Donald Trump is coming to Philly on Saturday to speak at Sneaker Con
Trump is expected to address the crowd of sneaker enthusiasts at the Pennsylvania Convention Center around 3 p.m.
Former President Donald Trump is headed to Philadelphia on Saturday to speak at Sneaker Con, a large-scale gathering for sneaker enthusiasts taking place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Trump announced he would speak at the convention on his social media platform Truth Social on Friday, and a spokesperson for the Convention Center confirmed his appearance. Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, is slated to speak at 3 p.m. before traveling to Michigan for a planned evening rally there.
Sneaker Con organizers did not respond to requests for more information on what Trump would be speaking about and there was no previous notice advertising his appearance. Convention Center spokesperson Jude Ann Spencer-Phillips said her contact with the group did not know what Trump would cover in his remarks.
The organization, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary with its show in Philadelphia, bills itself as showcasing the “sickest kicks and the coolest streetwear” and features hundreds of exhibitors to buy, sell and trade footwear.
Trump was last in Pennsylvania, a critical swing state that he lost to President Joe Biden in 2020, just last week to speak at a National Rifle Association event in Harrisburg.
The appearance at Sneaker Con is a far-less-expected crowd for Trump. He’ll be speaking in the most Democratic city in the state at an event that captures a younger and more diverse crowd than his rallies typically host.
Trump frequently attacks Philadelphia in his speeches elsewhere in the state, holding it up as a model of Democratic failure. In 2020, he now-famously said on a debate stage that “bad things happen in Philadelphia.”
But polls have shown Trump is also siphoning off some support from Biden among younger voters and Black and Latino voters — and his campaign has sought to build on that opening.
The Biden campaign had some pointed words for Trump ahead of his appearance in Philly Saturday.
”Donald Trump showing up to hawk bootleg off-whites is the closest he’ll get to any Air Force Ones ever again for the rest of his life,” Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler said.
Trump and Biden have been polling neck and neck nationally and in surveys of Pennsylvania voters.
The appearance comes the day after Trump was dealt a big financial and legal blow. A judge in New York ordered him and his companies to pay $355 million, finding they engaged in a yearslong scheme to dupe banks and others with financial statements that inflated his wealth.
Trump’s lawyers said they would appeal the decision. But the verdict still amounted to a sizable setback for the former president, who is stretched for resources as he tries to run a presidential campaign while also defending himself against multiple other lawsuits and criminal cases.