‘It Has to Be Him’: Anticipation for Trump 2024 Run Builds up at Pennsylvania Rally

WILKES-BARRE, Pa.—An energized crowd packed the 10,000-seat Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night as former President Donald Trump arrived in the battleground state to rally for Republican candidates and his supporters, who hope to see him in the White House again in 2024.

The event, billed as a “Save America Rally,” featured Mehmet Oz, a candidate for the U.S. Senate; Jim Bognet, a candidate for Congress in Northeastern Pennsylvania; and Doug Mastriano, a candidate for the Keystone State’s gubernatorial race. But it was Trump, in his very first public appearance since the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago home, who stole the show.

“The FBI and the Justice Department have become vicious monsters controlled by radical-left scoundrels, lawyers, and the media, who tell them what to do … and when to do it,” Trump told his audience. “They’re trying to silence me and, more importantly, they are trying to silence you.”

“But we will not be silenced, right?” He asked, to which the crowd responded with cheers and chanting of “USA! USA!” that lasted over half a minute.

Attendees wait outside the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilke-Barre, Penn. in advance of Trump’s ‘Save America’ rally on Sept. 4, 2022. (Bill Pan/The Epoch Times) Life Under Biden

More than two years after he left the White House, Trump still enjoys the popularity he had in 2016 and 2020. A MAGA hat-wearing, “Trump 2024” banner-flying crowd outside started to build up outside the Arena on Saturday morning, many among them there for their first-ever MAGA (Make America Great Again) rally.

Several first-time Trump rallygoers told The Epoch Times that the last two years under President Joe Biden have been rough.

Mike Mangrell of Pennsylvania said high gas prices hurt his auto shop business, since customers cut other expenses when they have to spend “extra