{"id":229542,"date":"2026-06-27T10:11:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T10:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/229542\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T10:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T10:11:15","slug":"trump-heads-to-battleground-pennsylvania-but-keep-focuses-on-himself-ahead-of-midterm-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/229542\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump heads to battleground Pennsylvania but keep focuses on himself ahead of midterm elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump<\/a> visited a Mack Trucks facility in battleground Pennsylvania on Tuesday, attempting to shift attention to the U.S. economy in his first major public event outside the nation’s capital since he signed an interim agreement to end the Iran war<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The trip to Macungie, in the Allentown suburbs, came as Trump works to put the conflict \u2014 and the higher gasoline prices it caused \u2014 in the rearview mirror as the November midterm elections<\/a> draw closer. <\/p>\n

Trump had a private tour of the facility, but his speech often felt more like a reelection rally from two years ago than an effort to promote his second-term accomplishments. <\/p>\n

The president listed longstanding political grievances, and made only passing mentions of promoting Republicans ahead of Election Day \u2014 while spending more time bragging about the UFC fight he staged on the White House lawn<\/a> in honor of his own 80th birthday than he did the economy. <\/p>\n

At one point, Trump even called UFC fighters Bo Nickal and Anthony Cassar to the stage and mused about whether he could beat either one of them in a wrestling match if he were to \u201cwork out for the next couple of months.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Trump’s fifth second-term visit to Pennsylvania, a state whose support in 2016 and 2024 helped him to win the White House. The truck factory is in a district where incumbent Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie faces Democratic challenger Bob Brooks in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor more than 100 years, this legendary company has been making trucks right here in eastern Pennsylvania,” Trump said, \u201cbuilding the heavy duty machinery that keeps our economy rolling, our factories moving, and our industries roaring all across the nation.\u201d <\/p>\n

His visit coincided with rising prices<\/a> that could color the verdict voters render on Trump’s stewardship in the fall. About one-third of U.S. adults approved of Trump\u2019s approach to the economy, according to a June Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research<\/a> poll. That\u2019s in line with last month for Trump on the issue.<\/p>\n

The Iran war<\/a>, which began Feb. 28, has also been a politically difficult issue for the president. Most Americans continued to disapprove of his handling of Iran, according to the June AP-NORC poll<\/a>, which was being fielded as Trump announced a tentative deal with Iran and concluded just before the interim agreement was signed last week. It found that 65% of U.S. adults disapprove of how the president is handling issues with Iran, unchanged from May. <\/p>\n

Still, while most Democrats and independents view Trump\u2019s actions negatively, only about 3 in 10 Republicans are unhappy.<\/p>\n

This is the kind of district that matters in November elections<\/p>\n

Trump addressed a cheering crowd from a stage erected on the factory floor, flanked by two red, white and blue trucks and rows of workers in fluorescent safety vests under a large \u201cAmerican Workers First\u201d banner.<\/p>\n

It’s the kind of district that may prove pivotal to Republicans holding narrow control of the House, where a loss could hobble the president’s final two years in office. <\/p>\n

Mackenzie, a freshman lawmaker, is looking to hold on to a district Democrats have targeted to flip. Brooks, president of the state firefighters’ union, has support from Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who’s also seeking reelection this year. <\/p>\n

Trump urged the crowd to support Mackenzie, saying of his trip, \u201cI\u2019m not doing this for my health.\u201d But he devoted more energy to issues like the U.S.-Mexico border, opposing transgender rights and decrying \u201cMarxist\u201d judges, while also referencing his administration’s efforts to lower prescription drug prices. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe gotta win the midterms,\u201d Trump said, in one of the few references he made to the midterms. Later, however, he suggested it wasn\u2019t actually a \u201cpolitical season,\u201d perhaps because he himself won\u2019t be on the ballot in November. <\/p>\n

On Iran, Trump suggested that the country would be smart and keep negotiating during the ceasefire. \u201cOtherwise we\u2019ll have to finish the job, which will take about, maybe less than a week,” he said. <\/p>\n

An odd moment came when the president offered, \u201cThe ideology of the Muslims is slightly different than the ideology of the Catholics. We have the Catholics and the Muslims slightly different.” He didn’t elaborate. <\/p>\n

Biden came to the same plant previously <\/p>\n

Trump’s predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, visited<\/a> the same Mack Trucks facility in 2021 to highlight regulations aimed at promoting manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing employment peaked in 1979 at nearly 19.6 million jobs. It trended downward after the 2001 recession and the 2007-09 Great Recession. The figure now stands at 12.6 million as of May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In 2025, the truck facility got hit by market uncertainty, including sweeping tariffs that Trump’s administration imposed, and about 170 people were laid off, according to Mack spokesperson Kimberly Pupillo. She added that by the end of last year, almost 150 people were recalled to work and anyone laid off last year was given the chance to return. <\/p>\n

There are about 2,800 workers at Mack, Pupillo said.<\/p>\n

At a pizzeria down the road from the truck facility, workers and diners said they’d heard about the president\u2019s visit and recalled Biden\u2019s trip to the plant. <\/p>\n

George Carver, a retired elementary school principal, said he wasn\u2019t a fan of Trump\u2019s: \u201cI\u2019m looking for a president who\u2019ll clean up this mess,\u201d he said, meaning improve the economy and better handle the war in Iran and immigration. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking for someone who\u2019s gonna tell the truth \u2014 that could be a Democrat or Republican,\u201d Carver said. <\/p>\n

Trump’s visit underscores Pennsylvania’s status as a crucial swing state. <\/p>\n

Trump made a trip to Mount Pocono in December to road test<\/a> messages that he’s addressing affordability; in July 2025, he was in Pittsburgh to tout<\/a> tens of billions of dollars of recent energy and technology investments in the state; in June 2025, he was in West Mifflin to tell<\/a> steelworkers he was doubling the tariff on steel imports to protect the industry; and in March 2025 he attended<\/a> the NCAA wrestling championship in Philadelphia. <\/p>\n

Denise Green, a retired software trainer, was among a handful of people protesting the visit outside a McDonald\u2019s across the street from the plant. <\/p>\n

Green said she was a former Republican who became a Democrat in 2007 because her original party backed policies where \u201call the money” was going to the rich.<\/p>\n

Green said her key issue was Social Security funding, which she said she\u2019ll need but is worried could run out. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s outrageous,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump visited a Mack Trucks facility in battleground Pennsylvania on Tuesday, attempting to shift attention to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1583,60,34,902,1578,33,50,128,130,129,1582,44,10224],"class_list":["post-229542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-bob-brooks","tag-business","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-joe-biden","tag-josh-shapiro","tag-politics","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-ryan-mackenzie","tag-u-s-news","tag-washington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229542","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=229542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}