Why Biden’s home town is turning to Trump and could be key to his triumphant return to the White House

MUNCHING on “cheesesteak” in the blazing sunshine, thousands queued patiently in “Bidentown” for a glimpse of their political hero Donald J Trump.

With a chopper circling overhead and snipers on rooftops, the former president and November 5 election hopeful posted a characteristically caustic tweet to stir up the masses.

Donald Trump addresses the crowd in the heart of Bidenland – the President’s hometown of Scranton, PennsylvaniaCredit: Rex

Parked on a verge at the entrance to Trump’s rally is Joe Granteed, 63, who flies a ‘God, guns, Trump’ flag from his truck, along with a sign reading ‘No fake news zone’Credit: Paul Edwards

Trader Dawn Vititoe was selling bug-eyed, cymbal-banging Trump dolls, also for £15Credit: Paul Edwards

“I’m speaking in Crooked Joe Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, today, in the ultimate troll of him!” the 45th President of the USA said gleefully of the 46th.

Biden has mined much political capital from his childhood in this former coal and iron-producing city in what is a pivotal state in the next presidential election.

Now Republican Party candidate Trump was visiting this resolutely blue collar city to tease out every vote as his battle with Kamala Harris goes to the wire.

For the race to be the next Commander-in-Chief of 345million Americans may be decided by just a few thousand voters in this key swing state.

Trump had recently told supporters: “If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole thing.”

If the yard signs bearing his name that festoon Scranton are anything to go by, it seems he has a good chance.

Trump began speaking at the rally as Hurricane Milton edged towards Florida — the state where he spends much of his time.

Mercifully for him, his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Palm Beach was not in the cyclone’s path but the gathering storm was very much on his mind.

‘Sad, pathetic guy’

Breaking off from the trademark insults and invective that peppered his lengthy speech, he said: “I want to send our love to everyone in Florida. They’re going through a big one tonight.

“We’re praying for them and asking God to keep them all safe.”

Donald Trump holds rally in Biden’s hometown and boasts it’s ‘very special to be here’ as he vows to ‘win Pennsylvania’

Of course, Trump hasn’t always been so charitable on disaster response.

After Hurricane Helene caused devastation and death last month, he claimed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was diverting relief funds to migrants.

And there were no warm words from Trump for the current president at Wednesday’s rally as Biden coordinated the hurricane relief efforts

Instead he labelled Biden a “sad, pathetic guy”.

Both Trump and his Democratic challenger Harris have expended much electoral firepower on Pennsylvania, the key election battleground of America’s seven swing states.

US elections are decided by a so-called electoral college system, with each state having a number of votes based on its population size.

Pennsylvania has a hefty 19 electoral college votes. In a neck and neck race, it can be the kingmaker.

My mother came from Costa Rica and my father Jamaica but they came through the front door.

Joe Biden home town resident

Last month Harris campaigned in Pennsylvania once every three days.

And Harris, Trump and their allies have spent an incredible $350million on rival TV ads in the state alone.

Working-class Scranton, which had a road renamed Biden Street in the president’s honour, was chosen as the setting for the US version of TV’s The Office.

Old brick plants from its industrial heyday lie empty while newer warehouses and financial firms have sprung up in their place.

Last month Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited a Scranton munitions plant.

It produces shells crucial in his nation’s fight against Russian invaders, but Trump has given indications that he might end costly military support for the East European country.

Stopping outside Biden’s modest clapboard childhood home in an upmarket area of the city, my taxi driver nods approvingly at a Trump placard pitched on a manicured lawn three doors away.

Homeowner and dad-of-five Herbert McKingley, 42, says the chaotic US border with Mexico is his primary election concern.

The son of immigrants who arrived legally in the States, he insisted: “My mother came from Costa Rica and my father Jamaica but they came through the front door.”

In 2022 alone a record 2.2million people were apprehended at the border, with Herbert adding: “We don’t even have the resources to help those who are already here.

“If I was another country wanting to attack the US, why would I not send terrorists through the back door? It’s a no-brainer.”

Parked on a verge at the entrance to Trump’s rally is Joe Granteed, 63, who flies a “God, guns, Trump” flag from his truck, along with a sign reading “No fake news zone”.

Reclining in the sunshine on a fold-up chair in the back of his pick up, he says Scraton is now “pretty diverse”, adding: “When I grew up it was a lot of coal-mining families. It’s totally changed now.”

“Trump 2024” and “Never Surrender” flags billowed outside the rally venue, the cavernous RiverFront sports centre, like standards on a medieval battlefield.

Meanwhile many proudly wear “I’m voting for the felon” T-shirts, referring to Trump’s conviction on 34 counts of violating laws on corporate record-keeping.

With rock and country music blaring from stalls hawking Trump tat, it sometimes felt more like a pop festival than a political rally.

With rock and country music blaring from stalls hawking Trump tat, it sometimes felt more like a pop festival than a political rallyCredit: Paul Edwards

A trump fan at the rally is dressed head to toe in merchandiseCredit: Paul Edwards

Traders were flogging must-have MAGA (Make America Great Again) baseball hats for around £15.

Dawn Vititoe was selling bug-eyed, cymbal-banging Trump dolls, also for £15.

When you press the top of the mannequin’s head it blares out some of Trump’s best-known sayings, including: “Build the wall”.

While conceding that Harris has had a successful career, Dawn thinks that a “superpower country” needs “a man” as president.

And she believes Trump’s enemies tried to “set him up” over the 2021 insurrection when a mob of his supporters invaded the US Capitol building.

The businesswoman, whose mum is from the Cotwolds in Britain, added: “I love Trump. I think he’s a martyr.

“When I don’t want to get up in the mornings, I don’t want to deal with everything, I think about him.”

Another vendor was doing brisk business in £4 badges, one of which read, “F*** Biden and f*** you for voting for him.”

‘Trump hates women’

Some queuing even insisted Trump’s claim that illegal Haitian immigrants are eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, which has been widely debunked, is true.

“The police chief said they haven’t had any calls,” admitted Trump fan Bruce Gilbert, 63.

“But I heard 15 people on the radio going, ‘Yeah, my pet’s missing.

“These people are sleeping in my front yard and I see the carcass left over after they cook them’.”

Conceding there isn’t any evidence for a spate of pet-eating, he added: “What are you going to do? Take a DNA swipe or take a stool sample and say, ‘Yeah, you had dog matter in you?’”

Thousands snaked in queues for hours as crowds filed through metal detectors amid tight security, following two failed assassination attempts.

Hundreds were locked out as the venue eventually filled to capacity.

Joe Biden’s childhood home in the townCredit: Paul Edwards

Outside the rally, protestor Mark Scott, 63, held aloft a sign reading: ‘Trump hates women’Credit: Paul Edwards

Retired Scranton teacher Barb O’Malley was holding a placard outside the sports centre rally labelling Trump a liarCredit: Paul Edwards

At 3pm, Trump ambled on stage.

In a blue suit, with his trademark red tie dangling down to crotch height, the insults levelled at Harris soon came thick and fast.

Amid wild whoops and hollers, Trump called her “a horrible person,” “a liar,” a “radical-Left Marxist” and “not a smart person”.

And he told the multitude that he wouldn’t stop the poisonous barbs against Harris and other women, even if it turned off female voters.

“I don’t want to be nice,” Trump insisted. “You know, somebody said, ‘You should be nicer. Women won’t like it.’ I said, ‘I don’t care’.”

Outside the rally, protestor Mark Scott, 63, held aloft a sign reading: “Trump hates women.”

The chef recalled the moment before Trump’s 2016 election win, when a tape was leaked of the ex-president saying that fame allowed him to “grab” women “by the pussy”.

The Democrat supporter said: “If you can become president after saying things like that, it diminishes the office of president.

“It also tells a child who hears it that it’s OK to grab a girl.”

Retired Scranton teacher Barb O’Malley was holding a placard outside the sports centre labelling Trump a liar.

“I know that Trump has a lot of support,” she said. “But I’m hoping the more he speaks about all the crazy stuff and gives out misinformation, then people will think they don’t want four more years of that.”

Yet it is Trump’s rhetoric on the economy that may yet have the greatest sway.

Theatrically, he told the crowd: “Kamala will deliver a 1929-style depression.”

In a working-class town like Scranton, where jobs can be precarious, that may well have cut through to those not among the MAGA diehards at the rally.

Artist Dorina Amendola, in her thirties, insisted America’s economy was marshalled better during Trump’s presidency.

The chemistry graduate added that it was obvious to Scrantonians “except the white, professional, wealthy, educated liberals that live in Joe Biden’s old neighbourhood”.

It’s my first-ever Trump rally. It’s all positivity here.My favourite Trump policy is to keep that border closed.

Joe Biden home town resident

Despite Harris gaining ground, Trump still leads in the bulk of polls pondering which candidate would run the economy best.

It is the key electoral concern of most Americans.

Trump also spoke about fracking of natural gas which is a key industry in Pennsylvania, Harris said she was against fracking in 2019 before changing her mind.

As cheers echoed, Trump said: “On Day One, I will tell Pennsylvania energy workers to frack, frack, frack, and drill, drill, drill, drill, baby, drill.”

Trump described turning to wind energy as “bulls**t.”

While the crowd was predominantly male and pale, there were supporters there from across America’s racial mix. There’s also a large contingent of under thirties and many women.

Wearing a Trump wig, 17-year-old Colin Froese proudly said: “It’s my first-ever Trump rally. It’s all positivity here.

“My favourite Trump policy is to keep that border closed.”

Soon Trump’s motorcade was winding its way through Bidenland.

A few hours later there would be another rally in the Pennsylvanian town of Reading.

For the road from Scranton may lead through this knife-edge state all the way to the White House.

Biden has previously mined much political capital from his childhood in this former coal and iron-producing city in what is a pivotal state in the next presidential electionCredit: Splash