‘Fight for it.’ Hundreds attend Donald Trump Jr.’s Centre County campaign stop
Hundreds clad in red, white and blue convened Tuesday in the Nittany Valley to hear President Donald Trump’s eldest child make his pitch for why his father deserves a second term.
Donald Trump Jr. did not directly address any issues specific to Centre County during his 33-minute speech at Fullington Trailways.
He instead railed against Democratic challenger Joe Biden’s decisions on trade, Facebook and Twitter’s decision to limit the spread of a New York Post article about Biden’s son’s relationship with Ukraine and Biden’s sincerity about addressing racial tensions in the United States.
“This is 2016 on steroids,” Trump said. “The signage, the enthusiasm, the young people coming out, the women coming out — all the people who benefited from Donald Trump’s policies.”
Mask wearing was not enforced at the outdoor event, though some in attendance wore the face coverings. Dozens wore red hats with some variation of “Trump” or “Make America Great Again.”
State Rep. Stephanie Borowicz, R-McElhattan, was among those at the event. Trump was flanked during his speech by a red Fullington bus to his left and a blue Fullington bus on his right.
One of the crowd’s largest reactions came after Trump urged supporters to vote and speak with others who are undecided.
“Donald Trump has opened the door for people who are willing to fight and stand up for themselves,” Trump said. “But now we’ve gotta walk through it. Conservatives spent 50 years getting slapped in the face and turning the other cheek. What’d it get us? Absolutely nothing.”
The Benner Township location, which is less than one mile from the University Park Airport, wasn’t picked solely for convenience.
Fullington saw hosting Trump as an opportunity to “showcase the plight” of the motorcoach industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic, company President and CEO Jonathan Berzas wrote in an email.
“Our company and industry has been decimated by the coronavirus as the public has stopped traveling,” Berzas wrote. “This visit from Mr. Trump allows us to show the Trump administration and those visiting our facility what we are going through, as well as show how we take the health and safety of the public seriously.”
Trump’s visit was about more than Biden’s trade decisions, tech giants or the struggles that befell the motorcoach industry. Centre County was his latest stop in a battleground state about two weeks before the election.
The 42-year-old even referred to Centre County as a “swing county.”
He campaigned Monday in North Carolina before heading north to the Keystone State. His father was also in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, making a stop in Erie County.
A cursory look at the Trump administration website shows a majority of future events are scheduled in Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Florida.
Pennsylvania was one of six states to flip from Democrat in 2012 to Republican in 2016, and its 20 electoral votes are tied for the fifth-most in the country.
Centre County has proven to be a microcosm of the state’s division when it comes to presidential candidates. County residents have cast 186,449 votes for Democrats since the 1996 election, along with 182,466 votes for Republicans.
“The economy is on the table, your freedom of speech is on the table, your Second Amendment is on the table,” Donald Trump Jr. said. “... That’s on the table and we need to fight for it. So get out there; fight for it.”
This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 5:27 PM.