President Donald Trump delivered a wide-ranging political indictment of Joe Biden on Thursday in a speech near his Democratic challenger’s Pennsylvania birthplace, just hours before Biden accepts his party’s nomination for president.
The president delivered his remarks at a building products company in Old Forge, Pa., about a 10 miles from Scranton, where Biden was born and grew up.
Trump, who originally planned to focus his Pennsylvania speech on trade and manufacturing, said Biden left Scranton 70 years ago, and “he has spent the last half century in Washington selling out our country and letting other countries steal our jobs.”
Seeking to link Biden to “socialist Bernie Sanders,” Trump said the former vice president will erase economic gains of recent years and “impose a permanent lockdown combined with a socialist takeover of the U.S. economy.”
Pennsylvania Democrats said Trump’s management of the pandemic has already wiped out the economy. They said Trump is attacking Biden because he has no plans of his own for the economy, the COVID-19 crisis, or anything else.
Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., said Trump’s speech is “just smears” of Biden.
Trump’s remarks amounted to a pre-buttal of Biden’s acceptance speech Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention.
“I’m sure he’ll knock ’em dead,” Trump said sarcastically. Later, he said the only way Democrats would beat him “is by a rigged election.”
Democrats described Trump’s site selection as a meaningless stunt, but one they welcomed as a way to contrast the two candidates.
“What the American people are looking for is a plan to get this virus under control. My guess is that is not what they’re going to get,” said Kate Bedingfield, a Biden campaign spokeswoman. “They’re going to get the same old divisive attacks, these recycled political hits that Donald Trump and his campaign have tried to throw at Joe Biden since the moment he got in this race over a year ago.”
Symone Sanders, a senior adviser to the campaign, said Biden would offer a hopeful vision for the future and Trump won’t.
“We actually appreciate President Trump going out there because the American people will get to see a tale of two presidents,” Sanders said.
It’s rare for a presidential candidate to schedule a high-profile event so close to his opponent’s convention speech, analysts said. But Trump has proven time and again he likes to do things differently.
“It’s classic Trump,” political analyst Stuart Rothenberg said. “It always has to be about him. He can’t let it be about someone else.”
Trump himself is being preempted by other news events.
His speech came shortly after the arrest of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon on fraud charges, as well as a judge’s ruling that the president’s financial records must be turned over to a grand jury, analysts pointed out.
“Trump wanted to step on Biden’s message today, but Bannon and taxes were not what he had in mind,” said political analyst Rich Galen.
Terry Madonna, a political scientist at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., said Trump drew sharp contrasts with Biden but focused largely on issues important to the region, such as steel and manufacturing. Trump did not get “personal” against his opponent, he said.
“If he had attacked Biden personally, that would have been a mistake,” Madonna said.
Trump delivered his remarks in a state that is emerging as a key battleground in the upcoming election.
For decades, Republican and Democratic presidential candidates have fought for blue-collar votes in and around the Scranton area, a politically important region in a state with 20 electoral votes. Biden represented neighboring Delaware in the Senate for three-and-a-half decades before his eight years as vice president.
Four years ago, Trump became the first Republican since 1988 to carry Pennsylvania, a major pick-up in his Electoral College victory over Hillary Clinton. But this year, Biden holds a 6.4 percentage point lead over Trump in Pennsylvania, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls.
Trump supporters – and opponents – started gathering outside Mariotti Building Products, where Trump delivered his remarks, hours before his arrival.
Steven Andrew Gasdik, an electronics technician who lives in Old Forge, said he has never attended a Trump event before. So when he heard a rumor the president was coming to his small town near Scranton, he was like, “Really? Really?! Are you serious?”
He took the day off work to attend, and was outside the speech site at 8 a.m., having a great time with his family while waiting for the president’s arrival. Among those with him: Gasdik’s 100-year-old Aunt Dorothy, who plans to vote for Trump.
Gasdik said he supports Trump because of the economy. “I’m worried about my kids. My kids need jobs, and Donald Trump will bring them jobs,” he said.
Gene Stilp of Middle Paxton Township, who said he has many postal worker friends, was displaying a “Save the Post Office, cancel Trump” sign. He said he’s concerned the Trump administration has slowed delivery of mail. Stilp said he thinks Trump is a racist and a traitor.
Trump’s visit to Old Forge caps a week-long series of speeches across the country designed to counter-program the virtual Democratic convention – and hammer Biden.
During travels to battleground states Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Arizona, Trump has accused Biden and the Democrats of wanting to raise taxes and impose regulations. He also claims, without evidence, that they want to seize guns – “they will be taking away your Second Amendment” – and coddle criminals.
