Thread by @tripgabriel

To check the appeal of @louforsenate in western PA, I went to a Car Cruise. Gleaming muscle cars of 60s & 70s. Most owners liked Trump but had not heard of Barletta.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about, really,” said Fred Tomlinson (white 60s Mustang)
nytimes.com/2018/08/02/us/…

@louforsenate There was a lot of cynicism for all politicians. Another car owner (1972 Cutlass) said he would wait to make up his mind a week before Election Day. “I’ll read their lies then, and pick out the one that’s the least agitating to me."

@louforsenate There was plenty of support for Trump's immigration crackdown. Darryl Lender (black 67 Nova): “They all came here illegally — now, all these people are protesting because these kids are not with their parents..."

@louforsenate "...Hey, put them all in a boat and send them back where they came from and let them sort it out. Why should we pay for it?”

@louforsenate The conversation turned toward protesters who had blocked traffic in Pittsburgh after a police shooting of an unarmed black teenager the previous month.

“The part I don’t like,” Mr. Lender said, “is they shoot five or six a day in Pittsburgh: black on black...

@louforsenate "...Twenty-five, 30 each in Chicago and Detroit. Nobody protests that. But let a white cop do his job and shoot a black guy that doesn’t do what he’s told, now it’s Black Lives Matter!”

@louforsenate Leslie Rossi, owner of the semifamous Trump House not far from the Cruise, definitely knows who Mr. Barletta is.
But she fears Trump's surge in PA in 2016 may have been a one-off, unrepeatable in the midterms since most voters in Westmoreland County are registered as Democrats.

@louforsenate “It’s hard for them to step out of the box and vote for every Republican,” she said. “I don’t think anyone will win Westmoreland County the way Trump did.”

Here's my full story: nytimes.com/2018/08/02/us/…