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Kim Lyons, Christina Kristofic and John Cole, Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee for president, has a busy schedule of events in Pennsylvania this weekend that kicked off Saturday evening with a rally in Latrobe where he approvingly described the anatomy of the late golfer Arnold Palmer.
“This is a guy that was all man,” Trump said of Palmer, “when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there they said, ‘oh my God, that’s unbelievable.’”
It was perhaps the most surprising comment the former president made at the event where, after speaking about Latrobe native Palmer for roughly 15 minutes, he resumed talking about familiar themes and grievances. He criticized Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president; blamed President Joe Biden and Harris for inflation and a “crisis” at the southern border, and marveled at how SpaceX, whose CEO Elon Musk is a recently vocal Trump supporter, was able to fly and land a rocket booster in a recent test flight.
On Sunday, Trump visited a McDonald’s restaurant in Lower Southampton, Bucks County, where he donned an apron and worked the drive-thru for about 20 minutes. He served only a few pre-screened people who said they had won the opportunity in a lottery.
“I’m having a lot of fun here, everybody,” Trump said, waving to the several dozen members of the media gathered in the restaurant parking lot. “I’ve now worked here 15 minutes more than Kamala,” he said, mispronouncing Harris’ first name. “She never worked here.”
Trump had been talking for about a month about working at a McDonald’s, after Harris began touting her experience working at the fast food chain when she was in college.
Part of the reason she talks about it, she said in an MSNBC interview is “because there are people who work at McDonald’s in our country who are trying to raise a family — I worked there as a student, I was a kid — who work there trying to raise families and pay rent on that.”
She added, “And I think part of the difference between me and my opponent includes our perspective on the needs of the American people and what our responsibility then is to meet those needs.”
Thousands of people lined Street Road about two hours before Trump was scheduled to arrive. They cheered for vehicles with Trump stickers and flags and booed vehicles with stickers supporting Harris.
The crowd got quiet only when Trump arrived. None of them were allowed into the restaurant. The site was closed off to all but the media and the few pre-screened drive-thru supporters.
Trump worked the fryer for a bit and helped fill bags for drive-thru orders, according to pool reports.
After Trump served some supporters, he took questions from the press. He said he wants a victory this year that is so overwhelming that the results are “too big to rig.”
The Harris campaign’s Pennsylvania communications director Jack Doyle slammed Trump on social media, after video from the McDonald’s visit showed Trump sidestepping questions about raising the $7.25/hour minimum wage. “Well I think this. These people work hard. They’re great. And I just saw something, a process that’s beautiful,” Trump said.
“Trump can play dress up as a worker, but will still screw them over every chance he gets,” Doyle posted.
The Harris campaign said Sunday’s event was a preview of what Trump would do if he were elected again. “Today, Donald Trump showed exactly what we would see in a second Trump term: exploiting working people for his own personal gain,” campaign spokesperson Joseph Costello said in a statement. “Trump doesn’t understand what it’s like to work for a living, no matter how many staged photo ops he does, and his entire second term plan is to give himself, his wealthy buddies, and giant corporations another massive tax cut. Vice President Harris on the other hand has a record of standing up for workers and taking on bad actors who rip people off, and she’ll do the same as President.”
The Capital-Star had previously asked U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Trump’s running mate, what he thought the federal minimum wage should be.
“President Trump believes very strongly that the best way to promote raising Americans’ wages is with tight labor markets. When an employer has got to pay a good wage to attract the right people,” Vance said in response to a question by the Capital-Star on Aug. 19 during a campaign event in Philadelphia. However, as a senator, Vance sponsored a bill in 2023 to raise the federal minimum wage.
The liberal Super PAC People Power Pennsylvania issued a statement calling Trump’s McDonald’s visit an “unserious stunt” and “cosplay” designed “to distract from the devastating impact his tariffs and labor laws will have on Pennsylvania workers.”
“Donald Trump’s plans serve up more wealth and greed for fast food CEOs while leaving PA workers with nothing but crumbs,” said J.J. Abbott, a long-time Pennsylvania strategist and leader of People Power Pennsylvania.
Trump was joined at the Latrobe rally by several Republican allies including U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-9th District) and GOP candidate for U.S. Senate Dave McCormick. Former Pittsburgh Steelers Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown appeared on stage ahead of Trump, with Brown mocking Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee, as “not a real coach,” and calling him “Tampon Tim.”
Republicans have criticized Walz for a policy he signed last year as part of Minnesota’s budget, that requires public schools to provide free menstrual products to any students who need them. Trump falsely claimed it meant Minnesota schools were being forced to put tampons in boys’ bathrooms.
Town hall in Lancaster
Before heading to the Steelers’ game “as a guest of an individual suite holder,” according to the team, Trump held a town hall in Lancaster — his first town hall in the state since the Oct. 14 town hall in Montgomery County that ended strangely, with the former president swaying along on stage to songs from his playlist for a half hour.
Former ESPN anchor Sage Steele moderated the conversation that included questions from the audience, although it was unclear how the people were selected. For roughly 70 minutes, Trump touched on familiar campaign themes to the few thousand people at the Lancaster County Convention Center, with a focus on the border and the economy.
“I have to tell you that if you look at the polls, they’ll tell you that the biggest thing is the economy, second thing is the border, but I think this is bigger than the economy,” he said.
“I think the number one threat that we have, and I actually think that the thing that people are going to be voting on most is what’s happening on our southern and other, but our southern border,” Trump said. “And I think it’s the number one thing that people want to talk about.”
Polling indicates that the economy is the leading issue for voters nationwide heading into the presidential election.
Trump also criticized the bipartisan border bill crafted by GOP U.S. Sen. James Lankford and endorsed by border patrol agents claiming it was a “horrible bill.” He’s been accused of killing the bill for political purposes, but said Sunday that it was ultimately rejected by many in the Republican Party. Trump has received the endorsement of the border patrol union and also is backed by a 49 sheriffs from across the commonwealth.
Audience member Bob, who said he was a retired union worker, asked Trump about protecting Social Security. Trump said his administration would protect Social Security and detailed his idea to not tax Social Security benefits, tips, and overtime. Harris has also taken the stance of eliminating taxes on tips.
Trump has been criticized by Democrats in recent weeks for comments he made in Pennsylvania about how he “hated” to pay overtime as a boss.
Sunday was Harris’ 60th birthday. Trump told the crowd that he was wishing her a happy birthday and many more, saying he meant it. Most of the crowd booed, but some applauded.
Trump, who would be 78 if elected to a second term, also pushed back on criticisms about his age, saying he knows many successful people in their 80s and beyond, specifically naming media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, who is 93.
Sunday was Trump’s first visit to Lancaster County of 2024. It’s a county that he won by 20 points over Hillary Clinton in 2016 and 16 points over Biden in 2020. But Democrats are investing resources in the county, attempting to cut into the GOP’s margins.
Gerri Armant, a Lancaster County resident, said Sunday was the first time she’s ever attended a rally for any candidate.
She told the Capital-Star that the issues most important to her were the border, economy, and getting the deficit under control. Armant also believes there are a lot of Trump supporters who are afraid to talk about their support for his candidacy.
“A lot of people… I’m friends with, I play tennis, and a lot of people there are for Donald Trump, but I think nobody’s saying anything,” she said. “You only hear the Kamala people.”
“I mean, I’m almost afraid, I put something on Facebook, and I felt like, backlash, so I just kind of backed off that,” she added.
Glen and Ruth Groff, Lancaster County residents who were attending their first Trump event on Sunday, said the issues most important to them were taking care of Americans first and for people to come to the United States legally.
They also echoed Armant’s sentiment about people they know in their township not being vocal about supporting Trump’s candidacy/
“A lot of them are just laying low, not talking much,” Glen Groff told the Capital-Star. “They’re afraid to speak up.”
Steele lauded Trump’s “energy,” on stage, pointing to him holding multiple events throughout the state on Sunday. It appeared to be an effort to combat recent reports of him being “exhausted” after he canceled multiple interviews.
Campaigning in the battleground with less than two weeks to go
Surrogates were scattered throughout the state for both campaigns on Sunday.
On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Shawn Fain, head of the UAW, held a labor rally in Philadelphia. Olivia Troye, a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence, spoke to Democrats in Lancaster County on Sunday. Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker shared a picture on social media showing her welcoming Harris to the city on Sunday.
Musk held a town hall of his own in Pittsburgh Sunday afternoon, with McCormick attending. It’s the latest of a series of town halls Musk planned to support Trump ahead of Pennsylvania’s Oct. 21 voter registration deadline.
Pennsylvania Democrats had counter-programming planned outside the Steelers game Sunday, with a “Tailgate for Kamala” scheduled for 6 p.m. And the Democratic National Committee unveiled a billboard Sunday morning across from the stadium, reading “Trump was a disaster for PA.”
Harris and Trump remain in a virtual dead heat with less than three weeks to go before the general election. Both have campaigned vigorously in Pennsylvania in recent weeks. Harris will be in Chester County on Monday for a “moderated conversation” with former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney, with similar events planned in Wisconsin and Michigan.
On Wednesday, Harris will participate in a town hall with CNN’s Anderson Cooper in Philadelphia, on the date of a canceled debate with Trump.
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.
