Donald Trump in Pittsburgh: “How’s Joe Paterno?”
Trump begins quest for Sorcerer's Stone in order to resurrect Joe Paterno pic.twitter.com/kSXw6wMVH6
— i love 2 laugh but make me mad & i'll date yr dad (@Ian_McK_) April 13, 2016
Donald Trump was in Pittsburgh last night, rallying a large crowd in advance of the Pennsylvania primary later this month. As politicians do, he attempted to pander to local sports teams. In Philadelphia, pols have been telling us they gambled on Villanova and won their bracket pools because of it. In Pittsburgh last night, Trump mentioned … Joe Paterno!
“How’s Joe Paterno?” Trump said. “We gonna bring that back? How ’bout that whole deal?”
A Trump campaign spokesperson later told CNN that he meant the Joe Paterno statue, which was taken down in 2012 amid the Penn State child sex abuse scandal. “He was talking about the Penn State bronze statue that they melted down,” the spokeswoman said.
Photo Illustration, obviously (Original photo by Gage Skidmore used under a Creative Commons license)
Additionally, the statue wasn’t melted down: That was an April Fools joke last year by writers at the Onward State blog. Penn State said the statue was being stored in a “secure location.”
It is extra funny that Trump said this in Pittsburgh and not State College. Though obviously many people in Pittsburgh go to Penn State, Pitt is the college football team the city roots for. Maybe he’s going to put the Joe Paterno statue up on Pitt’s campus, just to fool everyone!
Also, this is not the first time Trump has weighed in on Penn State football! He has offered a wide variety of opinions on the team and Paterno in the past.
The Football program at Penn State should be suspended.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 13, 2012
What a shame @PennState–lost game–first of many. School legacy is ruined!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2012
Joe Paterno's family should sue the idiots @PennState that made that ridiculous deal–and commissioned the one sided report.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2012
A tweet mentioning Penn State that Trump retweeted in 2013 also told him to run for president in 2016! Basically, his entire campaign in Joe Paterno’s fault, I think.
"@MArloAmoriello1: @realDonaldTrump Donald we can't allow this country to become soft like Obama, and penn state! Please run in 2016 #leader
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 17, 2013
To recap: It seemed like Donald Trump thought Joe Paterno was still alive, but he was actually talking about the Paterno statue. His campaign also released a statement that makes it seem like Trump thought the Paterno statue was melted down. All in all, a pretty good night for the Donald Trump campaign.
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