President Donald Trump returned to Pennsylvania on Tuesday to tout massive private sector investments in artificial intelligence and energy in the key battleground state, but he also found time to weave into unrelated topics, including taking potshots at his predecessor.
Trump’s visit took him to at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh for an energy and innovation summit hosted by Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick, a key ally.
“Today’s commitments are ensuring that the future is going to be designed, built and made right here in Pennsylvania and right here in Pittsburgh, and I have to say right here in the United States of America,” he said. “This afternoon, 20 leading technology and energy companies are announcing more than $92 billion of investments in Pennsylvania.”
The administration expects those investments to deliver a substantial number of new jobs to the commonwealth, with Trump saying Tuesday that the funds would go toward “energy infrastructure” projects and AI data centers. Specific projects will be announced soon, the president added.
Trump also briefly talked up the massive tax and spending measure House and Senate Republicans narrowly passed earlier this month.
“Think of it, the biggest tax cut in history, and we didn’t get a Democrat vote,” he said. “And so many other things, no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime.”
The president’s mind was on politics from the beginning of his remarks, as he congratulated McCormick for unseating longtime Democratic incumbent Bob Casey last fall.
“He won a race that, I think, was not doable,” said Trump, who appeared to take credit for McCormick’s victory, saying he gave the former hedge fund CEO’s campaign a boost by summoning him onstage during a 2024 political rally.
Veering off the stated reason for the trip just minutes after coming onstage after the Beach Boys’ hit song “I Get Around” faded out and “Hail to the Chief” played, Trump said his administration had, so far, raked in “$16 trillion” from his tariffs — though it is unclear how the tariff funds are being used. He then segued into international affairs, describing his Middle East trip as a boon for Boeing due to aircraft sales to several Arab countries he visited.
Earlier in the day, as he departed the White House, Trump told reporters his administration had reached a trade deal with Indonesia that would see the Southeast Asian country pay a 19 percent tariff, while the United States would pay 0 percent. He promised the U.S. would get “full” access to the Indonesian market.
He also said, following a Tuesday morning call with Texas Republicans, that he wants them to draw five new Republican-leaning congressional districts as state GOP lawmakers takes up a new redistricting effort that could help House Republicans maintain their narrow majority next year. Trump also said there were several other states where GOP officials could redraw more seats in Republicans’ favor.
‘Made things worse’
Trump’s visit to Pennsylvania came after the release earlier Tuesday of federal government data that showed inflation was up 2.7 percent in June, driving up consumer prices as the effects of his global tariffs begin to take root.
The president, however, contended the opposite in a morning Truth Social post, writing: “Consumer Prices LOW. Bring down the Fed Rate, NOW!!!”
Some Democrats took to social media to accuse the president of making such claims to distract from unfavorable news. And that’s what the inflation numbers were for the president, argued Pennsylvania Rep. Brendan F. Boyle.
“President Trump promised to bring prices down. Instead, he and Republicans have made things worse. Their Big Ugly Law will raise costs even further, on everything from groceries to health care, all while showering billionaires with tax breaks,” Boyle said in a statement. “American families are already struggling, and they simply can’t afford another round of this president’s lies and his reckless economic policies.”
Vice President JD Vance will be across the commonwealth on Wednesday, heading to West Pittston in northeast Pennsylvania to speak about the sweeping Republican-led measure known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Last fall, the Trump-Vance ticket easily carried West Pittston’s Luzerne County — a onetime battleground that has swung decidedly right in the Trump era. And while the duo lost Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County, they won every county that borders it in the key swing state.
The “Big” law has been polling underwater nationally, meaning Trump and Vance have some work to do as the administration begins its implementation. Also underwater: the latest numbers on Trump’s job approval rating and his handling of the economy.
For instance, a YouGov-Economist survey released last week found 54 percent of registered voters disapproved of his performance since returning to office, with 43 percent approving. And on jobs and the economy, 52 percent of registered voters disapproved while 44 percent approved. A recent Morning Consult survey, however, found an even split (46 percent each way) on the president’s economic stewardship. That survey showed 50 percent of respondents disapproved of Trump’s overall job performance while 47 percent approved.
During his remarks Tuesday in Pennsylvania, Trump diverged from his message about new jobs to drift into what he calls “the weave,” a speaking style that includes insults about political foes and culture war-fueling lines.
He criticized “Sleepy Joe,” his derisive nickname for former President Joe Biden, and what he called the 46th president’s “war on coal.” (Biden grew up five hours away, in Scranton.) And he called federal energy regulators “very incompetent people.”
One Democratic strategist said he expects more of such comments now that Trump has moved into a new phase with his tax and spending law done.
“Now that Immigration and Customs Enforcement got a much bigger budget bump, expect to see more staged Los Angele-style crackdowns on immigrants in large American cities with Democratic mayors,” strategist Brad Bannon said. “There will be a surge in the GOP culture wars with fresh attacks on transgendered athletes. Anyone weak and vulnerable will bear the brunt of Trump’s desire to impress MAGA diehards and project a powerful presidential image.”
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