6 Takeaways From Trump Town Hall That Was Supposed to Be a Debate
Fred Lucas /
Former President Donald Trump spoke about a wide range of issues Wednesday during a town hall event that was initially scheduled to be a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
The event was in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, one of the most fiercely contested battleground states in the country.
Trump announced last month that his campaign reached agreements for a debate with Fox News on Sept. 4 and NBC News on Sept. 25.
However, the Harris campaign has only agreed to do one debate on Sept. 10 on ABC News that was already scheduled by the campaign of President Joe Biden before Biden dropped out of the race in July.
The town hall was hosted by Sean Hannity, a conservative host. Had it been a debate, it would have been hosted by news anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, Hannity said.
“I would have preferred a debate,” Trump said.
Here are the six key highlights from the event.
1. ‘More Terrorists’ in 3 Years Than 50 Years
Trump talked about the border policies under the Biden-Harris administration, noting that 21 million illegal immigrants have entered the country–“larger than New York.”
“More terrorists have come into the United States in the last three years than I think probably 50 years, there has never been anything like it,” Trump said. “If they won, you would have not 20 million, you would have 100 million people.”
“You won’t have Social Security, you won’t have Medicare, you won’t have anything,” Trump continued. “Already, if you look at the numbers, you’re not going to have anything. Already, if you look at the numbers, they are filling up and loading up Social Security and Medicare with illegal immigrants that have come into our country, many of them from jails, and many of them from very bad places. And we are not going to destroy our country.”
Trump also talked about the high crime by illegal immigrant gangs in Colorado.
“Take a look at Aurora in Colorado where Venezuelans are taking over the whole town! They’re taking over buildings, the whole town,” Trump said. “They have AK-47s. They are knocking down doors and knocking down the doors of people. The people are petrified.”
In Aurora, Colorado–a Denver suburb and sanctuary city–Venezuelans are about 40% of the immigrant arrivals. Members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua reportedly took over an apartment complex called The Edge at Lowry, which was the site of a shootout last month.
2. ‘Other Things Perhaps, But We’re Not Weird’
During the interview, Hannity mentioned Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate. Hannity said Walz “wants free college education, legal drivers licenses [for illegal immigrants].”
Trump noted that members of the Walz family endorsed him.
“I was so honored, his brother endorsed me, his whole family,” Trump said. “I saw the picture. Honestly, it was a very nice looking family. His brother endorsed me and the whole family endorsed me.”
The New York Post reported that Jeff Walz, the brother of Tim Walz, had posted on Facebook, ““I’m 100% opposed to all his ideology,” referring to his brother and suggested in a comment he was considering endorsing Trump.
Jeff Walz suggested in a later interview with NewsNation he was unlikely to play a public role, saying, “It wasn’t my intent, it wasn’t our intent as a family, to put something out there to influence the general public.”
The Walz family members posted in the social media image were related to Tim Walz via his grandfather’s brother, reported the Washington Examiner.
Walz was among the first to refer to Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, as “weird.”
Trump responded that Walz was weird.
“There is something weird with that guy. He’s a weird guy. JD is not weird. He’s a solid rock,” Trump said. “I happen to be a very solid rock. We are not weird. We are other things perhaps, but we’re not weird.”
3. The Debate and the ‘Most Dishonest Network’
Trump talked about the ABC News debate that will occur next week–so far the only debate that Harris has agreed to.
“They are the most dishonest network, the meanest, the nastiest, but that is what I was presented with. I was presented with ABC and George Sloppodopolous,” Trump said, a reference to ABC news anchor and commentator George Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton White House official and Democratic Party operative.
“He’s a nasty guy. I’ve had him up to here,” Trump said of Stephanopoulos. “He’s a very, very bad kind of a guy. But I watched his interview with Joe Biden, it was like the softest interview I’ve ever seen. It was softer than the CNN interview of Kamala.”
“A lot of people are going to watch to see how nasty they are,” Trump continued. “I agreed to do it because she wouldn’t do any other network. Another thing, her best friend is the head of the network. Her husband’s best friend is married to the head of the network. I’ve already heard that they’re [Harris campaign] are going to get the questions in advance.”
A Disney executive, Dana Walden, is reportedly close friends with Harris. “On paper, the potential for a conflict of interest seems obvious: ABC News, the host of next month’s high-stakes presidential debate, falls under the purview of a top corporate executive at Disney [Dana Walden] who happens to be longtime friends with the Democratic nominee,” reported the New York Times last month.
The outlet also reported that ABC News “says that the executive, who oversees 18 businesses across the sprawling Disney empire, is only involved in the news division’s corporate matters (like budgets and staff size) and that she has no say in editorial decisions.”
He noted that Donna Brazile, a former Democratic operative, works for ABC News and in 2016 sent Hillary Clinton questions before a town hall on CNN that year. Brazile later resigned from CNN.
“We have a clause in the contract, you can’t give them the questions,” Trump said. “You might give her the questions and give her the answers with the questions. I’m not sure it’s going to help her.”
4. ‘I Got Shot At. I Got Hit’
Trump made an almost joking reference to the assassination attempt against him from July 13 in Pennsylvania. He was making the case that he could have had better things to do than run for president.
“If Joe Biden had been a great president, I would be very happier than [him] being the worst president in the history of the country,” Trump said
“I have very nice places I could be. This is not easy,” Trump said of campaigning. “I got shot at. I got hit. I could have been all over the place. But you know what? It’s very simple. It starts with make America great again.”
This prompted some laughter and significant applause from the audience.
5. ‘These Clowns … World War III’
Hannity showed clips of Harris saying she had the “courage” to not use the phrases “illegal immigrant” or “radical Islamic terrorist.”
“She wants to be politically correct, and we can’t be politically correct anymore,” Trump said.
He referenced the Hamas terrorist attack last year on Israel and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Iran having the money to fund terrorism groups.
“We went four years without any blowups. We had no World Trade Center blow up,” Trump said. “We had no radical Islamic terror because we were very tough at the borders, we were very tough with our statements. The whole world was a safe place.”
By contrast, Trump said now, “The world is blowing up.”
He continued warning about the dangers of World War III.
“I understood nuclear for a long time, the power of nuclear weapons. You need a president that’s not gonna be taking you into war. We won’t have World War III when I’m elected. With these clowns that you have in there now, you’re gonna end up having World War III. It’s going to be a war like no other.”
6. ‘Even if You Don’t Like Me’
Hannity showed past clips of Harris saying that she wanted to ban fracking. She has recently reversed her position.
As a presidential candidate in 2019, Harris said “there is no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.”
But Trump said, “Pennsylvania cannot even take a chance” on what position she would take as president.
“If she won, you are not going to have any fracking in Pennsylvania. You have 500,000 jobs. Think of that. That’s your biggest business,” Trump said. “And you get a big majority of your income from fracking. You have someone who is not going to allow fracking. She’s not going to allow it. You can’t take the chance.”
Trump stressed this is a case where voters might even put aside their personal feelings.
“You’ve got no choice. You’ve got to vote for me,” Trump said. “You’ve got to, even if you don’t like me, you can say I can’t stand that guy, but there’s no way I’m going to vote for her. You have to have fracking.”