Team Trump Bus Tour urges Penn State students to vote for Trump, spread the message
With Beaver Stadium behind them, a group campaigning on behalf of Donald Trump and JD Vance spoke to more than 70 supporters during the “Team Trump Bus Tour” stop at Penn State Tuesday afternoon.
Abel Maldonado, former lieutenant governor of California; Kash Patel, former Defense Department chief of staff under Trump; and Monica Crowley, former assistant secretary of the Treasury for public affairs spoke to the crowd in the Medlar Field parking lot, urging everyone to vote for Trump, the Republican candidate for president, and to tell their friends and family to do the same. The group told stories about Trump and applauded his work as president while sharing why they think Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris would be bad for the country.
Maldonado, who served as lieutenant governor of California in 2010 and 2011, told the crowd — a mix of community members and students — he knows what it’s like to live somewhere where Harris was an elected official. He questioned her decisions made as a prosecutor and her positions on topics like fracking.
“She has been against fracking for 24 years. I mean, so she comes to Pennsylvania, she figures out there’s a lot of jobs with fracking in Pennsylvania. Now she’s against fracking. My friends, she thinks we’re going to be fooled. Well, she’s fooled a lot of people in California, to be honest with you, but please, if there’s one thing I want to leave with you here is that I’m going to beg you to not let Kamala Harris do to Pennsylvania what she did to my home state and my family. And I mean that with all my heart, that is just the basis of what I’m trying to do,” Maldonado said.
Patel drew on Beaver Stadium and talked about Penn State football’s upcoming game against Ohio State, which more than 100,000 people are expected to be at — hinting that Trump himself could make an appearance at the game.
“I’m asking the college students here, there’s gonna be over 100,000 people in there and all of Pennsylvania and the rest of America will be watching that game. You college students get those folks in that stadium alone to vote DJT, this election is over,” Patel said.
Crowley said if Trump is reelected he will continue his work to grow the economy, adding that he plans to add “a few new, creative policies” including not taxing tips, social security benefits or overtime, and making car loans tax deductible.
She said Trump is the most authentic candidate the country has had, and during his four years as president delivered a robust economy, enforced the border and provided law and order.
“...Two weeks from today, we are going to rescue the Republic, and with your help, the man who is going to rescue the Republic is the twice impeached, indicted, arrested, shot, felon, French fry maker,” Crowley said, nodding to Trump’s Sunday visit to man a fry station at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.
Tuesday’s rally was originally planned to be held at Acacia Fraternity but switched locations because it wasn’t able to meet either the security or logistical requirements for the visit.
With two weeks left until the Presidential Election on Nov. 5, both Trump’s and Kamala Harris’ campaigns have been focusing on battleground states like Pennsylvania.
The past week has been busy for political activity in State College. Last Thursday, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy spoke on Penn State’s campus and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke to students at The State Theatre on Friday as part of a Students for Harris event. And on Sunday, five swing state governors, including Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, stopped in State College as part of the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign’s “Driving Forward Blue Wall Bus Tour.”
Trump will hold a rally at 4 p.m. Saturday in the Bryce Jordan Center, his campaign announced Tuesday evening.
The deadline to register to vote in Pennsylvania in the 2024 presidential election has passed. Election Day is Nov. 5.
This story was originally published October 22, 2024 at 8:05 PM.
