MACUNGIE, Penn. — Speaking to an adoring crowd at a Mack Trucks factory in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, President Donald Trump boasted about the economy and falling gas prices as he works to rally support ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Days after signing a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the Iran war, he promised oil prices would fall even more than they already have and reduce prices throughout the economy.
“You built this country, and you’re the ones who are making America great again. We’re in the hottest country in the world,” Trump told the cheering crowd at the factory that employs about 2,800 workers making heavy-duty trucks.
“For decades, the workers of this commonwealth watched globalist politicians, other countries rip you off, close your factories, rob your jobs and take them away to foreign lands. Then I came along. We stopped it very quickly,” he said in a rally that touched upon many of his favorite talking points.
In a speech that lasted over an hour, Trump praised his tariffs for protecting American manufacturing jobs. The left-leaning Center for American Progress has said Trump’s import duties have led to a cumulative loss of jobs and the equivalent of closing 2,800 average-size factories nationwide since April 2025, when the tariffs were first imposed.
Trump also said his administration has secured $19 trillion in new investments since taking office — a tally that is closer to $10.6 trillion according to the White House.
“I don’t know who should follow me, but remember that I was the one that did that, OK?” Trump said. “Somebody’s going to walk into office, and then you’re going to have the most successful country in history.”
Speaking before a crowd that frequently interrupted him to chant “USA,” Trump boasted about oil falling to $70 per barrel and gas prices declining since he announced the tentative peace agreement last week.
He also reiterated a claim he often makes, saying the stock market hit a new record high on Tuesday. While the Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average all fell in a broad selloff of chip and technology stocks, all three indices are up substantially since Trump was elected for a second term.
Trump correctly stated that the stock market has hit 73 record highs during his second term.
Largely focused on the economy, with detours to talk about transgender women competing in women’s sports, unsubstantiated claims of rigged elections, illegal immigration and other subjects popular with his base, the president’s speech was intended to shore up support for Republicans as Americans struggle with rising living costs driven higher by the Iran war.
The latest University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment poll for early June found Americans are feeling slightly better about the economy than they did in May, when sentiment reached an all-time low.
Still, an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll last week found 36% of voters approve of the job Trump is doing, and 59% disapprove. NPR noted it is the widest negative gap of either of his two terms in office.
Election analysts say Democrats are favored to take back control of the House during this November’s midterms, with Republicans expected to narrowly retain control of the Senate, making for a divided Congress as Trump serves out the last two years of his term.
At the Mack Trucks factory Tuesday, Trump praised Pennsylvania’s Republican Congress members as “warriors” for the state, many of whom were in the audience, including Sen. David McCormick, Rep. Lloyd Smucker, Rep. John Joyce, Rep. Dan Meuser and Rep. Ryan Mackenzie.
“We’ve got to get Ryan Mackenzie reelected,” Trump said of the representative who won his district in a 50.4% to 49.4% vote in 2024, flipping the seat.
Mackenzie won his Republican primary in May but is facing a competitive reelection bid against his Democratic challenger — firefighter and union president Bob Brooks.
Election analysts say Pennsylvania is a key battleground state that could determine which party controls the House in November’s midterms.
In 2024, Trump won Pennsylvania with 50.4% of the vote, defeating Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who took 48.7%. Joe Biden narrowly won the state in 2020.