President Donald Trump sat down with Sean Hannity on-location at the site of his tax reform speech in Dauphin County, Pa.
Trump discussed a range of issues, including NFL anthem protests and the Democrats’ drumbeat of Russian collusion accusations against him.
“I watched Colin Kaepernick and I thought it was terrible. And then it got bigger and bigger and started mushrooming,” Trump said of the 49ers quarterback who started the kneeling trend.
“Frankly the NFL should have suspended him for one game and he would have never done it again.”
“But I will tell you – you cannot disrespect our country, our flag, our anthem, you cannot do that,” he said.
On Russian collusion allegations, Trump called the situation an “excuse” the Democrats came up with in the wake of Hillary Clinton’s loss.
“It wasn’t Russia, it was a bad candidate. It was a candidate that didn’t go to Wisconsin and Michigan like they should have,” Trump said, later reiterating the point in his speech.
“This was an excuse that was used by the Democrats – the electoral college is so easy to win for the Democrats,” he said.
Trump also discussed how some parts of the federal tax code unfairly burden well-run states by figuratively subsidizing residents of states with high taxes.
“It’s finally time to say, hey, make sure your politicians are doing a good job of running your state,” he said.
Recently, three Republicans in high-tax New York State said they will vote against Trump’s plan because it lifts the deduction for state and local taxes.
On mining, Trump praised coal miners, and said West Virginia’s GDP rose so much in the wake of deregulation, it came in second to Texas in the last period.
He said Pennsylvanian industry is important as well, and encouraged the crowd to vote for Coal Region Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) to replace Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) next year.
“I think you’re going to have a tremendous surge for Lou,” he said.
In the speech itself, Trump laid out the benefits of his tax plan with a stress on what he projected to be a windfall for the trucking industry.
Trump repeatedly praised the work of truckers and trucking companies.
As Pennsylvania was a key state in Trump’s victory, thus is the trucking industry for the Harrisburg area, where he spoke.
Just north of where he spoke, the Interstate 78 corridor through Lebanon, Berks and Lehigh Counties has seen a marked increase in corporate warehouses and truck traffic exchanging goods with New York City.
Dollar General recently opened a $100 million warehouse in nearby Bethel, and several companies like Amazon, Nestle and ShopRite have shipping hubs just off the highway in Upper Macungie Township, outside Allentown.
The president riffed on Pennsylvania’s pothole problem, noting that his infrastructure plans would help fix the issue trucking companies have when required to repair their trucks after long journeys.
