Trump to highlight prices, crime at Pennsylvania rally

Former President Trump will focus on rising prices and what his campaign is calling a “crime wave” in this weekend’s rally in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

Trump will deliver remarks to a crowd in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on Saturday, where he will lay out how the Biden-Harris administration’s “dangerously liberal policies and radical Democrats” have “failed” the Keystone State, his campaign announced Monday.

Pointing to the Republicans’ Joint Economic Committee’s finding that the typical Pennsylvania family now pays $958 more per month due to higher prices, the Trump campaign blamed the “weak, failed and dangerously liberal” President Biden and Vice President Harris for the economic situation.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has repeatedly blamed Biden and Harris for the stubborn inflation that hit the country for the better part of Biden’s administration. After hovering around 3 percent for more than a year before spiking again in March, inflation is now back on a downward path in a favorable shift for the president.

The former president’s rally in Pennsylvania is also slated to target Harris, whom Republicans dubbed the “border czar” for her handling of the U.S.-southern border and influx of migrants into the nation, the campaign said. Trump will “close the border,” his campaign claimed, and “begin the largest deportation operation” in the nation’s history.

“Democrats in Pennsylvania have essentially put out a welcome sign for illegal immigrants to live in their state and are prioritizing ludicrous programs for them, rather than focusing on lowering costs for Pennsylvanians,” the campaign wrote Monday.

The Trump campaign further claimed Pennsylvania residents are experiencing a “crime wave” thanks to the “weak” Biden-Harris administration.

Data released Monday by the Major Cities Chiefs Association, however, found overall crime, — including homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — was down in Philadelphia in the first six months of 2024 compared to the same period last year.

Other data from the Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Reporting Program shows crime for the overall state has also decreased in comparison to last year.

The former president’s visit to Pennsylvania will follow Harris’s and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s tour through key battleground states last week.

Since replacing Biden at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket in late July, Harris has energized the party’s base and seen a surge in the polls against Trump. Her rallies drew thousands of attendees last week, which the campaign has touted against Trump, who has long looked to crowd size as a measure of support.

The Harris campaign went after Trump on Sunday for his lack of swing state appearances in recent weeks.

“Trump has still not campaigned in a swing state in over a week… Low energy?” the Harris campaign wrote in a post on social platform X, in response to the former president’s accusation of using artificial intelligence to create false depictions of “massive” crowds at last week’s swing state rallies.

The enthusiasm for Harris is playing out in the polls, where the vice president has narrowed the lead Trump maintained when facing Biden. A Decision Desk HQ polling aggregation Monday showed Harris with a 0.4 percentage point lead over Trump, while polling from The New York Times/Siena College over the weekend found she is up 4 points in three battleground states — Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

The former president will make his next campaign stop in Asheville, N.C., Wednesday, per his campaign.

The Hill reached out to the White House for further comment.