In an address that was, to be fair, all over the place, President Donald Trump returned to his favorite format, rallying the faithful at the Mount Airy Resort Casino in Mount Pocono, PA on Tuesday night.
Following his successful 2024 rally format, Trump made one of his first business trips outside of Washington since his January inauguration to a region of Pennsylvania that may hold the key to Republicans remaining in the majority in the U.S. House.
Arriving more than an hour behind his scheduled 6 p.m. start time, he played all his greatest hits, criticizing “sleepy” Joe Biden, saying that he “won Pennsylvania three times,” calling Democrats “crooked” and “sick people, using the phrase “shit-hole countries,” and praising “clean, beautiful coal” in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The 45th and 47th president looked extremely comfortable as he riffed from one subject to another in a 94-minute speech. He rarely went to what he called the “stupid teleprompter” as he praised his first term accomplishments.
Occasionally, he turned to the main topic of the economy and affordability, touting the price of gas, as the national average of regular gasoline dipped below $3 a gallon for the first time in four years at $2.99. The last time the national average reached an even $3.00 or below was in May of 2021.
He praised the current inflation rate, saying it averaged five percent under former President Joe Biden which hit a high of 7% in 2021 during COVID. The 46th president oversaw an economy that saw inflation drop to 6.5% in 2022, 3.4% in 2023 and 2.9% in 2024. The latest annual inflation rate is 3% for the 12 months ending in September.
Then he turned away from the prepared remarks and called America’s European allies “weak” and “decaying” as he criticized their handling of issues such as migration and the war in Ukraine. He also veered off “script” to riff on windmills, transgender people and the Middle East, and delivering attack after attack against immigrants.
He reprised his attacks on the chair of the central bank, Jerome H. Powell, calling him a “bad head of the Fed.” Before the speech, the president told reporters on Air Force One that he was still looking at candidates for that position, once Powell’s term expires next year.
“We’re going to be looking at a couple of different people, but I have a pretty good idea of who I want,” he told reporters.
Trump chastised Democrats for attacking his record on the economy, saying that they “look at the camera and they say ‘this election is all about affordability,” calling affordability a “con job.”
The grassroots coalition – We Pay The Tariffs – said Pennsylvania companies paid $5.7 billion in tariffs in the year ending August 2025, compared to $2.1 billion the previous year. The average tariff rate on imports into Pennsylvania jumped from 2.2% to 10.4%, as increases came despite imports growing just 16%, meaning the cost spike is driven by tariff policy, not increased volume. The group emphasized that these costs are incurred by businesses and passed on to Pennsylvania consumers in the form of higher prices.
The president did acknowledge guests in the crowd, including Sen. Dave McCormick along with Reps. Ryan Mackenzie, Rob Bresnahan, and Dan Meuser. Mackenzie and Bresnahan are in tough fights to keep their seats in Congress that they flipped from Democratic control in 2024. Trump said that he thought Meuser, who decided against a run for Pennsylvania governor despite an endorsement from him, “would have still won the race” had he stayed in.
Mackenzie said that the Biden-Harris administration left a “total mess” for Trump to clean up as Americans continue to struggle with the cost of living across core household categories.
“Northeastern Pennsylvania shows the heart and grit of this country,” said Bresnahan. “The message is the same everywhere we go: lower the costs, raise the wages,” noting voters aren’t making partisan requests. “Now it’s time to build on this, to cut costs for working families and bring jobs back from overseas.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, an outspoken critic of Trump, tweeted that “I’ll put my record on affordability up against Donald Trump’s any day of the week. Since I became Governor, we’ve cut taxes SEVEN TIMES. Donald Trump is doing everything he can to flip the script, but Pennsylvanians know better.”
“It’s not a coincidence that President Trump is going to Northeastern Pennsylvania, because quite frankly he recognizes his party is scrambling to deal with the fact that their economic policies are having a disastrous effect on working-class Americans,” said Lt. Gov. Austin Davis during a Tuesday press call.
