Former President Donald Trump listened to Delaware Valley residents’ concerns and offered his thoughts at a town hall in Drexel Hill on Tuesday.
The event, sponsored by America’s Future, focused on senior citizens’ concerns and drew several hundred local residents. Trump supporters without tickets lined Drexelbrook Drive outside the Drexelbrook Event Center to greet the candidate. With Trump were former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin.
Huckabee, who sought the GOP presidential nomination in 2016 before becoming a Fox News commentator, displayed his sense of humor.
“Let me be honest with you folks. Donald Trump was not my first choice for president. I was my first choice for president,” he said, inspiring laughter. “But I was one of the 16 people he obliterated on the stage in 2016.”
Huckabee added a serious note.
“No one who has ever been president has had the courage to face down the extraordinary giants of opposition he’s had to deal with. When he wins, this is going to be a time we can celebrate having a president that listens to the people rather than having the people listen to him,” Huckabee said, promising “a bottom-up government than a top-down government.”
When Trump took the stage, he mentioned he’d had the honor of meeting World War II veteran Ed Buffman just before the town hall began, and he complimented Buffman on his youthful appearance.
Buffman, 99, helped found the Pennsylvania Veterans Museum in Media.
Trump told the audience this election is a choice between “gross incompetence” and “total failure” or “whether we’ll have the four greatest years in the history of our country.” He cited inflation, interest rates, and crime.
“I think the number one thing is the border. They have an open border; anyone can come in,” Trump said.
“Who would want to have millions of people coming into our country? Many of them are murderers, many of them are terrorists, many are gang members, MS-13. The Venezuelan gangs are worse.”
He said Vice President Kamala Harris changed her position on the border wall, opposing it when he was in office and now claiming she favors it. “She was the border czar. She was put there by Sleepy Joe and then he went back to sleep.” When the Border Patrol union endorsed Trump, they told him that Harris never called “one time” to check on the border, while Trump called every week.
Kitty Schmidt
Trump mentioned the Right to Try Law he championed, which helps people who are terminally ill get access to medications that might not be approved for their condition, saving thousands of people.
Trump believes safety is the biggest issue for senior citizens.
In a discussion of crime, Donald Park, a retired Upper Darby police lieutenant who served 32 years, said he would not want to go back on the police force. He said his former colleagues and officers now face burnout, lack of respect, and higher crime coming in from Philadelphia, along with funding cuts, unsupportive administrations, and soft-on-crime district attorneys.
“It’s forcing law enforcement to do more with less,” said Park. “What we need is to be back to law and order.”
In a moment that appeared to be designed to pushback on criticism over events at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, a woman who moved to the area from Puerto Rico expressed her support for Trump.
“I want you to know that Puerto Rico stands behind you and Puerto Rico loves you,” said Maribel Valdez. She came to the mainland from Puerto Rico when she was 17, earned a Ph.D. and worked as an occupational therapist for nearly 40 years before suffering a stroke and now works part time.
She said she’s had good experiences with the toll-free Medicare hotline and is worried that Biden and Harris plan to change it. There is a plan to unionize the workers. Trump promised to put seniors before special interests. “I don’t need the money. Maribel is going to be my consultant.”
“No president has done more for Puerto Rico than I have,” Trump said, noting he’d brought in a hospital ship to help the residents after a bad storm.
At Trump’s rally last weekend, a comedian who was part of the program made a joke comparing Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage.”
Later Tuesday, Biden created his own controversy by calling Trump supporters “garbage.”
Abington residents and military veterans Joe and Beth Rooney were also part of the panel. Joe is a former Marine pilot who flew for Delta Airlines and is now running for state representative. His wife Beth was a Naval aviator for 24 years and the first woman U.S. Navy jet test pilot.
Joe compared Trump to iconic movie star John Wayne, saying that in the wake of his near assassination in Butler, Pa., “You have ‘True Grit.'”
“A strong economy helps seniors…For a strong economy we need low energy prices and I know you’re all for low energy prices,” said Joe Rooney. “We need an all-of-the-above solution. We need nuclear, we need natural gas, we need coal. We need that to lower prices for food, gasoline prices, the prices seniors and people on fixed incomes pay in the wintertime.”
Joe Rooney asked Trump about the impact the 10 million illegal immigrants who crossed the border during the Biden-Harris administration will have on Social Security and Medicare.
“It’s probably 21 million and that doesn’t include the gotaways,” said Trump. “They’re all pouring in and we’re not going to stand for it.” Illegal immigrants are offered government benefits, he said.
“And it’s hard for towns to provide schools and hospital services with the influx of people…It’s not sustainable,” Trump added.
On energy, Trump pledged to open the Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska, do away with the Biden-Harris EV mandate.
Asked why she supports Trump, Delco resident Kitty Schmidt said, “Our country needs change. We are in trouble.”
Cherrie Campbell, of Northeast Philadelphia, likes Trump’s policies.
“I’m a platform, policy, performance voter,” said Campbell. “My life was much better the four years he was in office.”
