Mike and Lisa Ditty of Effort are seen outside Mohegan Sun Arena prior to Sunday’s rally.
Ryan Evans | Times Leader
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Attendees are seen lined up outside Mohegan Sun Arena Saturday afternoon prior to the ‘Save America’ rally.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Christian Boris of Old Forge, dressed as George Washington, takes a break to look at his cell phone while waiting for the gates to open at Mohegan Sun Arena prior to Saturday’s ‘Save America’ rally.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., answers question during an interview by RSBN outside Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Dallas, speaks with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano is seen chatting with wife Rebbie and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene at Mohegan Sun Arena Saturday afternoon prior to formal remarks at the ‘Save America’ rally.
Ryan Evans | Times Leader
Thousands of attendees are seen waiting for the doors to open at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE TWP. — As always, Donald Trump drew a crowd.
Official numbers for his Mohegan Sun Arena appearance were not yet available at press time, but the facility and its parking lots were packed — so much so that Wilkes-Barre Township police on Saturday afternoon began reporting that the arena parking lot was at capacity, directing people to alternate parking at Wyoming Valley Mall, and advising motorists to be alert to increased pedestrian traffic.
We spoke with some of the folks eagerly waiting to get in. Here are some highlights from those interviews, as well as from speakers who took the stage before Trump came on.
• Mike and Lisa Ditty of Effort: “We’re excited. (We can) Hopefully show our support and convince him to run again in 2024,” said Mike, an Army veteran.
For endorsement of gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano and Senate candidate Mehmet Oz, he said: “Mastriano, we’re on board. I really like his stance. Oz, we’re learning about”
Side note: Lisa was celebrating her birthday at the rally.
• Myron Jacien of West Wyoming: “Support,” he said was his reason for coming. “We have candidates that are going to get back and take over the economy. Economy’s hurting a lot of people and that’s why I’m here.”
When asked if he thinks Trump will announce for 2024, Jacien said, “No,” then point to the trump flag hanging from his hatchback and said, “But I thought he already declared.”
“I hope we go back red to save this economy. If the economy fails, the nation is gone,” Jacien said in conclusion.
• Mark and Melissa Marzullo of Cicero, N.Y.: “I’d like to hear a response to what happened this past week,” Melissa said, reflecting on President Biden’s Thursday speech at Independence Hall.
Mark added that he’d like to hear a, “positive message and uplifting pride for our country.”
He also noted it would be “stellar” if Trump declared for 2024 tonight.
It also was Melissa’s birthday, and she thought the two -and-a-half hour drive to Wilkes-Barre to see Trump was the perfect present.
In closing, Mark said, “We just love America and all the people in this great nation. We just want to turn the direction of the country and Make America Great Again.”
Big names in attendance
Saturday’s rally was intended as a show of support by Trump for Mastriano, Oz and Jim Bognet in their races for governor, U.S. Senate and the 8th Congressional District respectively.
Many eyes were focused on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who was giving media interviews outside and inside the arena prior to the event.
“The people here are just like the people I represent in Georgia in my district,” Greene told the Times Leader. “I used to be one of these people, waiting in line … I love getting out and talking with them because I’m truly one of them.”
Greene, 48, called Trump the “greatest president of my lifetime” and said that she expects to hear tonight from him that “come November, it’s freedom versus tyranny.”
The event formally got underway at about 4 p.m. with the National Anthem. Here are some highlights:
• Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity was the first speaker.
“We have a great lineup of people here ready to fight for our commonwealth and our country,” Garrity told the crowd. She said that “this election is the most important of our lifetime” and that “we could change things, we can and we must.”
• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene took the stage to a loud ovation.
“I love you all … Joe Biden has declared all of you extremists,” she told the audience.
Greene also repeated the baseless claim that Trump won the 2020 election.
“We are going to fire Nancy Pelosi … I never liked her anyway, and her husband clearly has an alcohol problem,” she added.
In reference to the FBI taking documents from Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago: “That never should have happened, it was unconstitutional,” said Greene, who said to the crowd what she told Carroll earlier: “This November, it’s freedom versus tyranny.”
“We’re not the extremists, we’re Americans,” she concluded.
• Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Dallas, said “We have fallen way off course from the strong America we had under President Trump.”
He called the stream of “illegals and illegal drugs” coming across the border an “unmitigated disaster.”
Meuser said “the world needs a strong America, now more than ever,” and called the upcoming election “a chance to put America on the right course.”
• Congressional candidate Jim Bognet, of Hazleton, is running against Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic, in the upcoming election.
“In the 20 months since Joe Biden’s been president, he’s put America in the ditch,” said Bognet, who then took aim at President Joe Biden’s Thursday night speech in Philadelphia, in which the president spoke about the dangers of the MAGA movement to American democracy.
“He demeaned us, he belittled us,” Bognet said, referring to the speech as “Biden B.S.”
Bognet wrapped up by saying that “Biden and Cartwright have lost their minds and sold their souls,” and then directed audience members to donate to his campaign.
• U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz touted his endorsement from the Fraternal Order of Police, and slams Biden: “I think the only thing Joe Biden has built back better, is the Republican party.”
He also said: “You know what happens when you mix politics and medicine? Politics,” in reference to the government’s handling of COVID-19.
• State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor, ripped into Democratic nominee and state Attorney General Josh Shapiro as being “not a man of the people but a man of his own party politics.”
Things Mastriano said he will accomplish “on day one” as governor:
– Open up the state for drilling
– No critical race theory in schools
– “No boys on girls teams, or in girls bathrooms”
– No accepting of illegal immigrants
“It’s going to be a new day in PA,” he said.
