Trump misleads about voter fraud, jokes about press being shot at Lancaster Airport rally
With a few thousand supporters listening at Lancaster Airport on Sunday, former President Donald Trump misrepresented an ongoing investigation into 2,500 voter registration applications submitted to the Lancaster County Board of Elections ahead of the Oct. 21 deadline.
"In Lancaster, they found 2,600 ballots all done in by the same hand," Trump said, to a jeering crowd. "In other words, the same exact same penmanship. The same hand. The same everything. It was all done by the same pen. The exact same pen."
Those claims are false.
County officials have identified hundreds of voter registration applications — not ballots — that the District Attorney said are fraudulent. Those applications were among two batches submitted to the county elections office.
Officials have released little information about the investigation since they announced it last month, but an update is expected on Monday .
Trump took more misleading jabs at Pennsylvania's election process during a 90-minute speech riddled with tangents and sidebars – a speaking strategy he called "the weave" that he said is his signature way of getting his points across. Throughout, he talked about unfounded claims that Democrats would "cheat" to win elections this year and criticized the media.
Trump repeatedly said Pennsylvania needs to vote using paper ballots, insinuating that the state doesn't do so. But paper ballots are used statewide and are entered into machines to tally candidates' votes. Results are then audited by every county.
He also criticized the lack of a strong voter ID law, saying voters should be required to show some form of identification every time they vote. In Pennsylvania, voters must show an ID the first time they vote at their polling place.
He acknowledged to the crowd that he was not speaking from the teleprompter: "Isn't this better than my speech?"
'I don't mind that so much'
Clear ballistic-rated glass stood between Trump and much of the crowd, a reminder of the failed assassination attempt against him this summer at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump said the barriers obscure his looks on television, and he made fun of the gaps between some of the panels. Trump pointed out that there was one sheet in front of him, where his podium faced members of the press.
"I have this piece of glass here, but all we have really over here is the fake news," Trump said, gesturing forward. Some in the audience then laughed or jeered.
"And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news, and I don't mind that so much," Trump said , to applause.
Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung later released a statement that Trump's remark "has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else."
Trump repeatedly said his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, wasn't intelligent — once calling her a "moron" — and said the Democratic Party is a "very demonic party."
Toward the end of his speech, Trump ran through a few campaign promises, including ending the war in Ukraine and the "chaos" in the Middle East, before exiting the stage to the sounds of "YMCA" by the Village People – a regular track on the former president's famous playlist.
The outside venue held an audience of a few thousand people, many wearing Trump campaign-themed coats, gloves and hats. At 6:30 a.m., temperatures were below 35 degrees. When Trump arrived after 11 a.m., it had warmed to above 50 degrees.
Speakers hanging from telescopic forklifts blared walk-out music for each of the surrogates. During the wait between the final speaker and Trump's arrival, the Trump rally playlist played the hits, including Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" and Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline."
Warming up
From race car driver Danica Patrick to former member of Congress Tulsi Gabbard, of Hawaii, a range of Trump surrogates addressed the crowd for roughly two hours before Trump took the stage.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker was among the Republican congressmen who spoke. He said Trump's visit to Lancaster County "of all places" so soon before Election Day served a purpose.
"He knows that each of us, each of you, are fighting for him, and you're standing with him," Smucker told the crowd. "You're going to ensure that we have the biggest turnout ever. You're going to ensure that he will win Lancaster County...by the biggest margin ever."
Lancaster County will swing for Trump and other GOP statewide candidates this year. It holds the fourth-highest number of Republican registered voters — at 187,000, as of Oct. 28 — out of Pennsylvania's 67 counties.
If Smucker's bold prediction becomes reality, and Trump wins Lancaster County "by the biggest margin ever," it may seal Pennsylvania's 19 electoral college votes for the GOP ticket.
Others who spoke included former ESPN host Sage Steele, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former Trump White House adviser Stephen Miller and U.S. Reps. Dan Meuser, John Joyce and Scott Perry, who is facing a tough contest to keep his 10th District seat this year against former WGAL anchor Janelle Stelson.
Senate hopeful Dave McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO, also took the stage. McCormick, who is challenging three-term incumbent Sen. Bob Casey, said this election comes down to "strength" versus "weakness" between Republican and Democratic candidates, respectively.
