A PRESIDENT FILLED WITH HOPE
ERIE, Pa. — The president appears to be in a good place.
He is standing in the catacombs of the Erie Insurance Arena, hidden from the stands directly above him, where thousands of supporters are gathered to see him in this northwest Pennsylvania industrial town.
As the chaotic dance of advance work moves like a caffeinated waltz around him, he maintains his composure.
Trump is also serious as he receives updates on Hurricane Michael.
While White House staff members bustle around him, the Secret Service agents and military personnel are like stone sentinels whom everyone else artfully moves around.
When I interview just about anyone, it always involves an audio recorder. When I interview the president of the United States, it always involves at least three audio recorders. Trump laughs as I sloppily place three of them on the floor at his feet and one in my hand.
The president wants to know if I am staying for the speech and then notes that not only is the inside filled to the rafters but the outside is also. “They said it’s the biggest. ... You know, there’s 10,000 people outside that can’t get in,” he says of the overflow crowd about to watch him on a Jumbotron set up outside the arena.
An hour later, when I leave before his speech is over, photographer Justin Merriman and I walk outside to discover the president wasn’t exaggerating.
Two years ago, when Trump made Erie one of his earliest stops after securing the Republican nomination in Cleveland, the political class laughed. It wasn’t completely tone-deaf when it did; Republicans didn’t win Erie.
The last Republican presidential candidate to win Erie County was Ronald Reagan, who persuaded the residents with an aspirational economic message. Trump, too, used that kind of message in 2016.
This is not your grandfather’s Erie. A generation ago, this town boomed in industry, and her residents were born mostly Catholic, with a union card in one hand and a registration card for the Democratic Party in the other.
Our interview goes for 20 minutes, far longer than Trump’s aides want, but he doesn’t stop, and I don’t stop asking.
On the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, he is triumphant about how he was able to get a Supreme Court nominee confirmed despite the circus that surrounded the process.
“I felt that it would be a horrible thing not to go through with this,” he says. “The easier path would have been — you know, we have some good people (on the Supreme Court shortlist); they’re all amazing people. But I felt it would be so horrible and so unfair to him.”
On China, Trump is confident they would strike a deal with the U.S. on trade, contending that his policies had pushed Beijing into a corner by weakening its economy.
The administration announced that it has tentative plans to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping late next month.
The U.S. has placed tariffs on $250 billion worth of goods from China and threatened to cover all of the rest with tariffs. It has also placed tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum ones, policies mainly directed at China.
The recent U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement includes language prohibiting those countries from striking deals with China. Beijing has hit back with tariffs on $110 billion worth of U.S. goods.
He was irritated after the recent stock market losses, which he lays squarely on the Federal Reserve. “I think the Fed is overly aggressive” in raising interest rates, he says.
Trump shakes my hand and thanks me.
As he makes his way toward the end of the hall, he peeks through a curtain at one of the side entrances to the arena.
“It really is all about hope,” he says as his aides take him toward that stage. Sean Higgins and Colin Wilhelm contributed to this report.
Zito is a CNN political analyst, a columnist for the Washington Examiner and a Creative Syndicate contributor. Send email to info @creators.com.