An upbeat crowd of more than 5,000 packed the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks Monday evening for a town hall with former President Donald Trump.
Chants of “U.S.A.” and “Fight, fight, fight” rang out from the crowd, many wearing red MAGA (Make America Great Again) hats, Trump 47 shirts, or shirts that read “I’m voting for the Hillbilly and the Outlaw.”
Trump’s message to supporters at his first Delaware Valley campaign event was to urge them to vote on or before Nov. 5.
“We’re all in this together. We’ve got to win the election Nov. 5,” he said.
Gov. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) questioned Trump and a handful of local backers asked questions. However, the question period ended abruptly after two people fainted in the hot room and Trump paused the event while medical people attended to them. They were eventually OK.
Afterward, music played for about 45 minutes as some of the audience left. Others stayed and danced, including Trump and Noem.
Trump accused Vice President Kamala Harris of participating in a coup against President Joe Biden.
“We’re running against a very powerful and very corrupt machine,” said Trump. “When you talk about Biden, he got 14 million votes. He won the primary. We had a debate. His numbers were down. So they went to see him, and they said, ‘You’ve got to get out.’ He said, ‘I don’t want to get out. I won.’”
“That was the overthrow of an American president.”
Former President Donald Trump, Springfield resident Angeline Banks, and Gov. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.)
Trump criticized how the Harris-Biden administration handled the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Its incompetency “probably led to Putin going into Ukraine,” he said. “He would have never done that under me.”
Noem asked Trump who controls the strategic, American-built Bagram air field in Afghanistan now.
“China,” Trump said. “We spent billions of dollars to build that airbase…They gave it up.”
A single father and veteran asked Trump about high mortgage rates, saying he could not afford to buy a home. Noem mentioned that 65 percent of Americans are unable to buy a home.
Trump said many regulations drive up costs, but a significant factor is high interest rates.
“We had them at 2 percent. Now they’re at 10 percent, and you can’t get the money.
“Buying a home is the American Dream,” said Trump. “We’re going to create the American Dream for young and old people, too…By the way, no tax on Social Security.”
Under Biden, inflation has been at 30, 40, and 50 percent, “depending on what they include,” said Trump, and it’s hurting people on fixed incomes.
“We have the worst president and vice president in the history of our country,” he said. “And she’s worse than him. She’s more dangerous than him. He’s actually smarter than her. I never thought I’d say that.”
Unlocking American energy would bring prices down since the cost of energy goes into all sorts of goods, he said. “As energy rates go down, interest rates will follow. We have more liquid gold under our feet than Saudi Arabia. I am going to bring down your energy costs by 50 percent in the first year.”
Mary and Charles Strange, a Gold Star family whose son, Michael, a Navy Special Warfare operative, died Aug. 6, 2011, with 29 other service members. “It was the biggest loss of life in the Iraq and Afghan war,” said Charles Strange. He said the government has not given the family “any answers” about what happened. Trump said, “in the first week,” he will set up a commission to investigate the deaths of the members, 22 of whom were members of Seal Team 6, who killed Osama Bin Laden.
Springfield [Montgomery County] resident Angelina Banks said illegal immigration, inflation, and crime hurt Black Americans. Trump said Biden has not enforced a deal with China to buy $50 billion in American produce, hurting American farmers.
“When millions of people walk into our country, they’re having a devastating effect on Black families, on Hispanic families…I think unions are going to have a big problem…many are coming in from jails and insane asylums…We have sick puppies coming into our country…They’re coming as terrorists.”
He mentioned the Border Patrol union endorsed him.
“We’re going to close that border so tight,” he said. Illegal immigrants are “affecting the school and hospital systems.”
Noem said Harris “has been the border czar who facilitated this invasion.” She mentioned an interview that ABC’s Martha Raddatz did with vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance Sunday, where Raddatz said only a few apartment complexes were taken over by Venezuelan gangs.
“They’re like me. They’re in the real estate business. But they’ve taken over with rifles,” Trump quipped.
Harris “wants to take your guns away,” said Trump, who noted he’s been endorsed by the NRA. “The bad people aren’t giving them up.”
Noem said Harris lost 300,000 migrant children who were “kidnapped and trafficked and murdered.”
Lansdale resident Yanni Lambros, who owns a restaurant, said prices “have spiked up” since gas prices rose, hurting small businesses.
“They want to get away from gas,” Trump said, about a move to ban gas stoves. But chefs “feel gas is better than electric,” and the country has a lot of gas. Harris and Biden are pushing electric cars while “California is having blackouts.” He said they’d get rid of the mandates. “People will have more money to go to your restaurant,” said Trump.
The Hickman family, including a disabled niece, drove 20 hours from Quitman, Ark., to attend the Oaks town hall.
“We enjoyed it,” said Amy Hickman, saying it was worth the trip to see Trump.
Wayne resident Dave Furman agrees with Trump’s policies of cutting taxes and regulations and ensuring a strong military.
“He’s good for the country said Rodney Formeck of Phoenixville. Trump will lower gas prices and close the border.
“He’s trying to unite the U.S. He’s a great president,” said Formeck.
Pete Deutsch, a former Democratic Congressman from Florida, spoke first, saying he’s voting for Trump.
“The first day Donald Trump got into office, he eliminated funding for Iran. As mentioned in the debate, Iran was effectively bankrupt…They didn’t have the funds to pay for the terrorists, the Houthis, the Hezbollah, Hamas. The first day the Harris-Biden administration came into power, they changed that. For the four years they’ve been there, they effectively gave $100 billion to those terrorists,” said Deutsch.
“It’s not that they just want to kill Israelis and other nationals. They want to kill Americans. In the parliament of Iran, literally, they sing ‘Death to America,’” said Deutch. He likened the Harris-Biden policy toward Iran to then-British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler before World War II.
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