Attendees wait in line to enter the Liacouras Center for a rally for Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump on June 22, 2024 in Philadelphia. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

PHILADELPHIA —- Former President Donald Trump made his way to the city of Brotherly Love on Saturday for a rally, his first in the city of 2024. 

“Few communities have suffered more under the Biden regime than Philadelphia,” Trump said as he took the stage promptly at 7 p.m.

Local Democrats spent the morning preempting the presumptive GOP nominee’s messaging. 

“Later today, a 34 times indicted criminal is going to come to North Philadelphia doing what he does best, lying about his record, talking about the past, and thumbing his nose at working families all across Pennsylvania,” state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia) said on Saturday morning. He made the remarks  at an event focused on Black voters at a Biden campaign office in North Philadelphia. 

Kenyatta, state Sen. Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia), who is Chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, and Philadelphia City Councilmember Jeffrey Young, said it was important for Democrats to counteract his message ahead of the rally. 

“We really have to show Mr. Trump that he’s not welcome here in this city, in this town, this state,” Young said. He added it was up to Democrats to remind voters in their communities about Trump’s record in office.  

“Donald Trump is just all talk, right,” Young said. “In our community, we tend to idolize like celebrities, right, for some reason or another and Donald Trump appeals to that when he’s trying to appeal to Black voters and other voters in our community, but we have to let them know that the celebrity is all smoke and mirrors, there is no substance to that whatsoever, he does not care about pushing our community forward.” 

Kenyatta blasted Trump for his record before entering politics and his false accusations that former President Barack Obama was not born in America. 

“Donald Trump is a person who has a record, a well-documented record, of disrespecting Black people and destabilizing Black communities,” Kenyatta said. 

Trump’s rally on Saturday is his fourth appearance in Pennsylvania so far this year and his second appearance in Philadelphia. In February, he delivered a brief address to SneakerCon at the Pennsylvania Convention Center to promote his new line of Trump-branded shoes.

While Trump has held numerous rallies in the Philadelphia suburbs since his first run for office in 2016, Saturday will be his first rally within city limits. 

In response to a question about Trump’s decision to hold a rally in North Philadelphia, Street said that Trump is trying to create a national narrative to persuade Black voters to support him, and that he believed the Trump campaign would bus supporters in from outside the city.   

“So, a young Black person sitting in Detroit will say ‘well Black people in North Philly support him, how bad can he be?,” Street said. 

Kenyatta, who serves on the Biden-Harris National Advisory Board and is a candidate for state Auditor General, echoed a similar message, saying Trump’s visit to Philadelphia was partly about getting the press to write headlines that “Donald Trump is trying to talk to Black folk.” 

He likened Trump’s rally in North Philadelphia to somebody showing up to Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, wearing a Dallas Cowboys jersey and saying “the Eagles suck.”

“That’s not trying to reach out to Eagles fans,” Kenyatta said. “So, Donald Trump bringing his KKK rhetoric, bringing his racist Bull Conner bullhorn to North Philadelphia doesn’t mean he’s reaching out to Black folks, he is coming to disrespect Black people.”

“Listen, Donald Trump is in a Black place, but Donald Trump does not give a damn about Black people,” Kenyatta added 

Black voters in Philadelphia played a key role in President Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in 2020 with 92% of Black voters in the state voting for Biden, while 7% voted for Trump. Recent polling has suggested that gap has narrowed, but with Biden still holding a considerable lead. 

Last weekend, Trump visited Detroit for the launch of his “Black Americans for Trump” effort and claimed there that he had done “more for the Black population than any American president since Abraham Lincoln.”

When asked about recent polling showing Trump gaining support among Black voters, Street referenced polling the past two cycles in the state and said Democrats have continued to win statewide since he took over as party chair. 

“Donald Trump famously said that ‘bad things happen in Philly,’ he is the bad thing that is happening in Philly,” Kenyatta said. “And he is going to get the type of welcome that he deserves in North Philly, and it’s not going to be nice.”

Protesters gathered across the street from the Liacouras Center on Saturday afternoon, as temperatures soared into the mid-90s. Some exchanged words with Trump supporters awaiting his arrival, others waved anti-Trump signs and made their displeasure known.

Anne Geheb, 69, a resident of the Philadelphia suburbs, said Saturday was supposed to be a beach day but she decided to come to the city to voice her opposition to Trump instead. Geheb, who is a lesbian, said Trump’s negative rhetoric about the LGBTQ community, especially transgender people, was particularly concerning to her. But she said she was heartened to see many younger people protesting as well.

“I’m very worried that the young people will not show up [to vote], and we need them to show up,” she said. 

This is a developing story that will be updated.

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