ALLENTOWN, Pa. — President Joe Biden wrapped up a four-and-a-half-hour tour of the Lehigh Valley on Friday by expressing confidence that voters are warming up to his economic strategy.
Standing beside city firefighters at the Mack South Fire Station and Allentown Fire Training Academy, Biden told pool reporters that his wide-ranging plan to bolster the middle class has started to take root. His administration has invested trillions of dollars in infrastructure, enacted child tax credits and fought to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
Those type of changes don’t take place overnight, Biden said. But he pointed to rising figures from the Consumer Confidence Index as proof his efforts are getting the recognition they deserve.
“It’s going to take time. It’s starting to sink in to people what’s happening,” Biden said.
The proof, he said, came in his conversations with employees and small business owners in Emmaus just a little while earlier. Several said they struggled professionally and personally after the pandemic tore through the nation.
"Starting a new business is an act of hope," Biden said.
He lauded Lauren and Juan Vargas, co-owners of the Nowhere Coffee Co. in Emmaus, where he had taken selfies with folks and bought a smoothie earlier in the afternoon.
“Once they were able to fund a business and they got help to do that as well… they started to gain faith,” Biden said.
The scene in Emmaus
The 81-year-old president touched down at Lehigh Valley International Airport shortly around 1:10 p.m. He and U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley, exited Air Force One before they and Gov. Josh Shapiro and U.S. Senator Bob Casey set off in a motorcade to Emmaus.
There, they visited the Emmaus Run Inn, South Mountain Cycle and Nowhere Coffee, where the president made small talk with workers.
“When are you opening a store in Delaware?” Biden asked upon entering Emmaus Run Inn, according to pool reports.
Hundreds of people of all political walks of life braved the wind and chilly temperatures to get a glimpse of the president. Security cleared the public from a two-block area around Triangle Park shortly before Biden arrived, but that did little to dissuade the crowd.
Biden supporter Mary Beth Schooley of Emmaus brought a bouquet of flowers to wave at the president.
“He’s an honest man doing a great job for the country,” she said. “Unemployment is down, inflation is holding pretty much steady, and for those people who blame him for high gas prices, those prices are tumbling down.
“I’m here to show my support for him.”
Earlier, Trump supporter Barry Karver, 66, of Montgomery County, left no room for doubt as to why he came to see Biden.
Wearing a red MAGA cap, Second Amendment T-shirt and draping a tattered American flag over his shoulders, he spent five minutes excoriating Biden.
“Biden is a liar!” said Karver, suffering from COPD and using his right hand to readjust the cannula delivering oxygen from a portable compressor. “Nothing!
“He turned around everything that was working when Trump was president.”
Even previous Biden supporters had concerns about his performance. Margarita Lopez of Whitehall said she previously voted for Biden but felt he hadn’t done enough for the Latino community.
“He turned around everything that was working when Trump was president.”Barry Karver, Montgomery County resident
“I think part of Biden’s problem with my people is he has begun taking our vote for granted,” she said. “I also think that part of the reason for this visit is to try to regain that support.
“But it will take more than a campaign stop to shift the tide. We are here. Remember us.”
Cenzia Brown was enjoying her daily matcha latte tea at Nowhere Coffee Co. with her grandsons, Mason and Jonathan. At her feet sat her 4-year-old labradoodle, Cali.
Earlier, a man driving a black Ford truck sped past the coffee house and two yelled out, “(expletive) Joe Biden!”
“I support Biden,” said Brown, 76. “The world is so much different than when I campaigned for (George) McGovern (for president) in ‘76. You may have had a political view that opposed the other party, but that was it. Today, the vitriol in the country is something I could never believe would happen.”
Gearing up for the 2024 campaign
Before Air Force One landed, Casey huddled with Shapiro and Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk on the tarmac of LVIA.
Casey, D-Pa., said it's essential for both him and the president to show up and meet with voters in swing regions. Few in the country are as highly contested as the Lehigh Valley.
A key factor in their races will be addressing the high costs of essentials, Casey said. He said he and the president continue to work hard to keep costs down, which he blamed on corporate America. He accused companies of jacking up prices using the economy as an excuse, noting their profit margins far exceeded the rate of inflation the past few years.
"We know that's a reality for people when they go to the grocery store even though unemployment is at a record low, even though the stock market hit a record, even though wages have been pretty strong," Casey said. "I do think we've got to focus on that in terms of getting more help for folks so they can manage with those higher prices."
Many Republicans aren't buying that reasoning. Instead, they blame Biden and his fellow Democrats for the pain Americans are feeling in their purses.
“Bidenomics – the idea that government, rather than hard-working private citizens, creates economic growth – is not working for many people in our area. If Bidenomics created a healthy economy, the president wouldn’t need to brag about it or try to convince people to be excited about it," state Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Lehigh, said in a news release.
Like Biden, Casey is up for re-election this year in a race that will carry national consequences. Democrats currently hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate, and Republicans will invest heavily in a bid to knock out the three-term incumbent. David McCormick, a billionaire who served in the George W. Bush administration, is his anticipated opponent.anticipated opponent.
Biden departed LVIA on Air Force One, bound for Andrews Air Force Base, just after 5:50 p.m.
