{"id":228905,"date":"2026-06-26T16:22:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T16:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/228905\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T16:22:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T16:22:21","slug":"at-lehigh-valley-rally-trump-fans-stand-by-president-democrats-pounce-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/228905\/","title":{"rendered":"At Lehigh Valley rally, Trump fans stand by president; Democrats pounce"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite lingering inflation and economic uncertainty brought on by the Iran war, supporters of President Donald Trump who showed up for his appearance at Mack Trucks\u2019 Lower Macungie Township production facility Tuesday<\/a> said\u00a0they feel he is putting the country on the right track.<\/p>\n

Edward Xavier Young from Brick Township, New Jersey, travelled to Macungie early Tuesday morning to attend the 115th Trump event of his lifetime, which had more of the feel of a campaign rally .<\/p>\n

Young believes that Trump\u2019s second term has been \u201ceven better\u201d than his first, crediting the president for appointing a cabinet that is more loyal to his agenda than their predecessors from Trump\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n

He called himself a die-hard advocate for every aspect of the \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d movement, and said he supports Trump\u2019s actions in Iran, even though they have caused prices to spike.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe economy might be rough right now, but when you\u2019re in a war, it generally is, but things are going to turn out. I have faith that things are going to turn around pretty soon,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n

Kevin Cope from Bethlehem Township told The Morning Call he is glad to hear about Trump\u2019s effort to return manufacturing jobs to the United States after seeing those jobs moving overseas for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy life has been in manufacturing and I\u2019ve seen my job being exported over, at that time, to Japan, and that\u2019s when the electronics and the computers were starting to be built overseas,\u201d Cope said. \u201cThis is music to my ears.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he criticized the Trump administration\u2019s move to accept additional beef imports from, a move that drew criticism from some ranchers and fellow Republicans, according to The Hill.<\/p>\n

Anita Solysiak of Hellertown told The Morning Call that, although she is a registered Democrat, she is a staunch Trump supporter and believes that the Democratic party is \u201cturning socialist,\u201d which she called \u201cfrightening.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she is eager to cast a ballot to re-elect U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, who faces a tough re-election battle against Democrat Bob Brooks in November in the Lehigh Valley-based 7th Congressional District. She credited Mackenzie for his work\u00a0as a member of the Congressional Veterans Affairs Committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really think he is trying to help,\u201d Solysiak said.<\/p>\n

Democratic groups wasted no time criticizing the Trump visit, highlighting the still-high costs of diesel and the Trump administration\u2019s cut to social safety measures like Medicaid and SNAP food benefits.<\/p>\n

According to a social media post, Lehigh County Democrats held a public protest against Trump\u2019s visit at 1 p.m. near the Mack facility.<\/p>\n

In a news release, Brooks\u2019 campaign criticized Mackenzie and Trump in tandem, saying the two \u201cunleash a cost of living crisis, rip away access to health care, support a reckless war in Iran that has cost billions of dollars and raised gas prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooks\u2019 release also included critical comments from United Auto Workers Local 677 President Michael Shupp, who represents unionized Mack Trucks workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor more than a decade, Ryan Mackenzie has consistently voted against the interests of working people \u2013 in both Harrisburg and Washington,\u201d said UAW Local 677 President Michael Shupp.<\/p>\n

Mackenzie served six terms as a state representative in Lehigh County prior to his election to Congress.<\/p>\n

The UAW endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, though union leaders have voiced support for Trump\u2019s auto tariffs.<\/p>\n

Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite lingering inflation and economic uncertainty brought on by the Iran war, supporters of President Donald Trump who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,433,883,2754,2753,139,434,28,29,50,210],"class_list":["post-228905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-lehigh-county","tag-local-politics","tag-lower-macungie-township","tag-macungie","tag-news","tag-northampton-county","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-politics","tag-top-stories-dtd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}