Clinton backs Harris, defends Middle East policy during Pitt-Greensburg campaign stop

Former President Bill Clinton gave an impassioned plea in support of Vice President Kamala Harris during a campaign stop Tuesday afternoon at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg.

Clinton spoke before a standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 who jammed into the Campana Chapel and Lecture Center in Hempfield. His speaking agenda included support of the Harris-Walz economic plan as the presidential race enters the home stretch just one week before the Nov. 5 election.

But his message shifted after a Pitt student interrupted the former president’s 45-minute talk to protest the war in Gaza.

Clinton briefly addressed the protester with a promise to revisit her comments. Near the conclusion of his remarks, he engaged in a back-and-forth conversation with her, including what he described as a history lesson about his time in the White House nearly three decades ago, when he attempted to bring peace to the Middle East. He defended Harris’ position. She has called for a cease-fire, humanitarian relief and full-throated support for Israel’s right to defend itself.

“We are going to have to build it again. The reason you should support Kamala Harris is not because she has a detailed plan and she can have one, but this thing was shattered in a million pieces and the facts are different. If I was there I couldn’t get what I wanted again. It’s the hardest thing in the world and I know one thing … we can’t kill our way out of this. The reason I support her is Trump is saying you have to support me because I’ll support Israel. That isn’t necessarily true. Protecting the current government and its policies may make it worse,” Clinton said.

In the waning days of his presidency, Clinton described what he said was peace deal struck with the Israeli government and Palestinian leaders. That deal fell through when Palestinian leaders walked away from the deal at the 11th hour, a circumstance he still laments, he said.

“Now we have to make it anew. Younger people with better contacts and better contexts should do it,” Clinton said. “If you want peace there, and you want it fair to both sides and lead to security for both sides, you have to pick the person that you think is the most fair-minded and most likely to achieve that. … But I do know that if she wins she’ll ask people who know in all the communities that matter. If she doesn’t win he (former President Donald Trump) will support the most dogmatic and authoritarian parts of the Israeli governments. You’ll just have to decide.”

The young protester declined to identify herself or be interviewed after Tuesday’s event.

Clinton — making his return to Westmoreland County where he gave a major healthcare policy speech as president in 1994 and stumped for his wife during the 2008 Democratic primary — touted Harris’ economic proposals and blasted Trump’s fitness for office.

He also addressed comments made last weekend during Trump’s rally in New York that targeted racial and ethnic divides as well as jokes made by a comedian in which he called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.”

“They didn’t deserve what they got the other night. This ought to be a unity day so I think just for this day you should say we are all Puerto Ricans,” Clinton said.

It was a message that resonated with Pitt-Greensburg student Debany Renovato, 19. Renovato, who is from Texas and whose parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico, said she wanted to hear Clinton respond to the hostile comments made during Trump’s rally.

“I think as a Latin person I felt I was represented today. It broke my heart to hear what they said about immigrants. As a child of immigrants, Clinton’s comments were special to me. I hope a lot of young people will vote for Kamala Harris because she will support our rights,” Renovato said.

Clinton has been a popular political figure in Westmoreland County, and prior to Tuesday’s speech he made a brief stop at the White Rabbit Cafe in downtown Greensburg. The former president talked about his connection to the area, including noting he is the last Democratic presidential candidate to win Westmoreland County, a county that is now solidly Republican.

Trump won Westmoreland County with 63% of the vote in 2020 and by more than 31 percentage points four years earlier when he defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Local Democrats are hoping to cut into the Republicans’ expected margin of victory for Trump this year as part of Harris’ pathway to win Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes.

“I carried this county twice — both times I ran — and no Democrat has carried it since. I want you to break that trend,” Clinton said.