Trump touts Barletta for Senate
Also revisits familiar themes in Wilkes-Barre
WILKES-BARRE — President Donald Trump returned to Northeast Pennsylvania on Thursday night to savor his 2016 victory, rehash familiar grievances with the “fake news” that he says refuses to credit his successes, and to stump for U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, the Hazleton Republicantrying to defeat U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.
“We are respected again,” Mr. Trump told a largely adoring crowd, boasting of a booming economy and a nation standing up for its workers against unfair foreign trade. “The forgotten men and women of the United States are forgotten no more.”
His roughly 76-minute rally followed what has been a pattern for the president: As the criticism and the Washington investigations and the White House infighting ramp up, Mr. Trump reverts to campaign mode and retreats to the base that sustains him.
And so it was in the heart of Luzerne County, a place that helped him win the White House two years ago — and one seen as a bellwether for his party’s chancesin the crucial midterm elections.
Before thousands in a hockey arena, Mr. Trump revisited familiar themes, including his demand for a border wall and other efforts to stem illegal immigration, the issue that helped boost Mr. Barletta’s own political rise.
The Wall? “We’re building it,” Mr.
Trump insisted. “And we’re going to start getting very nasty about it.” He also called for a bigger border patrol force instead of more immigration judges to hear asylum claims. “It’s our country, so get the hell out,” he said.
Hillary Clinton, his target during the 2016 race, made a return rhetorical appearance. “Lock her up!” the crowd chanted.
Mr. Trump also challenged the accounts of his international diplomatic efforts, denying he had treated Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain rudely, and pronouncing his summit meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin last week a success.
“We discussed everything. We got along really well. By the way, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” Mr. Trump said. And he repeated his declaration that the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller of his campaign’s dealings with Russia is a “hoax.”
Most drew a cheer, a knowing nod or a roar of approval from the crowd. In a tweet, Mr. Barletta estimated 11,000 filled the arena, with another 2,000 outside. A single protester removed early in the rally drew jeers and a sea of extended middle fingers.
Chris and Catalina Fields came from nearby Kingston, eager to hear about Mr. Trump’s stance on immigration. Chris Fields, 59, said it took his 34-year-old wife four years to legally enter the U.S. from the Philippines. “’Illegals’ come here day after day after. [We] did it the right way,” he said.
The working-class county was pivotal to Mr. Trump’s success in becoming the first GOP presidential nominee to win Pennsylvania in nearly three decades. He defeated Ms. Clinton there by 26,000 votes, a swing of more than 30,000 votes from President Barack Obama’s winning margin four years earlier.
Both at the beginning and the end of the rally, the president urged the crowd to vote for Mr. Barletta, the congressman and onetime Hazleton mayor who was one of his most ardent Pennsylvania supporters in 2016. Mr. Barletta is trailing Mr. Casey both in the polls and campaign fundraising.
At one point, the president ceded his microphone to the congressman, with Mr. Barletta bounding on the stage to shouts of “Louuuuu!”
“Now listen, this seat is very important, because we want to keep this economy going,” Mr. Barletta said of his race against Mr. Casey in the closely divided Senate. “We’re not tired of winning ... Help me help President Trump make America great again.”
In one of the few original lines of the night, Mr. Trump appeared to coin an impromptu nickname for Mr. Casey — “Sleepin’ Bob,” he called him — that delighted the crowd. The president said he knew and liked Mr. Casey’s father — his namesake and whose name is on the development that includes the hockey arena.
But Mr. Trump said the younger Casey was “boring,” a nobody in Washington who does what Democratic leaders tell him. “I don’t think I ever met him,” Mr. Trump said.
“Bob Casey is for open borders,” Mr. Trump asserted, again raising the specter of violent immigrants from Central America overrunning the country. He falsely accused Mr. Casey of calling for the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, a favorite cause on the left. (Mr. Casey had accompanied Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. at a recent news conference dismissing the idea.)
Don Evans, wearing a U.S. flag bandana around his neck, was among the faithful who arrived hours early for the 7 p.m. event. Mr. Evans said he’s never voted or been to a political rally. But he’s passionate about controlling immigration and wants Mr. Trump to build the promised wall on the border with Mexico.
“I’d put the first brick down,” Mr. Evans, 66, said. He also said he can’t wait to vote for the first time — to reelect Mr. Trump. “If [the election] were tomorrow, I’d be first in line,” he said.
David Alberola of Nanticoke brought his service dog, Lucky, to the rally. “I think he’s one of our nation’s greatest leaders,” Mr. Alberola said. “It’s just amazing what he’s done so far in under two years.”
While some congressional Republicans have expressed concerns or misgivings about many of Mr. Trump’s recent moves on issues such as separating children from parents who enter the country illegally, tariffs, and a threatened government shutdown just before the Nov. 6 election, Mr. Barletta has been a reliable ally.
His campaign sees the president as key to reigniting the passion that shook the state in 2016. Mr. Casey, too, wants Mr. Trump and Mr. Barletta joined at the hip; he sees the president as an anchor for the challenger.
Mr. Trump was scheduled to attend a fundraiser for Mr. Barletta before the rally, following a fundraiser headlinedby Vice President Mike Pence in Philadelphia last week.
The GOP line of attack, outlined by Mr. Pence last week: Once a sensible moderate, Mr. Casey has lurched left, opposing tax cuts, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and efforts to take federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities that resist reporting some information about undocumented people.
“He’s a dyed-in-the-wool progressive who wants open borders, socialism, and sanctuary cities,” Republican state chairman Val DiGiorgio told the crowd awaiting the president. “Bob Casey has become a rank-and-file member of the Nancy PelosiElizabeth Warren wing of the Democrat Party.”
Mr. Casey did not sound rattled in an earlier interview.
“If that’s his strategy, I hope he sticks with it,” Mr. Casey said. “To the extent that someone buys into that, they’re probably already there, they’re probably already against me. It’s just the nature of politics today.”