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Rally, fries and Steelers game? Here are 5 things to know about Trump's next visit

Rally, fries and Steelers game? Here are 5 things to know about Trump's next visit

Former President Donald Trump is coming to Westmoreland County for a rally and is reportedly adding a few new twists to his typical campaign schedule.

Trump is scheduled to speak at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Rallies in airport hangars have been a frequent appearance for Trump throughout his political career. According to the Trump campaign, Saturday's rally will focus on Trump's signature talking points about curbing inflation, curbing illegal immigration and increasing domestic energy production.

But his trip to the Pittsburgh area this weekend could also hold a few surprises. Here are five things you should know about Trump's visit.

McDonald's stop

At Trump's rally at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in September, the Republican presidential candidate hinted that he might “take the french fry job at McDonald's for about half an hour” when he took over the college job of his rival Kamala Harris, the worked in a fast food restaurant. food chain.

According to a report from Yahoo! Trump is expected to “work the fryer” while visiting a McDonald's in Bucks County. News article.

Trump has claimed without evidence that Harris never worked at McDonald's.

Western Pennsylvania has a long McDonald's tradition. The Big Mac was invented by Jim Delligatti, who owned several franchise locations throughout the region. It was created at Delligatti's Restaurant in Ross and was first added to the menu in Uniontown.

Steelers game

Trump is expected to appear at the Pittsburgh Steelers home game on Sunday Night Football.

Trump will attend the game against the New York Jets at Acrisure Stadium, a source told TribLive.

As president and during his current campaign, Trump attended several college football games, including a visit in September to watch Alabama play Georgia.

It is unclear whether Trump attended an NFL game while in office or on the campaign trail.

One of Trump's biggest surrogates, billionaire Elon Musk, attended the Steelers-Cowboys game at Acrisure on Oct. 6.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz gathered with former Steelers safety Will Allen at Acrisure Stadium on Tuesday. Hall of Fame Steelers running back Jerome Bettis endorsed Harris earlier this year and campaigned with her and Walz in Beaver County.

A few tidbits: Late Steelers owner Dan Rooney was named ambassador to Ireland by President Barack Obama; Jets owner Robert Wood Johnson was appointed ambassador to the United Kingdom by Trump.

Frequent flyer

Trump is something of a regular at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport.

He last appeared there in November 2022, campaigning for Republican candidates Doug Mastriano and Mehmet Oz, who were running losing campaigns for Pennsylvania governor and a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat, respectively.

Trump also gathered at the Latrobe-area airport in September 2020 in front of several thousand people.

Trump six times

This weekend's visit marks Trump's sixth visit to the Pittsburgh area since July.

The former president has visited seven counties so far: Armstrong, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Indiana, Somerset and Westmoreland.

Previous stops have included a farm near Dawson, Sprankles Grocery Store in Kittanning and two rallies in Butler County, including one on July 13 when a gunman opened fire, wounding Trump and two rally attendees and killing a spectator.

Trump, Harris and their colleagues have visited Pittsburgh a total of 16 times, more than any other region in the country.

False rumors

Officials at the Westmoreland County airport tried Tuesday to dispel false rumors that thousands of illegal immigrants were being flown overnight to the site of Trump's upcoming visit, Arnold Palmer Regional Airport.

“That's not happening. We have over 100 cameras at this airport,” Gabe Monzo, executive director of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority, said during an authority board meeting Tuesday. “That’s not part of what we do. And please – I’m very serious – we’ve had legitimate calls from legitimate people receiving these calls and this is not happening.”

The Trump campaign focused its messaging on the dangers immigrants pose to the country, saying those who entered the U.S. illegally were “poisoning the blood of our country.” He falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants were eating people's pets in Springfield, Ohio.

Monzo said he did not know the source of the rumor about airlifting immigrants, but had received calls from people in the community inquiring about it, some from police and people involved in politics.

“It’s really frustrating to even think about these issues,” he said. “It’s just a nuisance.”

Ryan Deto is a TribLive reporter covering politics, news in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. A native of California's Bay Area, he joined the Trib in 2022 after more than six years covering Pittsburgh for the Pittsburgh City Paper, including as managing editor. He can be reached at [email protected].

Categories:
Choice | News | Politics election | Regional | Top Stories | Westmoreland

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