A Monday report in the Guardian lays out what appears to be a malaise among Trump fans in Northeastern Pennsylvania during a rally which saw wide swaths of the arena empty out before the convicted felon former president had finished his rambling 100 minute speech on Saturday, August 17th. Though the Guardian implies a plural number of attendees told the reporter that Trump’s crazy bullshit act was getting old, they only quoted directly from one. It’s still pretty funny.
“He reminded me why I’m not going to vote for him this time,” said Jenny, a businesswoman who didn’t want to give her full name for fear of alienating customers. “I voted for him in 2016 and had a Trump flag in the front yard. I voted for him again in 2020 but didn’t put the flag out that time. I’ve been thinking of voting for him again because Biden’s been so bad for the economy and Kamala won’t be any better. But after listening to that, I’m actually afraid of Trump being president again. I don’t know what he was talking about half the time. Perhaps he was always like that but he seems worse, more unstable,” Jenny continued, saying even though she had decided beforehand she would still hear Trump out as she’s part of an informal group that goes to all political events.
Frank Scavo, a local activist who reportedly led a MAGA coup of the Luzerne County GOP earlier this year, had apparently been uneasy about how Trump would do before the rally started. “These rallies fire up the base to go out there and knock on doors. His base will walk on fire for him, but plenty of other Republicans don’t vote. Are they demoralized? Do they think their vote doesn’t count? Most of it is apathy. But if we don’t get people out there knocking on doors, Trump’s not going to win Luzerne county,” he said. The Guardian didn’t get a quote from Scavo afterward.