Poised against the backdrop of an oversized American flag, former President and 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump spoke at a campaign rally at Temple University’s Liacouras Center on Saturday.
In front of a crowd of nearly 4,000, Trump doubled down on his previous rhetoric regarding immigration, crime, and the economy and attacked President and former Penn professor Joe Biden. Among his remarks, he falsely claimed that he’d won the state of Pennsylvania in the previous election cycles as he worked to court Black and Hispanic voters.
Trump also opened his speech, which lasted nearly an hour and a half, with a reference to Penn — though he did not use the University's name.
“Hello Philadelphia! I went to school in Philadelphia,” Trump said to the crowd, which responded with chants of “USA, USA.”
While speaking about his economic agenda, Trump touted the supposed economic success of his first term and reiterated the claim that inflation had grown under Biden’s administration.
“On day one of my new administration, we will throw out Bidenomics and replace it immediately with MAGAnomics,” Trump said to applause.
During the rally, Trump also blamed Biden for causing rates of crime that are “out of control.”
“Under Crooked Joe, the City of Brotherly Love is being ravaged by bloodshed and crime,” Trump said, claiming that gun violence has surged, murder rates are the highest in decades, and retail theft is up more than 100%.
“But saving this once-incredible place begins with stopping the killing and the crime that is setting records every single week,” Trump said.
Trump also shared with the crowd an idea for a “migrant fight league,” which he said he suggested to Dana White, the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
“You're gonna go and start a new migrant fight league,” Trump said he told White. “And then at the end of the year, the champion migrant is going to fight [the UFC] champion.”
He then referred to migrants as drug dealers, criminals, and “killers in so many different ways.”
Trump also made multiple references to his recent slate of convictions. On May 30, he was found guilty of 34 charges for falsifying business records in relation to a hush-money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
“Every time the radical left, Democrats, Marxist communists, and fascists indict me, I consider it a great badge of honor. I'm being indicted for you,” Trump declared to the crowd. “Never forget — our enemies want to take away my freedom, because I will never let them take away your freedom. They want to silence me, because I will never let them silence you.”
Trump also made multiple references to election fraud throughout the rally, including an allegation that “Philadelphia was one of the most egregious places” where “dumping ballots” and “violating state legislatures” took place in 2020.
The rally was Trump’s first in Philadelphia, which he once referred to as a place where “bad things happen.” His last public appearance in the city was at Sneaker Con on Feb. 17, where he introduced a new line of Trump-branded sneakers.
Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dave McCormick gave an introductory speech before Trump’s arrival, stating that “[Pennsylvania’s] got two senators, one who won't wear a suit and one who's an empty suit.”
“That, my friends, that is why I'm running,” McCormick said.
McCormick received a passionate endorsement from Trump during the rally, who called him “a high-quality person” and “tough as hell.”
Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) — whose daughter graduated from Penn in 2011 — also delivered introductory remarks for Trump. Meuser told The Daily Pennsylvanian that while he believes that Penn is a “great school,” he did not like “the idea of the school being an indoctrination incubator.”
A group of nearly 100 Biden supporters gathered across from the Liacouras Center in the hours leading up to the rally. Many wore shirts reading ‘Black Voters for Biden’ and chanted “Dump Trump.” State Rep. Malcom Kenyatta (D-Pa.) was in attendance at the protest as McCormick delivered remarks inside.
In a statement prior to the rally, Temple President Richard Englert said that the university was “not covering any costs associated with the event.”
“The presence of any speaker on campus is not an endorsement from Temple University,” Englert wrote. “Temple will continue to be a space for open dialogue and the exchange of ideas integral to the election process.”
Trump previously held a rally in Wildwood, N.J. in May. There, he referenced Penn, calling it “my beautiful school” and alluding to recent campus demonstrations by saying that protesters were “rioting.”
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