It was "inappropriate" for President Joe Biden to use Independence Hall for his speech attacking Republican supporters of former President Donald Trump, Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano said on Newsmax Saturday.
"Sleepy Joe just guaranteed the red wave in Pennsylvania," Mastriano said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "It was dark. It was inappropriate. It was at a national shrine, Independence Hall, where it all began for America in 1776, the birthplace for the country."
But Biden gave a "very dark, sinister speech, painting his political adversaries is these enemies of the state, you know, bedecked with Marines behind him," Mastriano added. "Presidents go to Independence Hall to bring the country together, not to attack his political foes. I didn't hear anything about China or Iran or our energy crisis. It was all about trying to destroy his political foes, and it's completely wrong and out of line."
He also ridiculed Biden for confusing the gubernatorial candidates in Pennsylvania. Mastriano is running against Democrat Attorney General Josh Shapiro for governor, but Biden was "so confused."
He said, "Vote for the big guy. And you know my opponent, Shapiro: He's a short guy, so it wasn't him. You just can't make this stuff up."
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, whom Mastriano referred to as being the "big guy" because of his size, is running for the U.S. Senate but didn't show up for Biden last week at either speech, he pointed out.
"It's like a rodeo," he said. "I feel like I'm like, kind of an in a clown circus here, and then, of course, the media in Pennsylvania is backing up their guy, Shapiro, against me."
But Shapiro can't run on his record as six years as the attorney general, because he's "trying to avoid the fact that crime has gone up 37%," said Mastriano. "Philadelphia is a disaster under him. He's not talking about sex trafficking. He's not talking about illegals flooding our cities and our streets. The guy's running from his record and devolves to the old Democrat playbook of cranking out some name-calling."
Mastriano on Saturday also dismissed some complaints from Republicans who have referred to him as being extreme and are backing Shapiro in the gubernatorial race instead.
According to a report from The Philadelphia Inquirer this week, Michael Chertoff, who served as secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2005 to 2009 under then-President George W. Bush, and James Schultz, a former associate White House counsel for Trump, are backing Shapiro over concerns about Mastriano's statements about the 2020 presidential election.
Several other key Pennsylvania Republicans came out Tuesday against Mastriano, and two Republican-run super PACs are organizing advertising campaigns in hopes of drawing voters away from Mastriano to vote for Shapiro, the newspaper reported.
Mastriano pointed to his service in the U.S. Army, noting that his forward promotions meant passing secret clearance checks, background investigations, and more, and said his ideas are "very mainstream."
But the Democrat Party, he said, is not the same party "of your parents or grandparents."
"They're the party of dark money, of transgenderism, of transgender confusion, trying to confuse your kids [and] introducing graphic porn and into elementary schools ... they've gone so extreme. Their answer is to call their opponents extreme."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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