First trip to region designed to lack usual political hoopla
Donald Trump is a president who thrives on getting out of the White House, but his visit to the Lehigh Valley Thursday will be much different from the boisterous campaign rallies that he typically holds when he heads to Pennsylvania.
This trip, his first to the region and 18th to Pennsylvania since entering the White House, will be an official one, without the political fanfare and long lines of supporters seen at his campaign events.
It comes when parts of the country, including some Pennsylvania counties, are loosening restrictions on businesses put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Trump has been urging that process to occur faster, saying on Wednesday that he wants to see schools reopening.
“Our country has got to get back, and it’s got to get back as soon as possible,” Trump
said Wednesday.
His visit to the Valley will be brief and off-limits to most of the public. The only chance his supporters will have for a glimpse of the president may be as his motorcade darts from Lehigh Valley International Airport to an Owens & Minor Inc. medical distribution center in Upper Macungie Township.
There, Trump will tour the 200,000-square-foot facility, which handles personal protective equipment and surgical kits, among other items. The company has worked closely with the White House on keeping the medical equipment supply chain moving during the pandemic.
The president is expected to talk about efforts to replenish and improve the Strategic National Stockpile, which is intended to supplement state and local supplies during emergencies but was understocked for the current crisis.
“He’s trying to build a narrative of a successful response to COVID-19 that includes American industry and its ability to meet the needs of health care providers,” said Chris Borick, a political scientist and pollster at Allentown’s Muhlenberg College. He said the Lehigh Valley, as a bellwether region, is “a fortuitous location” for doing so in a pivotal swing state.
Trump made a similar trip last week to another election battleground, visiting a Honeywell plant in Arizona that produces N95 respirators. Trump reportedly wanted to visit the Braskem plant in Delaware County, but that trip was scuttled due to safety concerns, according to The Washington Post.
Earlier this week, Trump cited Pennsylvania specifically in a tweet blasting Democrats as moving too slowly on reopening the economy, posting that Pennsylvanians “want their freedom.” Gov. Tom Wolf told reporters that Trump didn’t consult with him before planning the trip but that he hoped the president would take steps to keep those at the facility safe.
Trump is expected to be greeted at the airport Thursday afternoon by several members of the state’s congressional delegation. Republican U.S. Reps. Dan Meuser, whose district includes Schuylkill and Carbon counties, and Fred Keller, of Lycoming County, plan to be in attendance. U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-1st District, said Wednesday afternoon that he also intended to head to Allentown.
The distribution center is in the 7th Congressional District, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, who posted a Twitter thread this week criticizing Trump as “failing” her constituents in his response to the public health crisis.”
Neither of the state’s U.S. senators — Democrat Bob Casey and Republican Pat Toomey — will be on hand.
“Sen. Toomey is glad President Trump is visiting the Lehigh Valley,” Toomey spokesman Bill Jaffee said. “However, he is unable to join the president due to morning obligations in Washington, afternoon votes, and the logistical hurdles of a small traveling group aboard Air Force One.”
Also absent will be the political officials and candidates who typically would be jostling for a spot on the tarmac. Neither of the Republicans running in the 7th Congressional District, Lisa Scheller and Dean Browning, will be among those greeting the president, though both tweeted this week that they’re excited for Trump’s visit.
“While I would love to see the president arrive and to cheer him on, I do believe the best way I can support the president is by focusing on winning the primary and then the general so that he will have a strong ally in Congress,” Browning said.
A group of Trump supporters is expected to gather near the distribution center, waving flags on a street corner where his motorcade is likely to pass.
Others will be attempting to show their disapproval of how Trump has handled the public health crisis. More than 100 cars are expected for what organizers from groups, including Make the Road Action and Lehigh Valley for All, described as a “mobile cemetery and caravan” intended to highlight the lives lost in Pennsylvania due to the pandemic.
More Pennsylvanians disapprove of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak than approve, 54% to 45%, according to a Washington Post/Ipsos poll released this week. Borick, the Muhlenberg pollster, said he’s surprised the president’s poll numbers haven’t shifted more sharply during the crisis and have remained largely unchanged, reflecting the divided yet consistent ratings he’s had throughout his time campaigning and in office.
Historically, a major crisis “moves the dial,” Borick said, citing the Sept. 11 attacks and economic recessions and depressions as examples. “But not now. It really hasn’t.”