GREENSBURG — If there’s something that Republican candidates want more than an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, it’s to avoid his un-endorsement.
Mr. Trump, at his “Save America” rally at a mud-filled Westmoreland Fairgrounds on Friday night, railed into U.S. Senate hopeful Dave McCormick, who has spent millions of dollars in ads sparring with the Trump-endorsed candidate Mehmet Oz.
“He did want my endorsement very badly, but I couldn’t do it,” Mr. Trump told the crowd. “If anybody was within 200 miles of me, he hired them.”
Mr. Trump spent more time criticizing Mr. McCormick in his one-and-a-half-hour speech than praising his endorsed candidate who he hosted the rally for: Mr. Oz.
“[McCormick] may be a nice guy, but he’s not MAGA,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump, however, ensured his supporters that Mr. Oz “truly believes in the ‘Make America Great Again’ movement.”
“He believes in it 100%, and he’s in love with our country,” Mr. Trump added.
“He’s supported by [Fox News host] Sean Hannity, [former energy Secretary] Rick Perry. And real importantly, he’s supported by someone known as me,” Mr. Trump said, pointing to himself with a smile under his red MAGA hat.
Still, voters who waited hours in the rain to see Mr. Trump weren’t yet wooed by Mr. Oz. Most of the voters the Post-Gazette spoke with had not decided who they’d support in the May 17 primary election, less than two weeks away.
“I want to hear a lot more conservative views,” said Sue Banasiewicz, who drove three hours from Dillsburg to see Mr. Trump, before the rally. “I feel like [Oz] has changed in the past several years and I want to hear that he really means it.”
Mr. Oz has been criticized as a “Hollywood elite” for the relationships he formed during his time as a daytime TV host. Mr. Trump, however, endorsed him and emphasized his electability in the general election.
“Dr. Oz, I’ve known him a long time, his show is great,” Mr. Trump said. “He’s on that screen, he’s in those bedrooms of all those women.”
Mr. Trump spent much of his time recalling — and sometimes recasting — his time as president. He boasted about the 2017 tax cuts, creation of the Space Force, low gas prices, reworked international trade deals, and more.
Much of Mr. Trump’s rally revisited the 2020 election, as the former president and his closest friends try to convince voters that Trump actually won. President Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by more than 80,000 votes.
Each speaker ahead of Mr. Trump talked about election integrity efforts, and organizers played parts of a new film that alleges without evidence that there was an organized effort from left-wing groups to deliver multiple ballots at one time to drop boxes throughout states.
At one point, he asked state Treasurer Stacy Garrity to come speak to the crowd.
“We know that he won,” Ms. Garrity said, who won her election and unseated an incumbent in the same election as Mr. Trump’s loss in 2020.
He also reminisced on the phrases he’s coined since he became a politician, such as “fake news,” “crooked Hillary” and more.
“We came up with a lot of great terms,” Mr. Trump said as he listened in to the crowd’s “Lock Her Up” chants about former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Before Mr. Trump took the stage at the end of the rainy day, a number of officials spoke, including U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler. When Mr. Reschenthaler mentioned Mr. Oz, some of the crowd booed. Mr. Reschenthaler said Democratic U.S. Senate front-runner Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is a “serious threat,” and echoed Mr. Trump’s remarks that Mr. Oz is the only candidate that could beat him in the November election.
J.D. Vance, a Republican who won the Ohio primary election earlier this week, credited President Trump’s endorsement for his win. He urged the crowd to support Mr. Trump’s other endorsed candidates, like Mr. Oz, so voters can show party bosses that Mr. Trump is still the leader of the Republican Party.
Mr. Oz gave a short stump speech about his top issues such as energy and again flaunted his Trump endorsement. All of his signs had been remade to include a tag that said: “Endorsed by Trump.”
“My whole career has been about helping you,” Mr. Oz said, as the rain soaked through his white shirt from the pouring rain.
First Published: May 7, 2022, 1:17 a.m.
Updated: May 7, 2022, 3:01 a.m.
