felt like some of the shots came from the left side.”

“There were seven or eight shots,” he said.

Asked if Trump was lucky to be alive, McCormick said, “Yeah, absolutely. I think so.”

A photo released after the shooting showing a bullet narrowly missing Trump’s head appears to back up McCormick’s view.

“It was a very scary moment,” he added.

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who’s been mentioned as a potential fill in if President Joe Biden drops out of the race, posted a statement on social media.

“Violence targeted at any political party or political leader is absolutely unacceptable. It has no place in Pennsylvania or the United States. I have been briefed on the situation. Pennsylvania state police are on the scene in Butler County and working with our federal and local partners.”

Many Pennsylvanians reacted with shock and concern.

State Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) said, “The resilience of America must overcome any gutless acts of violence. Praying for President Trump, his family, and any innocent victims and their families who may have been harmed by this senseless act. Thank you to the Secret Service, law enforcement, and emergency responders who assisted in keeping things safe and calm. God Bless America.”

U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks) said on X, “Praying for President Trump, his family, all in attendance at the rally, and our country. Political violence has no justification or any place in America—against anyone, for any reason, at any time. We will find this person/people, and we will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”

Also on X, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester) said on X, “I’m heartened to hear that it appears the former President is safe after today’s attack in PA. I want to thank the Secret Service for their quick and decisive actions. There is still a great deal that we don’t know, but what we all do know is that there is no place for violence.”

Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), also on X, said, “I am monitoring the situation at President Trump’s rally in Butler, and I’ve reached out to the State Police to offer support. Political violence is never acceptable, and I am hoping former president Trump & all attendees are safe. Everyone in Butler should listen to law enforcement.”

David Winkler, the Republican running against Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Montgomery), said, “I pray for President Trump’s safety & wellbeing, & I also pray for America as a whole. We will rise up a stronger and more united than ever. My opponent, Madeleine Dean, is complicit with her divisive rhetoric. We need to elect leaders who will chill the divisions & unify our country.” Dean reposted Shapiro’s quote on X.

“This is a somber day for our nation. My prayers are with President Trump and any other families that have been affected. I’m thankful for the swift and heroic response of law enforcement who undoubtedly saved countless lives today,” said Neil Young, the Republican running against Houlahan.

Alfeia Goodwin said, “As a Republican Congressional Candidate for the 5th Congressional District and a Trump47 Team Captain, I am deeply disheartened and disturbed by the violence taken against President Trump this evening in Butler, Pennsylvania. President Trump is a fighter who fights the good fight. I am praying for the safety and strength of him and his family.”

Goodwin’s opponent, U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Delaware), had not released a statement by press time.

Ashley Ehasz, the Democrat who is running against Fitzpatrick, said on X, “As a veteran who has seen the impact of political violence, I unequivocally condemn today’s violence against former president Donald Trump. I call for those responsible to be held accountable swiftly and wish for a full recovery for those injured. Violence is never the answer.”

Trump’s campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, said on X, “Well, of course, they tried to keep him off the ballot, they tried to put him in jail, and now you see this.”

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Could a digital ad by a Democratic PAC be designed to trick Republican voters into not voting?

Republican Party Chairman Lawrence Tabas thinks so.  Tabas asked the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Al Schmidt, to investigate a recent ad. Tabas contends the ad weaponizes disinformation to suppress potential GOP voters from voting by mail.

“This is a serious crime, with very serious implications for our democracy,” Tabas wrote to Schmidt. “PA Values PAC executed this June 2024 ad…knowing fully that the targets of the ad may not vote at all in November, if not for the convenience of mail-in ballots.”

The ad used old clips of former President Donald Trump saying that he opposes mail-in ballots. However, Trump has changed his position and now advocates voting by mail.  At his recent rally in Philadelphia, Trump told his supporters to vote whether early, by mail, or in person.

And the Trump campaign threatened to sue the PAC over the misleading ad, which addresses  “MAGA patriots” and calls voting by mail “totally corrupt.”

A Federal Election Commission report showed the PAC spent $44,000 on a digital ad in June.

U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.), a staunch Trump supporter, sent Shapiro a letter about the ad.

““Of the hundreds of thousands of views, Pennsylvania Values’ ad has likely dissuaded some not to vote by mail, or worse, to not vote at all,” Meuser said. “Damage to election integrity and confidence in the election process has been done. Governor Shapiro’s office must condemn this attempt to suppress votes to help restore voter confidence that has been eroded. Election integrity is paramount, and I believe it can be achieved in Pennsylvania. We must work in a non-partisan manner to prevent the erosion of voter confidence in election outcomes.  A strong response from Governor Shapiro and Secretary Schmidt will show Pennsylvania citizens that this administration is committed to combating election law violations, regardless of party.”

Schmidt is also head of Pennsylvania’s “Election Threat Task Force,” launched by Governor Josh Shapiro in February of this year. According to a press release on the Department of State’s website, Shapiro said:”…the Election Threats Task Force will…combat misinformation, safeguard the rights of every citizen, and ensure this [November’s] election is safe, secure, free, and fair.”

The ad ran for four days in June, before it was removed by Google for “policy violation.” However, it had already  been seen by hundreds of thousands of viewers.

The ad’s use of “our president” and “stand with Trump,” according to Tabas, was intended to trick voters into believing that the ad, and its demands, emanated from Trump or authorized representatives. He reminded Schmidt that, under Section 3527, title 25, of the Pennsylvania Code, activity intended to influence unduly or overawe voters, prevent voters from voting or restrain their freedom of choice is not just an impediment to free and fair elections, but is also a felony.

“I am bringing this matter before you and imploring you to investigate and handle the matter in the thorough and determined manner pledged by the governor, when he launched the Task Force.”

PA Values PAC Treasurer Maria Galdo could not be reached for comment.

The verdict in New York v. Donald Trump didn’t come as a surprise. Shock was a typical response unless you could work inside the Eric Holder Justice Department.

Normalizing a two-tiered justice system has been a priority of the left for more than a decade.

As an attorney inside the Voting Section in the notorious Civil Rights Division run by Tom Perez, I witnessed justice for thee but not for me as early as 2009. Early in the Barack Obama administration, we were told explicitly to stop enforcing federal laws that required voter roll maintenance of the dead and ineligible. Progressives didn’t like that part of the law, and they said so.

The laws the left doesn’t like are erased by bureaucratic hostility. Let’s call that democracy dying in darkness by a bureaucrat’s fiat.

Then I saw my voting rights case against the racialist New Black Panther Party for stalking a polling place dismissed, in part, as the DOJ Inspector General found, because of a pervasive unwillingness to prosecute those sorts of lawbreakers with laws designed originally to help racial minorities.

This was 2009, and unequal justice was just getting started. What seemed like a fluke, 15 years later, is a governing philosophy.

So Trump was in the dock as the guilty verdicts from the Manhattan jurors were read. Unequal justice now includes forum selection. Beware the New York or District of Columbia jury if you are a conservative.

What we are facing is more than good old-fashioned bias and prejudice. It is significantly more dangerous.

We are in a country where people no longer see reality similarly. The Democrats lusted for Trump’s conviction because they were filled with hatred and saw him as an existential threat to “democracy.”

The bureaucrats rigging the system, the professors annihilating rational thought in the classroom, the Justice Department lawyers deciding which case to bring and not bring, they simply do not think they are doing anything wrong.  This is how they see the world.

That is hard for many to swallow, especially for anyone who hasn’t worked inside the federal leviathan. They think they are doing the right thing. The Justice Department, for example, has so many procedures and so much institutional inertia that it all self-justifies whatever action, or lack of action, is chosen.

They are the smartest, most educated lawyers, highly skilled in finding high-cotton excuses and justification in the lawbooks for whatever carnage they inflict on the rule of law. Thick and thorough memos with letterhead support every Justice Department decision you find objectionable.

I am frequently asked when will so-and-so be held accountable. It depends.

The answer is never if you are lovebirds Peter Strzok and Lisa Page or contemptuous-of-Congress Eric Holder. If you are Steve Bannon or Peter Navarro for doing the same thing, welcome to Federal Detention Center, Miami.

Everyone should have seen this coming. The evidence they said in 2009 didn’t support prosecuting the New Black Panthers, even if it did a few months earlier. Holder’s Justice Department started this mess. It started small but has metastasized.

Some in Congress saw this coming a decade or more ago, but members like Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, were a small caucus minority then, and House leadership was more interested in avoiding government shutdowns.

To the rank-and-file prosecutors now in power, Trump should be prosecuted but not President Biden for similar handling of classified documents. Trump paying to keep girlfriends quiet is different, they think, to what Bill Clinton did to keep his girlfriends quiet.

Those too young to understand, Google Paula Jones Settlement.

Get used to it; there isn’t accountability in this two-tiered justice system. Oh, and the prosecutor in the New York case is none other than Holder Civil Rights Division alumnus Matthew Colangelo, a long-familiar name.

Peggy Noonan missed the mark when she wrote “we can’t go on indefinitely like this.” When polarized camps have different political and cultural realities, there isn’t a reverse gear, Peggy.

Witness the reaction on the right to the hardly surprising jury verdict. Calls for states to arrest Biden came from voices not long ago and wouldn’t get close to that. Nullification is back in vogue; just ignore the feds, they cry.

How did that work last time?

The left doesn’t understand this powder keg they have built. They don’t understand that millions of mainstream Americans who vote Republican feel under siege.

Trump is the champion of what they believe in, and they think their champion is being railroaded by this two-tiered justice system. They fear they are next. They have endured years of the left attacking their values, their religion, their flag, their police and their Constitution.

Too jubilant, the left doesn’t understand them, and it is about to worsen.

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Pennsylvania’s primary election is over. What do the results say about the general election in November?

Primary turnout was low, perhaps because both parties have already picked their presidential nominees. And both U.S. Senate candidates, incumbent Democrat Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger Dave McCormick, ran unopposed.

Only 22.5 percent of registered Democrats and Republicans voted in Delaware County, 15.69 percent in Montgomery County, 31.6 percent in Bucks County, and 22.96 percent in Chester County. Pennsylvania primaries are closed, meaning only voters registered with a party can participate.

Despite having dropped out of the GOP presidential primary after Super Tuesday, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley still received 150,000 votes — about 16 percent of the total — on Tuesday. But she did far better in the Delaware Valley, winning 18 percent of the vote in Bucks County, 22.87 in Delaware County, 24.22 percent in Chester County and 24.7 percent in Montgomery County.

And while President Joe Biden received a higher percentage of the total (92 percent) than Trump (83 percent), campaign pro Jeff Jubelirer says the numbers “don’t portend well for either candidate.”

Trump has to bring in “those Haley voters, particularly in southeastern Pennsylvania,” said Jubelirer, vice president at Bellevue Communications Group. And while the vote for “uncommitted” and U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips “wasn’t as impressive,” the race in Pennsylvania is likely to be so close in November that Biden needs to get them back, too. It won’t be easy.

“They’re particularly upset about the situation in the Middle East,” Jubelirer said.

Commonwealth Foundation Senior Fellow Guy Ciarrocchi, who has run for office as a Republican, agreed the candidates have to focus on their base, rather than count on pulling in swing voters.

“These two candidates will spend some time trying to persuade the three undecided voters in Pennsylvania,” he quipped. It’s going to be a contest to turn out the party’s base, “particularly with two people that have 100 percent name ID and 99 percent of Americans have made up their minds.”

Polls show Pennsylvania’s presidential race remains too close to call, and Republican strategists didn’t see anything Tuesday to change that calculus.

“There’s a significant shift now to the general election, so we should be careful not to extrapolate too much from primary results,” said Charlie Gerow with Quantum Communications. “I continue to be very bullish on the Trump campaign in Pennsylvania. He will win this pivotal state and the question is how much ‘down ballot’ effect that will have.”

Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said, “Yesterday, President Trump continued his winning streak and delivered a resounding primary win in Pennsylvania. More importantly, President Trump continues to dominate Feeble Joe Biden in every battleground state poll including his home state. The Dishonest Biden campaign has spent millions in Pennsylvania gaslighting voters, but it is not enough to make everyone ignore Bidenflation and rising costs, Biden’s border bloodbath, and his war on American energy.”

And what about the other statewide elections? What do they say about the mood of the electorate?

Allegheny County resident Eugene DePasquale, the former auditor general, beat four candidates with ties to the Delaware Valley to become the Democratic Candidate for attorney general. He will face York County District Attorney Dave Sunday in November.

Jubelirer believes DePasquale benefited from his home county and that he had run statewide before.

“What did surprise me was Erin McClelland beating [Rep.] Ryan Bizzarro for treasurer,” he added. “Not a high-profile race, but Bizzarro had institutional support.”

Ciarrocchi credited geography and gender with McClelland’s surprise win.

“If I could go to central casting and run in a Pennsylvania primary, I would love Allegheny next to my name. So, that’s one and two, in a Democratic primary, if the race is between a man and a woman, put a nickel on the woman,” he said.

Bizzarro ran commercials against incumbent Treasurer Stacy Garrity, using abortion as an issue. Jubelirer believes Democrats will continue to use abortion as a cudgel against Republicans as long as it continues to work. Ciarrocchi agreed.

“I saw this almost two decades ago in Chester County around the issue of the Mariner Pipeline, in that when we started to see races for supervisor and school board where, when Chester County was a Republican county in the early 2000s, school board members would run for reelection, as Republicans. They would say, “I kept taxes down, and test scores are up,” said Ciarrocchi.

But, “environmental activists and some of the Democratic Party committee people that started to come forward as candidates and made the races about the pipelines and pipeline safety and clean water and clean air. And at first it seemed bizarre until it started to work.”

“The Democrats don’t have much else to run on,” Gerow said about abortion. They certainly can’t promote Biden. And their support on abortion is already baked in. Plus, there is going to be pushback against the radical ‘legal abortion for any reason, at any time, paid for by the taxpayers,’ which so many Democrats now support.”

Asked whether McCormick or Casey was happier with the primary results, Jubelirer said Casey while Ciarrocchi said McCormick.

McCormick might be harmed by the lack of enthusiasm of the Haley voters for Trump compared with the young, progressive Democrats for Biden, said Jubelirer.

“They’re not going to vote for Trump and McCormick, but they may not vote at all,” said Jubelirer.

McCormick “worked very hard since 2022 in losing by a hair… yeoman’s work of going to chicken dinners, listening to people and trying to be a leader and a healer. And all of that paid off last night, he ran unchallenged, which is very unique for such a major office,” said Ciarrocchi.

And Republicans are beginning to warm to using mail-in ballots, which will also help them, he said.

One potential bright spot for the Pennsylvania GOP, according to Gerow, is the left-wing politics of Democratic candidates like U.S. Rep. Summer Lee and the party’s nominee for auditor general, state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta.

“Except for Eugene DePasquale, who is much more moderate, the Democrats nominated far-left candidates. Additionally, they are not people with backgrounds or credentials for the office they’re seeking. For example, Kenyatta, who’s now their candidate for auditor general, has never audited anything bigger than his own checkbook. His entire background has been promoting far-leftist ideology, not much more.”

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Despite cold weather and biting wind, thousands of supporters waited for hours in a field behind a Lehigh County firehouse for former President Trump Saturday.

“The pilot said, ‘It’s too windy to land, sir,’” said Trump. “I said, ‘Land anyway.’ It’s windy, but it’s beautiful. It’s Pennsylvania.”

The crowd that had been chanting “U.S.A., U.S.A.” cheered in response.

Just hours before Trump took the stage, news broke of a massive missile and drone attack launched by Iran against Israel. Trump urged the audience to pray for the Jewish state.

“God bless the people of Israel. They’re under attack right now. That’s because we showed great weakness,” Trump said. “This would not have happened if we were in office. You know that. We know that. Everybody knows that.”

Trump told his supporters that, after voters returned him to the White House, “We will return the world to peace through strength. It will happen very quickly.”

A few minutes later, he said the war in Ukraine would not have occurred if he had been still president.

Edward X. Young, a Republican committeeman in Brick, N.J., has attended 74 Trump rallies.

Toward the end of his speech, Trump endorsed Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick, who is running against incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D).

“He’s a good man,” said Trump. “He wants to run a good ship. He’s a smart guy. He’s a very successful guy. He’s given up a lot to do this…Go out and vote for him because Casey doesn’t do a damn thing.”

Trump mentioned that inflation is nearly 4 percent and that “crooked Joe” had said it was “transitory.” He listed the various causes Biden had blamed inflation on.

“All of America knows this nightmare belongs to one person: crooked Joe Biden,” said Trump.

“That’s why the people of Pennsylvania are going to tell crooked Joe you’re fired. Get out,” he said to cheers. The crowd chanted, “Joe’s gotta go!”

Trump spoke about Biden’s border policy and his “green energy scam. Would everybody like to buy an electric car?” he asked.

Trump mentioned the fossil fuel bonanza in Pennsylvania.

“Under Biden, gasoline prices are up over 50 percent, and electricity prices are up 39 percent.”

Biden “launched a crusade to smash oil and gas,” said Trump.

“When I am back in the White House, we will end Biden’s inflation train wreck and tell Pennsylvania, ‘Drill, baby, drill,’” Trump said, noting that windmills kill birds, leaving “bird cemeteries” underneath.

Trump also mentioned his hush money trial set to start April 15 in Manhattan.

Audrey Strein

“They want to take away my constitutional right to talk,” said Trump. “They have a crooked judge…as the radical Left Democratic Party seeks to do anything possible to keep me from running and winning this election. Let me tell you, we’re winning by so much they don’t know what’s happening.”

His opponents had “Russia, Russia” and “every hoax imaginable,” he said.

“This is what you call a communist show trial. And we’re going communist. If we don’t win this election, this country is finished.”

“This election is a choice between the Biden fascist state or the republic.”

He said he would debate Biden “anywhere, anytime.”

The millions of undocumented immigrants who have come across the border since Biden became president are a threat to national security, with Trump adding that a person on the terrorist watch list was recently caught.

“As soon as we take office, we’ll seal the border,” he said. “We had the safest, most secure border in the history of our country.”  He mentioned Danelo Cavalcante, a convicted murderer who escaped the Chester County Prison and was on the lam for four weeks. Cavalcante, an illegal immigrant, was wanted for murder in Brazil.

Earlier on Saturday, Trump attended a fundraiser at the Newtown Athletic Club. Several hundred people, many with Trump banners, signs and apparel, hoped to catch a glimpse of the former president.

Newtown residents Joe Faboroso and Jim Slemmer spoke to DVJournal.

“He believes in freedom and America first,” Faboroso said of Trump. “Unlike ‘America Last’ Biden.”

Slemmer added, “Those politicians don’t care about the American people. They only care about money.”

Audrey Strein of Jamison supports Trump because of “promises made. Promises kept.” She said that when Trump was president, unemployment was down for women, Hispanics, and Blacks. Trump launched programs to help the inner city. She’s employed in the roofing industry, and she appreciates that Trump cut regulations that are “getting worse every day.”

Amy Buchko

“God bless Trump,” said John Myers, who’s been a volunteer firefighter in Bucks County for 50 years. A Newtown resident, his son served in the Air Force in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I think he’s a man of freedom,” said Yardley resident Amy Buchko. “I’m in fear for my grandchildren’s lives under the Biden regime.” Biden is “slowly taking our freedoms away.”

Democratic protestor Amy Perry of Morrisville carried a sign that said, “April 15 Forecast. Stormy.”

Trump’s presence in the state triggered Democrats, including Gov. Josh Shapiro, who bashed him on abortion. Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Delaware), Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D-Philadelphia), and candidate Ashley Ehasz, who is running against Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks), held a press conference on “reproductive rights.”

Trump said he would not sign a bill that bans abortion nationwide and that the rules about the procedure should be up to the states. He also supports exceptions to save women’s lives and for incest and rape.

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Republicans are focused on whom Donald Trump will select as his running mate. Trump has given some hints, stating loyalty and ideological agreement as critical determinants. And he has ruled out a few names, such as Vivek Ramaswamy.

As the Republican convention approaches, pundits will try to answer the question. Several names are mentioned as potential vice-presidential picks, but Trump should select someone young and without presidential aspirations.

Polling has indicated that most Americans do not want a Trump/Biden rematch, concerned about the ages of both candidates —  Biden 81, Trump 77. When many Americans are unhappy with the candidates, it suggests they want someone new and younger.

These concerns create an incentive for Trump to select a running mate who can appeal to a younger generation. The decline in youth planning to vote this cycle saw sharp declines among Republicans and independents. Selecting a younger running mate could potentially alleviate these voters’  concerns.

While there is a debate over the advantages a vice-presidential nominee brings to a ticket, there are examples of the vice-presidential candidate harming a campaign. For example, when John McCain selected firebrand Sarah Palin in 2008, he lost 2.1 million votes as a result, according to a Stanford study.

The key is to find a balance between image, experience and ideology. The 2016 election suggests that if the presidential nominee is seen as moderate, a more conservative running mate might be the answer. And vice versa if the nominee is more conservative.

There is another factor Trump should consider. He should select someone who will not run for president in 2028. The United States does not need a vice president waiting and planning for four years so they can have their shot at the White House. Trump’s potential vice president needs to fulfill the duties ascribed in the Constitution, advise the president, and represent the administration and the United States, without thinking of ways to position themselves for a potential White House run.

Has Trump mentioned any names that fit the criterion? Not really.

In February, Trump mentioned South Carolina senator Tim Scott and South Dakota governor Kristi Noem as potential running mates. Both are good answers to the age question, as Scott and Noem are in their 50s. Both also provide racial and gender diversity. However, Scott ran for the 2024 Republican nomination and has some presidential ambition. Noem, on the other hand, did not run for president, and she did say, “Why run if you can’t win.” This may indicate she has presidential ambition and, therefore, would not be the vice-presidential candidate.

Ben Carson is another name that has been mentioned. Carson was one of Trump’s Cabinet secretaries, and he would provide racial diversity for a party trying to appeal to a more diverse electorate. While Carson did run for president in 2016, he does not appear to have much presidential ambition anymore.

Carson is also soft-spoken, which would bring balance to Trump, who is more fiery. All of these factors would make him an ideal running mate. However, Carson is only a few years younger than Trump and probably would not tame the anxieties about Trump’s age.

For the sake of the Republican Party, Trump’s running mate should be there and leave when Trump’s time is up. The next vice president should be someone who doesn’t want the job and doesn’t want to run for president. We need new leaders, and the next president and vice president should clear the way for new, dynamic candidates to enter the arena.

This is what Republicans should look for in the vice-presidential nominee.

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New polls of Pennsylvania voters show the ping-pong contest between Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump still bouncing within the margin of error. The fight over Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seat also remains tight, with Republican Dave McCormick trailing incumbent Democrat Sen. Bob Casey Jr. by single digits.

A Susquehanna Polling and Research survey of 450 likely voters found Biden led Trump 50 to 45 percent, just outside the margin of error. While that poll was just released, the survey was conducted from Feb. 27 and March 6.

Perhaps most notably, Biden’s five-point edge is down from Susquehanna’s January poll when Biden led by eight points — 47 to 39 percent.

In another sign of how close the Keystone State race is likely to be,  a Bloomberg poll of 807 registered voters, conducted from March 8 to 12, had the race tied at 45 percent. A previous Bloomberg poll gave Trump a six-point lead.

Biden’s approval rating remained near historic lows at 40.5 percent. Fifty-five percent of voters disapproved of Biden.

So, why would an extremely unpopular Democrat poll better or equal to his Republican competition?

“Voters are faced with a binary choice for president,” public affairs executive Larry Ceisler told DVJournal. “It’s solidifying. It’s going to be a very close election.”

Republicans weren’t concerned that Keystone State voters would pick Biden in November.

“Although recently released, [the Susquehanna poll is] an old poll, taken almost a month old,” said longtime GOP strategist Charlie Gerow. “More recent polls show Trump winning Pennsylvania.”

The RealClearPolitics poll average gives Trump an extremely slim 0.2 percent lead in the state.

In an email to DVJournal, Susquehanna Polling and Research president and CEO James Lee acknowledged the results could be considered stale because they weren’t released for weeks.

“[We] wanted to be completely transparent about the dates the poll was conducted so you can decide for yourself,” he said.

That revelation didn’t concern Dr. Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College. He told DVJournal that he didn’t expect any dramatic shifts in polling because Americans have a “deep level of familiarity” with Biden and Trump.

As for the Senate race, Borick said McCormick’s campaign could take heart that he’s polling within a few points of Casey, an incumbent who sailed to reelection victories in 2012 and 2018.

Borick added the Casey camp could also see the poll as a positive because all other polls gave him a lead, albeit one that continues to tighten. “Going into a competitive election cycle and having any advantage is probably welcome news,” he said.

Democratic strategists like Neil Oxman expressed confidence Casey will remain on top.

“I just think that Casey is Pennsylvania,” Oxman told DVJournal. “He really represents the majority of Pennsylvanians…He has a lot of independent voters and he has a lot of Republicans who support him.”

An Emerson College Poll from earlier this month found nine percent of those surveyed would vote for Trump and Casey.

McCormick has touted his endorsements from the Pennsylvania Republican Party, GOP congressmen, and law enforcement groups including the Delaware County Fraternal Order of Police. He avoided a nasty primary fight when the Pennsylvania Department of State removed one candidate from the ballot while another withdrew.

Ceisler, however, wondered if there was still skepticism about McCormick following the 2022 U.S. Senate Republican primary where McCormick narrowly lost to TV’s Dr. Mehmet Oz. Oz, who was endorsed by Trump, lost to Democrat John Fetterman.

McCormick endorsed Trump for president shortly after Super Tuesday. But Trump has not weighed in on the Pennsylvania Senate race.

“McCormick is probably looking for the best of both worlds with Trump. But he could also end up with the worst of both worlds with Trump,” observed Ceisler.

The Casey and McCormick campaigns did not comment.

The GOP presidential primary contest is over. Donald Trump won 27 of the first 29 contests, and his last serious challenger, Nikki Haley, dropped out.

Most Republican voters are clearly in favor of a second term with Trump. It’s time for the Grand Old Party to unite behind the presumptive nominee and focus all of its energy on the campaign ahead to get Joe Biden — and his liberal policies — out of the White House.

Coming together after a bruising nominating contest is always a challenging step for a political party. Emotions are still raw after a primary that often devolved into petty personal attacks against candidates and their supporters, and the winning side’s temptation to seek political revenge against those who lost is always strong.

But Republicans need to unite now for one straightforward reason: Biden isn’t just vulnerable; he’s beatable.

A recent CBS News/YouGov poll shows how poorly voters see Biden’s time in office. Not only is Trump leading Biden 52 percent to 48 percent in a head-to-head comparison, but voters consistently give Trump better grades for his time in office.

When asked how the economy was during Trump’s first term in office, 65 percent of voters said it was “good,” compared to 38 percent who think today’s economy is doing well. On immigration, which recently became the top issue for all Americans, a whopping 72 percent said Trump’s policies would decrease the number of migrants flooding America, compared to 50 percent for Biden.

Trump also leads Biden in the swing states that will decide the 2024 presidential election — and likely control of Congress. A recent Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll shows Trump leading 48 percent to Biden’s 43 percent in seven swing states. Trump’s biggest lead is in North Carolina, where he’s up 9 points. That’s a massive advantage in a state Trump squeaked out a 1-point win in 2020.

A recent New York Times/Siena College poll yielded similar results, showing that Trump beat Biden 48 percent to 43 percent among registered voters. The same survey found that 65 percent of voters feel America is headed in the wrong direction under the current administration. The best Biden can point to is polls from Fox News and The Wall Street Journal that have Trump up by just 2 points.

And to top it all off, Biden has an approval rating of 38 percent. That’s not only abysmally bad, but it’s also historically bad. Biden has the lowest approval rating at this point in his presidency of any president in modern history.

All of this has Democrats slamming the panic button as they grabble with the fact that their candidate is an unpopular octogenarian who is saddled with an even less popular running mate.

The 2024 election will affect not only the presidency but also control of the Senate. With the progressive wing of the Democratic Party showing the exit to the last two moderate Senate Democrats, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Krysten Sinema of Arizona, Republicans stand their best chance in years of taking back the majority.

Manchin and Sinema were the lone centrist voices remaining in the Democratic Party. They took reasonable positions on immigration, economic growth and energy security. With their exit, there’s little to keep Democrats from pursuing an agenda of insecurity at home and abroad and higher energy prices.

It’s a cliché to say this is the most important election of our lifetime. Every election is important, but there’s no doubt much is at stake in November. The 2024 election will have far-reaching consequences for America, affecting domestic and international affairs.

We’ve seen what four years of Biden’s presidency have given us: rampant inflation, stagnant wages, and rising prices for food, rent and other must-have staples. We can’t afford an additional four years.

Republicans are divided over many policy issues, including spending and foreign relations. Still, Trump’s dominance of the presidential nominating process is an opportunity to unify behind the singular goal of taking back the White House. I say that as someone who initially supported another candidate but recognizes how urgent it is for Republicans to come together to stop the economic and security harm another four years of Democratic control would bring.

Republican voters have spoken loud and clear. They want Trump. Republican leaders should listen to voters and support our nominee.

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