Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump spoke Saturday at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center in State College to a nearly packed audience, though the top sections of the 15,000 person capacity stadium were curtained off.
Trump was scheduled to give remarks at 4 p.m., but did not go on stage until a little after 5:30 p.m. He spoke for about 75 minutes.
“I think I'd like to begin by asking a very simple question,” Trump said. “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
The crowd shouted “no,” to which Trump responded: “So I'm here today with a message of hope for all Americans.”
Trump said if he wins, he will bring prices down and stop illegal immigrants from coming into the country.
“These are dangerous people. These are really dangerous people,” Trump said. “There's nothing you're going to do about it to make them less dangerous. Immediately upon taking the oath of office, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history.”
A study published by the National Academy of Sciences, based on Texas Department of Public Safety data from 2012 to 2016, found people in the U.S. illegally had “substantially lower crime rates than native-born citizens and legal immigrants across a range of felony offenses.”
Trump referred to illegal immigrants as “garbage.”
“We’ve become like a garbage can for the rest of the world,” Trump said. “They're throwing all that garbage into our country and we're not taking it.”
Trump also said he will bring back jobs to Pennsylvania.
“We will bring back our manufacturing jobs, our energy jobs, our coal jobs, our steel jobs, and we're going to bring back our dreams.” Trump said. “Starting in January, we will give our companies the lowest taxes, the lowest energy cost, the lowest regulatory burdens, and free access to the best and biggest market on the planet.”
Trump said he will increase tariffs on imports to encourage companies to move their manufacturing to the United States.
Trump said he supports fracking in Pennsylvania and accused Kamala Harris of wanting to implement a ban on fracking.
“I will end Kamala Harris's war on Pennsylvania energy,” Trump said. “And we will frack, frack, frack. Okay. She's not going to frack. You know, that's a big part of Pennsylvania. The fracking is a big part.”
Harris did support a ban on fracking in 2020, but now says she would not support a ban. Presidents can only ban fracking on federal land, and Pennsylvania has nearly no federal land to frack.
Before Trump took the stage, other lawmakers spoke in support of his campaign.
“Pennsylvanians aren't fooled. We realize that under Donald J. Trump, we had energy independence. And even more, we had energy dominance,” said U.S. Rep. John Joyce, who represents Pennsylvania’s 13th congressional district, which includes Blair and Huntingdon counties. “We can return to that under Donald J. Trump.”
Joyce is running against Democrat Beth Farnham.
“The politicians will tell you only what they think you want to hear in order to get elected,” said U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, who represents Pennsylvania’s 15th congressional district, which includes much of central and northcentral Pennsylvania. “Does anyone truly believe (Harris) now supports fracking for energy production?”
Thompson is running against Democrat Zach Womer.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who represents part of Georgia, also took the stage.
“We're a swing state just like you are. And our Georgia votes are very important and your votes are very important,” Greene said. “As a matter of fact, your votes — every single one of you in this room, all the students here at Penn State, all of you in this county and the borough of State College — you can swing the election.”
Before the rally, Brian Yangula, who’s from Milesburg, said he had already voted for Trump. He hopes to see Trump close the southern border and bring down prices.
“I have a family of four, and I have expensive food bills, gas bills,” Yangula said.
Emily Mellinger is a University of Pittsburgh at Bradford student who is voting for Trump. She said she traveled from Bradford to get to the Bryce Jordan Center at 7 a.m.
“(Harris) is giving money to Ukraine and Gaza, like, put your people first,” Mellinger said. “Put your nation first instead of illegal immigrants.”
Brenda Cerett is from Huntingdon. She also got in line at 7 a.m. for Trump’s rally.
“The economy of course is a big thing, but I’m also pro-life,” Cerett said. “I mean, I wish (Trump) was a little more like he was in 2016, more pro-life, but I could never vote Democrat because of the abortion issue.”
Trump repeatedly said Democrats will try to steal the election. He said Republicans have to vote in such high numbers that it’s, quote, “impossible to rig.”
Several student groups held a protest march ahead of Trump’s remarks, with some signs reading “racists off our campus,” “you are weird,” and “free Palestine.”
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot in Pennsylvania is Tuesday, Oct. 29.
WPSU intern Erell Williams contributed to this story.
