Speaking near his South Scranton birthplace, President Joe Biden recalled his youthful city days Saturday as he talked about former President Donald Trump.
Trump, Biden said, wants “another giant tax cut for the wealthy” and to let the wealthy chase “cheap labor” for manufacturing overseas.
“I tell you what, man, when I was in Scranton, we used to have a little trouble going down (to) the Plot (section) once in a while,” he said. "These are the kind of guys you like to smack in the (butt)."
In his third visit to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America Local 445 union hall in four years, Biden urged union members to back Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him in the White House and reject Trump.
"I wouldn't have picked her if I didn't think she had the exact view I do about hard working people,” Biden said.
Outside the Pear Street union hall before he arrived, a festive atmosphere prevailed as a DJ played music from the 1970s, 1980s and later.
Union members donned fluorescent green T-shirts that said, “Vote Union Build Union.” A large sign proclaimed, “The Best Pro Union President Ever, Thank You Joe.”
Biden’s visit was his third to Scranton this year alone and only 18 days before his 82nd birthday. He was born in 1942 in St. Mary’s Hospital on Hickory Street, about a 1.7-mile drive away.
As he usually does, Biden reminisced about Scranton and his father at length. He tightly hugged his granddaughter, Natalie, who, he said, wanted to come with him.
“She’s love of my life and the life of my love,” Biden said to more than 100 crammed in the hall and dozens more outside.
'Unions built the middle class'
Then, he turned to the reason for his visit.
“Three days before Election Day, the stakes couldn't be higher,” Biden said. “The choice couldn't be clearer. A lot of politicians have trouble just saying the word union, but I'm not one of them.”
“Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe! Thank you Joe!” union members chanted in response.
“And by the way, neither does Kamala,” Biden told them. “I wouldn't have chosen her vice president if she had that trouble. I'm proud to have been the first president of walk the picket line.”
Biden said he walked many picket lines, but his choice to walk the United Auto Workers picket line raised eyebrows.
“They said, ‘You’re doing that?’ I said, ‘Yeah, damn right I am.’ Well, Kamala walked as well,” he said.
He contrasted them with Trump.
“But the other guy, every picket line he sees he wants to cross,” Biden said.
“Trump’s a scab,” a union member interrupted.
“Well, let me tell you something you know,” Biden said. “You've heard me say this a thousand times. I mean it, my whole career. Wall Street didn't build America. The middle-class built America, and unions built the middle class.”
Biden took credit for record job creation and bills that saved union pensions, funded road, highway, railroad and other construction nationwide and promoted U.S. microchip manufacturing.
“Guess what? These other guys want to take it away,” he said. “It's not a joke. Look, folks, let's be clear about what the stakes are … This other guy doesn't care about us. Just look at what his MAGA friends are saying about health care.”
Trump, he said, wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act that provides insurance to 40 million people and protects 100 million with pre-existing conditions.
He contended Trump wants to eliminate the Department of Education and cut Social Security and Medicare.
Trump denies he wants to cut Social Security or Medicare.
“Let's remember who we are,” Biden said. “We're good, decent, honorable people, where we believe in honesty, decency, treating everyone with respect. We believe character is not only how we conduct our lives, but how we expect other persons, those that lead us to have character. I'm telling you, Kamala Harris has the character to lead this nation.”
'Not the worldview of a working man'
Afterward, Jim Farber, 59, of Sweet Valley, a 32-year carpenters union member, called Biden the best president for unions and thinks Harris will follow in his footsteps.
“She's already made points that she's going to support our movement and our goals,” he said.
Stephen Papp, 59, of Conyngham near Hazleton, also a 32-year carpenters union member, wholeheartedly agreed with Farber.
“Number one, I’ve been hearing about (passing an) infrastructure (bill) for 30 years,” Papp said. “He finally got it here. Infrastructure work means a lot of work for construction workers, which fuels the local economies.”
Both acknowledged some fellow union members favor Trump. They called the Trump backers “misinformed” people who don’t understand he wants to eliminate their way of life.
“I think he's a threat to us.” Papp said. “His worldview is not the worldview of a working man.”
Reporter's Notebook
After the speech, Biden visited the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 87 offices in Dunmore.
He walked into AFSCME “with a chocolate Krispy Kreme (doughnut) in his mouth,” according to a White House pool report.
He posed for photos after singing "Happy Birthday" with others to a union member named Paula.
- Biden incorrectly said he was born in Mercy Hospital. He was born at St. Mary’s. Well after he was born, its named was changed to Mercy Heights Hospital. The religious order of nuns that ran St. Mary’s/Mercy Heights sold it 1975 and consolidated operations at Mercy Hospital on Jefferson Avenue in the city’s Hill Section. Mercy is now Regional Hospital of Scranton.
- Biden’s earlier visits to the carpenters hall were on Election Day 2020 when he spoke outside and April 16 when he spoke inside there and at the Scranton Cultural Center. His other visit to the city this year was Sept. 27 for the funeral of his lifelong friend, Thomas Bell Sr.
Biden said he brought Natalie to Scranton with him before, “but we’re not going to get to go to North Washington Avenue this time.”
Biden’s maternal grandparents lived at 2446 N. Washington Ave. in Scranton’s Green Ridge neighborhood.
In his autobiography, “Promises to Keep,” Biden wrote that by 1947, when he was about 5 years old, his parents were broke and had to move back to the North Washington home.
They left about five years later for Delaware, where he built a career as a U.S. senator.
The ‘46’ in the address of the old homestead is now highlighted to reflect Biden’s status as 46th president.
