Presidential candidate Donald Trump campaigned in Cumberland County on Monday, reminding Shippensburg University students they will return in the fall to a tumultuous election season.
Trump gathered roughly 10,000 people at Cumberland Valley High School, marking his first appearance in central Pennsylvania after receiving his party’s nomination. Trump was due to speak at 7 p.m., but arrived an hour late after campaigning in Ohio that afternoon. His visit to the Keystone State comes days after his rival, Hillary Clinton, stopped in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as part of her bus tour after the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Trump spoke to more than 3,000 people inside the gymnasium, talking about a range of issues from defeating Clinton to building his well-known wall on the U.S. – Mexican border. About 1,500 people were allowed in the overflow area of the gym.
Thousands of supporters drove across Pennsylvania and state lines to see Trump. Wearing signature “Make America Great Again” red hats and “Hillary for Prison” T-shirts, the endless line of people waited for hours in the summer sun and through a passing thunderstorm.
Randy Boyer, of Towson, Maryland, arrived early in the afternoon with his wife to support Trump. Boyer said he supported former candidates Ben Carson and Marco Rubio, but is now putting his time and money behind the Trump campaign.
“He does have a vision for America,” Boyer said, explaining he is not backing Trump just to defeat Clinton. One of Trump’s weaknesses is his lack of political infrastructure to run a national campaign, Boyer said.
Staying unconventional, Trump delivered a scattered speech, noting how little he uses a teleprompter compared to Clinton. The Republican nominee focused heavily on two foreign policy issues ― the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
NAFTA was signed by former President Bill Clinton and allowed for easier trade and economic access to Mexico. Trump said a huge drawback is American companies that took their manufacturing jobs south of the border.
“We’re going down,” Trump said. “We need to change the rules of the game. We need to keep our companies.”
The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which opens new trade opportunities with east Asia, also came under scrutiny. Trump attacked the TPP and did not hesitant to point out Clinton’s support of it. Bad economic deals are costing the U.S. money and jobs, Trump said.
“We’re losing a fortune,” he said. “We’re going to bring jobs back to PA.”
Throughout his hour appearance he revisited NATO, saying it is costing the U.S. money. NATO members are not paying their fair share to support the organization, he said.
“I want the countries we are protecting to pay up,” he said. “They owed us for years.”
Trump continued his remarks on NATO, calling it obsolete and saying it should focus more of its attention on the Islamic State, rather than Russia. Several times Trump said if the U.S. can improve relations with Russia and become friendly, then it should.
Toward the end of his speech Trump touched on building the wall, shedding light onto concrete details about how it will take shape, if he is elected. The wall will be 1,000 miles long on a 2,000-mile border because natural barriers can be used instead of a manmade wall in some places, Trump said.
Well before Trump’s arrival the crowd began chanting “Build the wall.” Several speakers kept the energy going, and eventually, familiar Pennsylvania congressmen Tom Marino and Lou Barletta took the stage. The speakers received energetic applause from the chanting crowd when they criticized Clinton for the Benghazi event and the email scandal.
Though Trump claims to be leading in national and Pennsylvania polls, the general election race has just begun and has more than four months to go. The candidates will travel around the country and back to Pennsylvania before SU students cast their votes.
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