HARRISBURG, Pa. — Former President Donald Trump’s address in front of the crowd at the National Rifle Association’s Great American Outdoor Show was his first stop in Pennsylvania this election season and his first trip to the commonwealth since last year.
Mr. Trump was greeted with fanfare but he’ll need to maintain that support if he wants to reclaim Pennsylvania in the 2024 presidential election and return to the White House.
Donald Trump’s address began with a promise to gun owners.
"When I’m reelected every single Biden attack on gun owners and manufacturers will be terminated my very first week back in office, perhaps my very first day," he said.
Trump soon turned his attention to the ongoing illegal migration crisis at the southern border. The Biden administration’s recent attempts to address the situation stalled in congress after reports the former president stepped in to make sure a deal would not get done.
"If the Senate wants to pass a real border bill, they should establish criminal penalties for senior Biden officials who refuse to enforce the existing law," Trump said. "They don’t want to do anything. You know you don’t need a bill, the president has the authority to close the borders. The bill is a hoax."
Trump did not address the ongoing U.S. Supreme Court case that will decide whether the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination will be allowed on the ballot, but did call out what he referred to as a "two-tiered system of justice" in adjudicating he and President Biden’s classified documents cases.
"If Biden is not going to be charged, that’s up to them," he said. "If he’s not going to be charged, that’s up to them, but then I should not be charged."
At 78 years old, Trump could be pitted against 81-year-old President Joe Biden once again. Former President Trump aimed at his likely opponent in the 2024 presidential election many times during the address.
"Nothing more than selective persecution of Biden's political opponent, me," he said. "I don’t know that it’s Biden, because I don’t think that he knows he’s alive."
Despite losing the state in 2020, Trump expressed confidence he can win in Pennsylvania.
"Some of the guys working here said, ‘Sir, you are more popular in this state right now, you’re gonna blow Pennsylvania away,'" he said. "That’s what I think is going happen."
The former president's address at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex lasted more than an hour and ten minutes.
The last four presidential candidates who won Pennsylvania went on to claim the White House. Both the current and former presidents are expected to focus on the Commonwealth as we approach the November election.