pennsylvania

White House 'trying to keep Grampa busy' with public appearances: report

A panel of New York Times columnists say the damage of Trump’s recent Pennsylvania speech suggest his aids are merely trying to keep him busy, regardless of the consequences.

“... [H]e’s making these claims about inflation that aren’t true, making these claims about wages that aren’t true, making these claims about costs that aren’t true — just a torrent of falsehoods,” said columnist Jamelle Bouie. “All clearly coming from a place of deep frustration that he isn’t as popular and well beloved as he believes he should be, which, on the one hand, is a sign that something of reality is penetrating this White House. On the other hand, it’s clear that they have no sense of how to respond to that.”

“The title of this, as best I could tell, was ‘Screw You All, You Whiners: The Economy’s Great, and if It’s Not, Blame Biden.’ said columnist Michelle Cottle. “That was it, again and again — oh, and ‘hate the immigrants.’ So I am just not sure what they’re hoping to accomplish with that, other than maybe to increase the calls for him to get another cognitive assessment. But I thought it was pretty magical.”

“Well, I think that the aim is just to give him something to do,” said Bouie. “You put him out there to give this 20-minute harangue, and then you tell him it was great and everyone loved it and this’ll turn things around, and then he just goes back to going to his clubs and hanging out in the Oval Office. But it’s not clear to me that this is meant to serve a particular objective. It’s not going to reverse any fortunes for the president.”

“Are you just suggesting they’re trying to keep Grandpa busy?” asked Cottle:

“I think they’re trying to keep Grandpa busy, and this is one way to do it.”Bouie replied.

Columnist David French called the speech “Banana Republic-flavored Soviet propaganda” but with less effectiveness.

“If you go back and you remember Soviet propaganda in the ’70s and the ’80s … Everything is always going so well, they’re going onto greater and higher achievements. And you always had this presentation of relentless forward momentum,” said French. “And then the reason I say ‘Banana Republic-flavored’ is because it was filtered through this demagogic figure who essentially … believes that he can basically talk his way out of anything: ‘Get me in front of the American people, I’ll fix this affordability thing. Get me in front of the American people, I’ll fix this political decline.’”

Read and hear the New York Times podcast at this link.

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White House may deter Trump from future rallies as aides say he's not 'capable' of empathy

Politico reports MAGA is thrilled to see President Donald Trump back on the road and in his campaign rally element. But the things he’s saying at rallies are scaring them.

“Trump stirred up fresh concerns Tuesday at a Pennsylvania rally that was supposed to focus on easing Americans’ anxieties over pocketbook pressures,” reports Politico. “Instead, he veered off script, at one point urging austerity amid the holiday shopping season by resurfacing a line from earlier this year that American kids should be happy with ‘two or three’ dolls.”

“I think a lot more domestic events outside of Washington are great. Let’s do more of it,” an anonymous former Trump senior adviser told Politico. But, “unfortunately I just don’t think Trump is temperamentally capable of reversing himself and saying, ‘Yes, affordability is a concern.’ He’s stubborn.”

Trump was once a fiery crowd pleaser, but he is now an “imperfect messenger more apt to voice bullishness on his stewardship of the U.S. economy than he is to acknowledge the financial squeeze voters say they’re feeling,” reports Politico. This could present a problem as angry voters take to the polls next year and vent their frustration over the economy by ousting the political party in charge of Congress and the White House.

Critics are already calling Trump’s Pennsylvania rally “a flop,” particularly after a slew of off-year elections this month and last gave Democrats resounding success on their message of affordability and inflation concerns. Republican strategists are already rattled at how strongly voters have spurned Republican candidates within the span of a year.

“And there are signs the White House is looking to other surrogates to help carry the administration’s affordability push into next year, as Trump allies concede the president is unlikely to morph into a nuanced and empathetic messenger,” reports Politico.

Trump has called arguments that Americans are suffering under the economy a “hoax” and a “con job," but some Trump aides counter that the president’s “hoax” line is being taken out of context.

One White House official argued that Trump isn’t dismissing Americans’ pain, but is instead calling the Democrats’ affordability campaign “hypocritical” and a “con job” because the left is trying to “rewrite their own history” and “hijack the phrase.”

Read the Politico report at this link.

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Trump mocked over 'creepy' comment about Karoline Leavitt's 'lips that don't stop'

President Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail this week, holding a rally in a swing state. He's also apparently going on the stump without anyone to stop him from commenting on the physical appearance of the women who work for him.

Trump stopped in Pennsylvania’s Monroe County on Tuesday to counter criticism over rising inflation and the state of the economy, both of which are issues that are ruining his presidency and threatening the Republican Party’s hold on the House — and possibly the U.S. Senate — in the 2026 midterms.

But critics on social media noted Trump could not help but wax heavily about the lips of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

"You know when she goes on television, on Fox, they dominate when she gets up there with that beautiful face and those lips that don't stop — bup bup bup — like a little machine gun," Trump told the crowd at Mount Airy Casino Resort near Mount Pocono. “When she goes on Fox, they, like, dominate."

This is not the first time Trump has fawned over Leavitt’s face, having commented on her lips in an August interview on Newsmax.

Still, social media swamped the president with criticism over his remarks.

“Our president is a dirty old man,” said author Jennifer Erin Valent on X.

“Not creepy at all,” quipped sports commenter Mike Rifkin.

Other critics noted how the comment cast a shadow on other accusations about Trump’s treatment of women. “Yeah, man. I’m sure those Epstein files are normal as hell,” said podcaster John Fleming on X.

“Fairly weird thing to say about your employee/subordinate, said Commonwealth Communications Executive Director J.J. Abbott on X.

“Can [Leavitt] put this on her LinkedIn?” asked another critic on X.

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'I'm very let down': 3-time Trump voter in swing state says cost of living 'gotten worse'

In the pivotal swing state of Pennsylvania — which President Donald Trump won last year — voters in one swing county are growing increasingly frustrated with Trump's handling of the economy.

CNN correspondent John King reported Thursday from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which covers both Lehigh and Northampton Counties. He described it as a "blue-collar" community full of people "living paycheck to paycheck." Jenique Jones – a three-time Trump voter who runs a local business helping financially distressed residents repair their credit – told King that her clients' financial situations have become more dire under Trump's second term.

"My husband lost all of his overtime. My kids' daycare went up. Can't afford the cost of food. Using credit cards for everyday expenses. No money left after their bills are paid," Jones said when asked to describe what kinds of stories she hears on a daily basis. "Pretty much just a whole bunch of financial mess."

When King mentioned that the United States "changed presidents at the beginning of the year," Jones acknowledged that Trump has "absolutely not" followed through on his campaign promises to make Americans' daily lives more affordable.

"I'm definitely waiting for him to fix it," she said. "I'm very let down by that. Very, very let down, because I feel like it's only gotten worse."

King also spoke with local barbershop owner Ronald Corales, who is another three-time Trump voter. Like Jones, Corales acknowledged that costs are still high, but is actively encouraging people to have patience with the administration.

"We don't really see it at the moment. Like I said, I think we have to give him some time."

"You hear there, 'give him some more time,' from a three-time Trump voter," King observed. "We met many Trump voters who say, 'let's try to be patient,' but they also say costs have not gone down as the president promised."

King's report comes on the heels of a Fox News poll released this week, which found that large majorities of respondents say daily necessities like groceries, housing, healthcare and utilities have either somewhat or significantly increased in cost under Trump's leadership.

Watch the segment below:

- YouTube www.youtube.com

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'True mask off moment': GOP lawmaker says some jobs shouldn't pay workers enough to live

Pennsylvania House Republican Leader Rep. Jesse Topper has faced criticism for his remarks on the House floor opposing livable wages.

"Not every wage, and please hear me clearly on this, is designed to be a livable wage," he said during his speech.

His comments were shared on Wednesday by Democratic State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta on the social platform X, with the caption, "True mask off moment."

Other social media users also criticized the lawmaker.

READ MORE: ‘The Generals Stay Silent’: Experts Alarmed as Trump Politicizes Army at Fort Bragg Rally

Writer Dr. Allison Wiltz said: "They said the quiet part out loud. They to maintain a system where some are subservient to others, yet suffer in poverty."

Interestingly, Topper's comments come just a day after a Republican in the U.S. Senate introduced a bill to increase the federal minimum wage for the first time in nearly two decades.

On Tuesday, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) teamed up with Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) to propose legislation aimed at boosting the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour — a stance rarely embraced by members of the GOP.

Their proposal, called the Higher Wages for American Workers Act, would implement a $15 minimum wage starting January 1 of the year following its passage.

After that, the rate would increase each year in line with inflation.

The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 has remained unchanged since 2009. Although Democratic leaders and presidents have repeatedly pushed to increase it over the years, their efforts have consistently fallen short in the Senate, unable to gather the 60 votes needed to overcome filibuster rules.

Watch the video of Topper's remarks below, or by clicking this link.

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'We're way off': Businesses in key swing state blame Trump cuts for loss in tourism money

On Friday afternoon, May 30, President Donald Trump held a media event in the White House Oval Office to thank Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for his work with his administration and the South African centibillionaire's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But critics of the mass layoffs of federal government workers being carried out by the Trump administration with DOGE's help are not feeling thankful. As they see it, layoffs at the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other agencies are a recipe for major problems — not something to celebrate.

Another agency experiencing major layoffs is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

In an article published on June 2, the Philadelphia Inquirer's Jason Nark details the problems that Army Corps cuts are having in Pennsylvania thanks to campsite closings along Raystown Lake in Huntingdon County.

"The lake's Seven Points, Susquehannock, and Nancy's Boat-to-Shore Campgrounds — all popular and often booked out far ahead of summer — were closed, and the Army Corps began refunding campers who had made reservations," Nark reports. "In addition, farther north in Tioga County, Tompkins Campground on Tioga-Hammond and Cowanesque Lakes also closed, along with its swim beach and boat ramp. Tompkins has approximately 125 sites."

Nark points to 81-year-old Judy Norris, who has owned Seven Points Bait & Grocery for 49 years, as an example of a Pennsylvania business owner who is hurting because of Army Corps cuts and campsite closings. According to Norris, business was way down on Memorial Day Weekend.

Norris told the Philadelphia Inquirer, "We're way off, maybe 40 to 50 percent down. This is Memorial Day Weekend — you normally can't move in here. The parking lot is usually jammed."

Norris, according to Nark, "reached out to elected officials and the Army Corps to no avail."

Norris told the Inquirer, "This affects the entire county, not just us. This is recreation. We're talking about campsites. This isn't hurting anyone, and it’s not going to save the government any money by closing these campgrounds.'

Read the full Philadelphia Inquirer article at this link (subscription required).

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Doorbell camera captures video of Philadelphia plane crash with 'multiple casualties'

First responders are now on the scene responding to a plane crash in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with "multiple casualties" reported.

Philadelphia NPR and PBS affiliate WHYY reported Friday that the crash happened near Philadelphia's Roosevelt Mall at approximately 6 PM Eastern Time, which is in the Northeast part of the city. The plane also reportedly hit several homes and cars in the area. WHYY also reported that the crash happened less than three miles from the Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which is primarily used for private jets and charter flights.

Fox 29 reported that the crash, which happened near Cottman Avenue and Bustleton Avenue, resulted in multiple fires in the area, with one witness describing the crash as a "big old explosion of light from out of nowhere." Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) posted a statement to X that he's coordinating response efforts with city officials and "offering all commonwealth resources."

The crash comes just on the heels of a deadly mid-air collision between a regional American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near the Washington D.C. National Airport earlier this week. All 67 people involved in the crash are presumed dead, and first responders are still in the process of recovering victims and debris from the Potomac River.

Investor Tony Seruga posted a vicdeo to X captured by a Ring doorbell camera showing the crash as it happened. An aircraft can be seen in the background plummeting rapidly before a large plume of fire rages in the background and a large explosion is heard.

Watch the video below, or by clicking this link (warning: this video may be disturbing to some viewers).

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'A wonderful thing': Actor Paul Rudd gives water to PA voters 'waiting in line for a long time'

"Ant-Man" star Paul Rudd made a surprise appearance in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, handing out bottles of water to voters standing in line outside of several college campus polling places.

Variety reported that while MSNBC reporter Jacob Soboroff was talking to young voters at Temple University just north of Philadelphia's Center City, he spotted Rudd and "sprinted" in his direction to get a quote from the Marvel actor. Rudd, who is 55, said he wanted to do something special for young voters in the critical battleground state who were taking time out of their day to cast a ballot.

"I just wanted to give people water,” Rudd told Soboroff. “They’re waiting in line for a long time, and it’s a wonderful thing that all these young people are out voting.”

Mediaite recounted the impromptu conversation between Soboroff and Rudd, with the former asking what prompted the actor to come out and support voters in Pennsylvania's largest city on Election Day.

“We’ve been doing lots of stuff today here in Pennsylvania,” Rudd said. “We wanted to come out and tell these students they’re doing really great things.”

MSNBC "Deadline: White House" host Nicolle Wallace, who had cut to Soboroff for his segment from Philadelphia, specifically mentioned that she wanted to make sure that the volunteers handing out water and snacks to voters standing in line were able to continue doing so. She then asked Soboroff to send her their information so she could make a personal donation.

"If the people handing out snacks are taking donations for their snack supply, please get me a Venmo, and I will Venmo them to replenish the snack line," Wallace said.

Pennsylvania is on pace to match or even outpace its 2020 voter turnout, with Soboroff reporting that some Philadelphia-area polling places were reporting lines of two hours or more. Rudd called it "impressive" that voters were standing in line so long.

After Soboroff walked away from the "I Love You, Man" actor, he talked to a young Black woman who said 2024 was her first election in which she was casting a ballot. She told the MSNBC reporter that she had been "ready to go" and "didn't need to hear people talking in my ear." At that point, Rudd popped up behind her.

"Want a water from Paul Rudd?" He asked. The voter smiled and exclaimed: "Yes I do!"

Watch the video of Soboroff's segment with Rudd below, or by clicking this link.

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'Turning off the wrong voters': How Trump’s lackluster ground game could lose Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is the biggest prize of the 2024 election, with 19 electoral votes being awarded to the eventual winner of the Keystone State. And if it comes down to which candidate has the best ground game, former President Donald Trump may come up short.

Online news outlet NOTUS reported Tuesday that both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have spent the most money in Pennsylvania, with $1.2 billion spent by both parties in the commonwealth. This is a historic first, as no battleground state has ever topped $1 billion in political spending in any previous election. FiveThirtyEight's aggregated polling data shows that both candidates are locked in a dead heat heading into today's election.

But uiltimately, if Pennsylvania is decided by the strength of each candidate's turnout machine, Harris may end up adding the commonwealth to her win column. J.J. Abbott – a Democratic strategist based in the Keystone State — said Harris is running a textbook winning campaign.

"I guess we’re going to find out what works better, just trying to sort of get up enough outrage to get people to vote, or, you know, doing the things that winning campaigns have done for decades," Abbott said. "She’s pursuing a bunch of paths to increase her margins in different ways. He seems to be kind of, like, turning off the wrong voters while having to bank on some of the most difficult voters to turn out."

While Harris' campaign has relied on a heavy get-out-the-vote (GOTV) operation relying on detailed data and metrics, Trump has instead outsourced his GOTV efforts to far-right activist Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA and tech billionaire Elon Musk's America PAC. But those groups' strategy to turn out Trump voters has been met with mixed results.

America PAC in particular has been reportedly making canvassers use apps that aren't available on either the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store to log their door-knocking efforts. Additonally, these apps don't have geo-tracking features that allow campaign field directors to ensure that canvassers are actually out walking neighborhoods and contacting voters. The Guardian reported that in the battleground states of Arizona and Nevada, America PAC canvassers were logging fraudulent GOTV contacts. The outlet even reported that said they were walking a neighborhood when the app actually showed them stationary at a Guayo's On The Trail restaurant.

"I think it’s what happens when you let a bunch of grifters take over,” an anonymous "Trumpworld source" given anonymity to speak candidly told Wired magazine in its own report on America PAC's canvassing efforts. “S— is always gonna produce s—.”

Kirk, in the meantime, has found his group potentially endangering the tax-exempt status of churches used as hubs for its own GOTV efforts. Legal experts told NBC that the group's "ballot-chasing" operations at churches — which involves tracking down likely Republican voters and filtering out Democratic voters – was explicitly partisan activity that could strip those churches of their 501(c)(3) status.

Harris' campaign has been not only reaching out to Democratic voters, but also Republican voters who have been alienated by the MAGA movement. Ann Womble, who is co-chair of Pennsylvania's Republican Voters for Harris group, told NOTUS that she believes at least 10% of Republicans in the Keystone State will support the Democratic ticket.

"Our message has been about persuading Republicans that, if you’re dissatisfied with Trump, if you’re disaffected from the current MAGA version of the Republican Party, then it’s vitally important they actually vote Harris, not just to write in a name or not vote," Womble said.

Click here to read NOTUS' report in full.

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'Simulating a lynching': PA parade float condemned for 'vile' depiction of Harris in chains

In Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania — a small town of roughly 4,000 people an hour outside of Pittsburgh — officials are loudly speaking out against a recent Halloween parade float over its depiction of Vice President Kamala Harris.

On Friday, Pittsburgh NBC affiliate WPXI reported on the local outrage over the float, which was a golf cart-style vehicle surrounded by men in suits meant to resemble Secret Service agents, with someone wearing a mask of former President Donald Trump riding on top with a sniper rifle. But Mount Pleasant Mayor Diane Bailey said the most offensive part was how it portrayed Harris.

"The worst part of it was that there was either a rope or a chain attached to the back of the vehicle, and there was a woman who was to resemble Kamala Harris in handcuffs and chained to the back of the vehicle as though they were dragging her," Bailey told WPXI.

Parade attendee Josh Huff told the outlet that the float was "probably not something I'd want at a children's parade," and that it looked like the float was "simulating a lynching."

"Somebody in power had to say hey, yeah, that’s fine. That’s okay," Huff said.

Bailey told reporters she wasn't sure how the float was approved to be displayed, and that she was planning to speak with the borough manager and the city council president to get to the bottom of the issue. The parade was organized by the local volunteer fire department, which almost immediately condemned the float in a post to its official Facebook page on Thursday night.

"We, the members of the Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department, want to take a moment to sincerely apologize for allowing the offensive participants to take part in the Mount Pleasant Annual Halloween Parade last evening. We do not share in the values represented by those participants, and we understand how it may have hurt or offended members of our community," the post read. "We’re proud to have sponsored this parade for over 70 years and its goal has always been to support our community's children. We are committed to learning from this experience and ensuring that our future events celebrate the diversity and spirit of our community in a positive way."

Westmoreland County Democratic Party chair Michelle Milan McFall called the float "vile" in an interview with NBC News. And Westmoreland County Republican Committee chair Bill Bretz said the local GOP organization doesn't support "the simulation of political imprisonment or violence in any context."

"It’s heartbreaking. It’s concerning. And I think it’s also got an element of danger. Again, we’re living in this climate where people aren’t just thinking about hatred and feeling it in their guts and bones," McFall said. "They’re acting on it. We have to take down the temperature."

Click here to read WPXI's report in full, and click here to read NBC News' article.

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'Outside organization' investigated over 'fraudulent' voter registrations in red PA county

Pennsylvania is considered one of the biggest prizes of the 2024 Electoral College. Now, local officials are investigating what may be an underhanded effort to steal it.

NBC News reported Friday that police in Lancaster County have launched an investigation into an "outside organization" that submitted roughly 2,500 voter registrations just before the Keystone State's October 21 deadline. The outlet reported that approximately 60% of those registrations appear to be "fraudulent," with many of them purportedly being filled out by the same person.

"We have confirmed violation of our crimes code as well as our elections code," District Attorney Heather Adams told NBC. "We have all available detectives working on this. We are all hands on deck so that we can properly assess the validity of these applications in a timely manner."

Adams said that the forms appear to be part of a "large-scale canvassing operation" dating back to June. Police are currently reaching out to voters whose names were listed on the forms to verify their authenticity. And elections officials are emphasizing that valid registrations will still be processed so voters who lawfully registered can still cast their ballots.

“Applications that have gone through this extensive review and investigative process and are not deemed to be fraudulent are being processed,” Lancaster County Board of Elections chair Ray D’Agostino said. “I want to stress this, no eligible voter will be turned away.”

Officials are also adding that the fact the discrepancy was spotted roughly two weeks before Election Day is a signal that the 2024 election will be conducted securely and with integrity. Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt — who is the top election official in the battleground state — said that incidents like the recent spate of fraudulent registrations in Lancaster County are "infrequent."

"As their officials noted, grassroots efforts to register voters across the Commonwealth are important and legitimate, and the safeguards in the system allowed them to identify and isolate these suspicious applications," the Department of State told NBC. "No eligible voter will be denied the ability to register, and the Department encourages any residents who recently registered to vote to check their voter registration online to ensure its accuracy."

Lancaster County is a reliably Republican jurisdiction, with former President Donald Trump easily taking the county in both 2016 and 2020. In the last election, he won 57% of the vote in Lancaster County, and defeated Hillary Clinton in the county with roughly the same margin of victory in 2016. Biden won Pennsylvania in 2020, flipping it from red to blue by roughly 80,000 votes across the commonwealth.

Pennsylvania, which carries 19 electoral votes, is the largest prize of the so-called "Blue Wall," which also includes Michigan and Wisconsin. If Vice President Kamala Harris wins those three states, she is also projected to win the Electoral College majority assuming all reliably blue states also vote for the Democratic ticket. Likewise, the Wall Street Journal has reported that if Harris or Trump carries both Georgia and Pennsylvania, they would be the overwhelming favorites to win the election.

Click here to read NBC's report in full.

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