Youngwood, Penn.
The Mike Pence rally here, 36 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, on Tuesday brought to mind those old beer commercials where two slogans—”tastes great” and “less filling”—vied for supremacy. In this case, the slogans—”lock her up” and “drain the swamp”—were battling for the highest decibel level at the Westmoreland Community College gym as Pence rallied the crowd of some 1200 to help turn the Keystone State toward Trump and the GOP next week. The crowd was eager and motivated, but given polling averages that have consistently given Hillary Clinton the lead in Pennsylvania, it seems unlikely to happen.
Chants of “lock her up” erupted after Pence laid out the corruption culture that has come to light over the course of Clinton’s campaign for the White House. He spoke about her server, and how the Clinton Family Foundation accepted money from foreign governments that then lobbied Hillary at the State Department for their pet projects. Pence also mentioned how friends of the Clintons got millions to rebuild Haiti, without actually doing the job.
I spoke to a woman in her 40s who had driven over from the nearby town of New Stanton on her lunch hour from her job at a printing company. She’s been a longtime Republican voter she said but she finds this year especially “exciting” because she is looking forward to casting her ballot against “the current administration” for being “dishonest and for its corruption. We can’t excuse it,” she explained.
The crowd got riled up again when Pence spoke about the corrupt and burdensome federal government. “Americans are sick and tired of pay-to-play, and Donald Trump has a 100-day plan to clean up Washington,” Pence said, leading to a round of “drain the swamp” chanting.
Pence argued for his ticket by covering three major themes: Security, prosperity, and the Supreme Court.
In terms of security, Pence explained how a Trump administration would “rebuild the military, restore the arsenal of democracy, and destroy ISIS at its source.” He also spent some time detailing failures in Iraq. “By the end of the Bush presidency,” Pence argued, “the American soldier won peace and security for the Iraqi people. Clinton and Obama squandered what we sacrificed and won in Iraq.” And the vice presidential contender won big applause when he said that under a Trump presidency there would be no more paying ransom to terror-sponsoring states.
His discussion of prosperity focused on health care, trade, and jobs. “We can’t trust Hillary Clinton with healthcare anymore than we can trust her with classified information,” Pence said. The crowd loved that one.
On trade, Pence declared that “when Trump becomes negotiator-in-chief we’re going to have American trade” and that’s “going to mean American jobs first.” It was music to the ears of the Western Pennsylvania audience when Pence referred to natural resources as a blessing. He also tagged Clinton as the candidate of the status quo. “This economy may be the best they can do,” he said, but “this economy isn’t the best we can do.”
As for the Supreme Court, Pence reassured the pro-lifers in the audience, one of whom was standing next to me, that a Trump presidency would mean a chief executive who “cherishes” the sanctity of life as well as the Second Amendment. As the older woman beside me explained, she’d been skeptical of Trump until he was interviewed on her local Christian radio station and promised that he supported the pro-life position. She also explained that while her daughter was less excited about Trump (though still planning to vote for him), it was her son who was most energized.
At one point, Pence asked everyone in the hall to turn to the law enforcement officers in the room and thank them and applaud them for their hard work. Pence had earlier recognized the veterans in the audience and asked the crowd to applaud their service. Does either happen at Clinton or Kaine rallies?
Pence told one joke near the beginning of his speech when he reminded the crowd about his debate performance. He apologized for being late to the venue but he explained, “We stopped to get a bite to eat, but Tim Kaine called and interrupted me 10 times.”
Twice during his remarks, Pence referenced Ronald Reagan and compared the Gipper to the Donald. Early on, he said Trump had given voice to the aspirations and frustrations of so many Americans the likes of which hadn’t been heard since Reagan. And toward the end, Pence used Reagan’s formulation about how the election was a choice not between right and left, but between up and down. Pence then demanded that instead of continuing to head down in the same direction that the crowd and all Americans had to stop, plant their feet, turn around and “march back up that hill!”
Speaking to various people in the crowd before the event, one theme repeated itself and it came as something of a surprise. It seems that being a conservative on campus has turned some younger voters enthusiastically toward Trump.
I spoke with a young couple, both 22, standing together and holding hands as they awaited Pence’s arrival. She grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania but has come to the city of Pittsburgh for graduate work in public health. The experience has been eye-opening she says. “Everyone around me [at school] assumes I’m a Democrat” because of her age and her chosen course of study. It’s the first time she’s been in the minority based on her political views. Her boyfriend of eight months is also studying in Pittsburgh, for a graduate degree in business administration but he’s finding it more pleasant. What’s the difference, I asked. He’d done his undergraduate degree at Kent State and is a member of the National Guard, he explained. “They hated us there.”
A mother of two young voters—a 20-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter—sounded a similar warning. She said her kids were the ones getting their parents excited about Trump. “Schools are just so liberal” she said and her kids disagree with a lot of what they hear there. I asked if she meant public school and she shook her head. “College,” she replied. Her kids are both a community colleges.
If energy and momentum counts, attorney Michael Korns, who is the chairman of the Westmoreland Republican committee, says Trump may have a shot. He explained how the local party had a rush of new voter registration to the tune of 11,000 people. He says that the number is evenly split between Democrats switching to the GOP and new voters registering for the first time. “The enthusiasm is for Trump,” he explained, citing the issues of trade and immigration as well as the fact that the local community wants jobs and is hoping that their kids and grandkids will stay here.
Abby W. Schachter is the author of No Child Left Alone: Getting the government out of parenting (Encounter Books).
