Donald Trump pledged to reduce the costs of housing, energy, and groceries at a town hall in the nation's largest swing state on Monday night. However, the event was cut short after several audience members suffered medical emergencies. The gathering, held in a packed venue in the Philadelphia suburbs, was halted as several overheated attendees required help.
The former President criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for overseeing rising interest rates and inflation, which he said had increased consumer prices by about 21% since President Biden assumed office. "Let's turn this into a musical celebration," Trump said, improvising by asking his staff to play Luciano Pavarotti's "Ave Maria" and other songs.
The Heat Is On
The 78-year-old Trump ended the event with a final message encouraging his supporters to vote before leaving the stage. "We win the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we are in clover. And then we're going to fix our country. And we're going to fix it fast," Trump encouraged his listeners after taking just a handful a of their questions.
However, this wasn't how the event was meant to unfold. Monday evening's event was promoted as a 'town hall,' offering Trump the opportunity to address voters' questions about the economy—voters who could potentially determine the entire election's outcome.
After only 32 minutes of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem energetically leading the question-and-answer session, Trump was made aware of a disturbance in the audience.
"A doctor please," Trump said.
The crowd grew quiet as a medical professional attended to the situation.
A few minutes later, Trump was interrupted again by more audience members calling out for medical help.
He asked for the doors of the venue to be opened but later explained they couldn't remain open due to security reasons. Both Trump and Noem, who was hosting the event, jokingly suggested that inflation had likely made air conditioning too costly for the facility's operators.
Trump's Economic Agenda
Trump shared parts of his economic agenda while appealing to suburban voters in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania's third most populous county, where he suffered significant losses in both 2016 and 2020.
Recent statewide polls show a tight race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, 59.
During the event, Trump told a military veteran struggling to buy a home that if he returns to the White House, "You're going to buy that house, and you're going to pay two and a half, 3% interest, and you're going to say, 'I love this guy.'"
When a woman, raised in a Black, Democratic-voting union family in Philadelphia, asked about the rising cost of groceries, Trump shifted his response to focus on record-high illegal immigration, which he blamed on Harris as Biden's lead on addressing migration at the southern border.
"When millions of people pour into our country, they're having a devastating effect on black families and Hispanic families, more than any others," Trump said.
Highlighting Pennsylvania's crucial role in the national election, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Erie, a post-industrial area often considered a bellwether, on Monday night.
Trump's campaign said that between 5,000 and 6,000 people attended his town hall, while Harris addressed a crowd of around 7,000 in Erie, according to a pool report.
