Former Vice President and Democrat nominee Joe Biden went on a train tour on September 30, 2020 from Pittsburgh to Greensburg to round up support for his campaign in non-urban regions; regions such as Westmoreland County which gave Trump more votes than any other region in western PA. Unlike other stops, Biden did not speak to the crowd gathered in Latrobe to see him, but rather stayed inside DiSalvo’s Station with a select few people and press allowed to be there with him. 

Presumed secret service members and police officers set a perimeter for how close the crowd was able to get, with the sidewalk across from Hotel Loyal being the largest concentration of spectators. Many were there to support Biden such as former Greater Latrobe Junior High principal John Kuzusko. He said that he felt Joe Biden was the more competent candidate who’d create a better cabinet. 

High Post veterans were also present.  Ken (1964-66) and Cennedi Fry also attended the event to show their support. Ken’s vote was described as a “return to decency” and Cennedi’s reasoning to support Biden was that he showed “leadership skills we haven’t had in the last four years.” 

The crowd was not unanimous in their love for Biden. Around a fifth of people at the event were there in protest of Joe Biden’s character and electoral past.  Kathy, a Trump supporter, said,“Trump’s the best president” and according to her voting him out would be a mistake on the part of the American people. 

The sharp difference in political beliefs lead to rising tensions throughout the event starting from passive aggressive looks to some screaming face to face. 

Chants were tossed at each other with the Biden supporters on the sidewalk in front of and across from Hotel Loyal and the Trump supporters being on the corner of a sidewalk a few yards away from Hotel Loyal. 

The lines “dump Trump” and  “sleepy Joe has got to go” echoed through the streets as the tensions were rising. At one point, political differentiation led to personal attacks on crowd members’ appearance and character. 

Towards the end of the ordeal, Trump supporters- for reasons still vague- crossed the street towards where the Biden supporters were. Thus ensued face to face screaming, chanting, and insulting. At one point physical confrontation seemed more of a question of when rather than if. Thankfully, no such thing occurred and there seemed to be no one who got injured as tensions fizzled out.  

Today political conversations have shifted from policy to personal insults and blind loyalty to either the color red or blue. Politics are being treated like sports and this phenomenon is ruining politics and any debates about it. If this problem is not solved, confrontations such as the seen above will become more frequent and more damaging physically and morally. To stop this, people must remember that the person they disagree with is still that-a person. 

Ask why they feel the way they do or why they support certain policies or politicians. Listen to others not with the intention of responding when they’re done speaking, but rather to hear what they say and to be able to walk in their shoes. Together, we can bring back civil debate and end the immature conversations such as that shown by our presidential candidates in their first debate which was aired on September 29, 2020, just the day before Biden made his local train tour.