Trump promises Penn State students “a booming economy” if elected

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Former President Donald Trump brought his campaign to the Penn State University Park campus, telling the young crowd there that under his leadership they will “inherit the freest, strongest and most powerful nation on earth.”

“If you vote for me, I will ensure that you, young people, start your careers in a booming economy at a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity,” he said at the rally at the Bryce Jordan Center.

He repeatedly praised the university’s national championship-winning wrestling team and invited several athletes onto the stage to shake his hand.

The appearance came after an event in which he moved on denigrated Detroit as he asked for votes on Saturday in a suburb of the US’s largest city swing state of Michigan.

“I think Detroit and some of our areas make us a developing country,” the former president told supporters in Novi. He said people want him to say Detroit is “great,” but he thinks it “needs help.”

The Republican candidate for the White House had told an economic group in Detroit earlier this month that “the whole country will eventually be like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment prompted harsh criticism from Democrats, who praised the city for its recent character decrease in crime And growing population.

Trump’s stop in Novi, after a event Friday evening in Traverse Cityis a sign of Michigan’s importance in the tight race. Harris held a rally in Kalamazoo on Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama issuing a sharp criticism of Trump and questioning why it was so close, saying: “I lay awake at night wondering, ‘What the hell is going on?’ “

Michigan is home to major auto companies and the largest concentration of United Auto Workers members in the country. It also has a significant Arab-American populationand many are frustrated by the Biden administration’s support for the Israeli offensive in Gaza following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

During his rally, Trump spotlighted local Muslim and Arab-American leaders who joined him on stage. These voters “could swing the election one way or the other,” Trump said, adding that he was counting on “overwhelming support” from those voters in Michigan.

“When President Trump was president, it was peace,” said one of those leaders, Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi. “We had no problems. There were no wars.”

While Trump seeks to capitalize on community frustration with the Democratic administration, he has a history of policies hostile to this group, including a travel ban targeting Muslim countries while in power, and a promise to expand this to accept refugees from Gaza if he wins on November 5.

A Trump ally, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the grandson of Lebanese immigrants, told reporters that Trump was winning the support of more Arab Americans and has built relationships with Middle Eastern leaders who want more stability in the region would bring.

In lengthy remarks to his supporters, Trump went after Harris and the media with familiar barbs and promoted immigration and energy policies, which are part of the campaign. For example, he said, immigrants “take the jobs of the black population and they take the jobs of the Hispanic population.”

Government data contradicts this claimwhich shows that migrant workers contribute to economic growth and provide promotion opportunities for native employees.

During both campaign stops on Saturday, Trump drew attention to how a influx of Haitian migrants have hit Springfield, Ohio. But he stopped repeating false claims about immigrants eating petsa story that had provoked resistance from members of both parties and led to bomb threats in some schools and government buildings.

Trump took the stage at the Bryce Jordan Center an hour and forty minutes after he was originally billed to speak. An hour after he made his comments, the crowd in the back of the arena had become noticeably bare, especially as kickoff for Sunday night’s Penn State game at Wisconsin approached.