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Mon. Oct 21st, 2024

Trump goes way off color during the swing state rally with Arnold Palmer’s riff

Trump goes way off color during the swing state rally with Arnold Palmer’s riff

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Orange and red hard hats dotted the crowd Saturday evening at a Donald Trump rally in western Pennsylvania, where he presented himself as the savior of the steel industry, a key part of the region’s identity, and made derogatory comments about the deceased professional golfer. Arnold Palmer, a local hero.

“We saved the steel industry in this country, and now we’re going to make it really powerful again,” Trump said as he and Vice President Kamala Harris battled for votes in the critical swing state.

Workers are a key part of Trump’s populist message, and he has long expressed support for union members, even in cases where union leaders have chosen to back Harris. The United Steelworkers endorsed Harris in July, and President Joe Biden won praise from the union this year for blocking a takeover of US Steel by Japan’s largest steelmaker.

The former president invited a dozen men to join him on stage in Latrobe, a town of just 8,000 people about an hour outside Pittsburgh. He said they worked in the Mon Valley for US Steel, which employs 20,000 people in the key battleground state.

“As far as I’m concerned, President Trump saved the American steel industry by imposing tariffs on Chinese steel that was illegally dumped on our shores at extremely low prices in an attempt to put us out of business,” said Glenn Thomas, a third-generation steelworker . , the crowd told before Trump took the stage.

The head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters spoke at this year’s Republican convention but later chose not to endorse either candidate. Trump said at the meeting that he has “overwhelming” support from rank-and-file members of the Teamsters.

An ode to Arnold Palmer

The rally at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, named after the late champion professional golfer, was a macho and at times deviant affair.

Trump spent his first fifteen minutes at the microphone praising Palmer’s manhood – and anatomy.

“Arnold Palmer was all man,” he told the crowd. “And I say that with all due respect to women. And I like women. But this guy. This guy. This is a man who was all man. This man was very strong and tough. And I refused to say it, but when he went to take a shower with the other guys, they came out and they said, ‘Oh my God. That’s incredible. ”

“I had to say it,” he told the audience. “I had to say it. We have women here who are very refined, but…Arnold was something special.”

“And I had to tell you the shower part of it, because it’s – it’s true,” he added. ‘What can I tell? We want to be fair.”

The Harris campaign wasted no time in ridiculing Trump’s rhapsody on Palmer’s body.

“In a rally speech in Pennsylvania that his campaign team billed as ‘the beginning of his closing argument in the final stretch,’ Donald Trump focused on the issue that mattered most to voters in this election: the… anatomy of a deceased golfer,” Harris’ campaign said in an email.

As Trump shook hands with them on stage, the steelworkers joked about how happy they were with their overtime hours.

“No tax on overtime,” one man said, echoing a Trump campaign proposal.

“No child benefit for overtime,” said another.

Trump did not respond.

By Sheisoe

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