In one of two stops in the Keystone State on Monday, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump brought his campaign to Reading, where he promised to create an \u201ceconomic boom\u201d in the U.S. and crack down on illegal immigration if he returns to the White House following Tuesday\u2019s general election.<\/p>\n
In remarks that spanned nearly 80 minutes and began almost an hour and a half after he was scheduled to begin, Trump framed the election as a referendum on President Joe Biden\u2019s administration. \u201cI\u2019d like to begin by asking you a very easy, simple question: Are you better off now than you were four years ago?\u201d Trump asked the crowd at Reading\u2019s Santander Arena. \u201cWith your vote tomorrow, I will end inflation, I will stop the invasion of criminals coming into our country and I will bring back the American Dream.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter four years of economic suffering, we will create the greatest economic boom the world has ever seen,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Much of Trump\u2019s speech focused on immigration levels, with the former president baselessly claiming the U.S. is an \u201coccupied country,\u201d adding that \u201cit will soon be an occupied country no longer.\u201d Without providing evidence, Trump blamed his general election opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, as the reason for the country\u2019s high immigration levels, as Harris was assigned to find solutions to stem migration from Central American countries, per Reuters.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump outlined a tough stance on immigration at the Reading rally, vowing to dismantle migrant criminal networks on American soil, implement automatic 10-year prison sentences for those who come back into the country and calling for the death penalty for migrants who kill American citizens and law enforcement officers. He also said he would \u201cimmediately ban all sanctuary cities\u201d in the U.S.<\/p>\n The former president also took time to praise billionaire Elon Musk, who has poured tens of millions of dollars into a super PAC \u2013 known as America PAC \u2013 in an effort to send Trump back to the White House. \u201cHe gave me the nicest endorsement,\u201d Trump said of Musk\u2019s imprimatur. \u201cHe said, \u2018If you don\u2019t win, if Trump doesn\u2019t win, this whole country is going to be no good. It\u2019s going to be no good.\u2019 And it won\u2019t, because of their policies, we will be Venezuela on steroids. That\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen to us.\u201d<\/p>\n Notably, outside of his standard comments on immigration, the candidate did not spend time reaching out to Hispanic voters in this battleground state \u2013 some 65,000 of who live in Reading \u2013 in an attempt to mitigate the widely reported damage done to this key demographic<\/a> by a right-wing comedian\u2019s comments at a Trump rally in New York City last week. The event did include remarks in English and Spanish from U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants.\u00a0<\/p>\n