SCRANTON, Pa. — Donald Trump rallied a raucous crowd here Wednesday as he seeks to halt Kamala Harris’ gains in the polls on handling the economy, launching a wave of insults at her and painting a dark vision of the future if he loses the election.
The former president lashed out at his Democratic rival by calling her “a horrible person,” “a liar,” a “radical left Marxist” and “not a smart person,” often drawing jeers and boos as his supporters fed off his energy.
He also told the crowd that he tends to get angry during his speeches and said he rejects advice to be nicer.
“I don’t want to be nice. Somebody said, ‘You should be nice sir, women won’t like it,’” Trump said, adding: “The women want safety.”
He then described an apocalyptic America if he loses the race.
“Kamala will deliver a 1929-style depression,” Trump said, resurrecting a claim he made about Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election that didn’t materialize. He promised “the four greatest years in the history of our country” if he wins in November.
Speaking for more than an hour, Trump made the remarks at his first of two rallies Wednesday in battleground Pennsylvania, which both campaigns have zeroed in on as pivotal to winning the Electoral College. On Thursday, Harris is dispatching former President Barack Obama to Pittsburgh.
During a riff on energy policy Wednesday, Trump said, “Wind is bull—.”
“Kamala will crush the electricity grid of the United States. But we will not let her do it,” he said.
Trump used a big screen to play past clips of Harris endorsing a “Green New Deal” and opposing fracking when she was a presidential candidate in 2019, which addeed to the boos and shouts from the crowd. Harris has since abandoned those positions, including by rescinding her opposition to fracking as vice presidential nominee in 2020.
While the economy was the ostensible theme of the rally, Trump went on an array of tangents during his remarks. He complained about polls that show him trailing Harris — calling them “fake” and insisting he’s ahead — and claimed without evidence that Democrats are planning to “cheat like hell.”
Trump accused Harris of waging a “coup” to push Biden out of the 2024 race, musing that he thinks the president now “hates her almost as much as he hates me.” He predicted there would be “an explosion” between Biden and Harris before Election Day on Nov. 5.
He went on a riff about billionaire ally Elon Musk “doing jumping jacks” at a recent rally with him in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump lamented that special counsel Robert Hur didn’t prosecute Biden for improper handling of classified documents, during which the crowd fed off his anger.
“We want Hunter!” shouted one supporter, referring to the president’s legally embattled son.
“Traitor!” another yelled.
Trump said he’ll “pay off debt,” even though he’s promising trillions of dollars in new deficits through tax beaks and government expenditures. He falsely claimed that he signed “the biggest tax cut in history” as president, while vowing to extend his 2017 tax cuts and further lower taxes on tips, overtime pay and Social Security income.
Trump spoke of an “enemy from within” as “a very sick group of people” who investigated ties between his 2016 campaign and Russia. During that section he attacked Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., an outspoken Trump critic.
“Lock him up!” a man in the crowd interrupted.
Ahead of Trump’s speech, Harris spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement that Trump was “projecting weakness, not strength” by sticking to safe environments.
“Americans are starting to have real questions about Donald Trump’s capacity. He is cocooned in his safe spaces in right wing media, he backed out of 60 Minutes, and he refuses to stand before the American people in another debate,” Moussa said. “He should say whether it’s because he’s scared or because he just can’t hack it.”
Trump told the crowd he has booked Madison Square Garden for a rally in New York, and said he’s “making a play” to win the blue-leaning states of New Jersey, Virginia, New Mexico and Minnesota. He lost those five states in 2016 and 2020, and there’s scant indication that he could win them this year.
Pennsylvania, however, could be the tipping point state in the 2024 contest.
Debbie Hendrix, a Scranton native who attended Trump’s rally donning a “MAGA” hat, said she’s cautiously optimistic but unsure Trump will win the Keystone State.
“I feel pretty good about it,” she said. “It’s like a jury going out; you never know how it’s gonna go.”
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