A smattering of people pushed their luck Tuesday at the Mount Airy Casino Resort, tapping neon slot buttons, flipping dice onto felt craps tables and refilling gambling cards hanging from lanyards around their necks.
A floor below, President Donald Trump was set to speak in a sprawling ballroom, where event staff hung a huge blue banner: LOWER PRICES, BIGGER PAYCHECKS.
Trump picked this casino in the Pocono Mountains to deliver the first big economic speech of his presidency as polls show Americans are feeling the pain of high prices — and many blame him.
Politically, the setting made sense. This northeastern corner of the state is where Trump saw the largest swing from 2020 to 2024 and it’ll be a key congressional battleground next year. It’s also a region home to a large population of aging, non-college-educated voters — the core of Trump’s comeback coalition.
But the contrast at the casino was hard to miss: The steady slot machine chimes of financial risk and uncertainty above and a president’s promises of stability and revival on the floor below.
How’s the economy working for Rosemary Migli?
“It could be better,” said the 73-year-old retired bartender from Tobyhanna, taking a puff of a cigarette before winning 35 cents on a spin.
Despite a frenzy of police and Secret Service, many gamblers did not realize the president was coming, focused on their own troubles or celebrations. An older retired couple enjoyed an afternoon together with no obligations. Nearby, a recently widowed woman said the monotony of the slots helps her cope with her recent loss.
Peter Jean-Baptiste celebrated his 33rd birthday at the casino with his fiancée. The Philadelphia-based couple is saving for a wedding next year.
“It’s tough for everyone just trying to make a living, honest people trying to make a living,” Jean-Baptiste said. “One day you feel like [Trump’s] got your back, the next day he doesn’t.”
Jean-Baptiste, who works in property insurance, said he’s also seen housing prices rise. And as a child of Haitian immigrant parents, he’s struggling with how Trump’s anti-Haitian verbal attacks and immigration crackdowns have impacted his family.
“He does a bunch of hot takes and causes division between American citizens,” Jean-Baptiste said. “When, I feel, we really all just want to get along and get by.”
Mount Pocono is a region with mixed fortunes: wealthy retirees have second vacation homes here, while lower income workers are employed in warehouses and hold up the tourism industry. The area is also a hub for New York City commuters who moved here for more affordable housing.
“We live on a fixed income. We watch what we spend,” said Julie Dietz, sitting beside her husband Glenn, as she played a buffalo-themed slot game. The Toms River couple gambles for a few hours every now and then. She was a paralegal and he worked evaluating industrial facilities for safety before they retired.
“We know what our limitations are,” Dietz, 71, said. “Yes, food prices have gone up but I’ve also seen some things come down — gas prices in our area. And the economy took so many years to get to this point.”
Dietz, who supported Trump in the last election, thinks an economic rebound is just going to take more time.
“He’s been in office 11 months. Eleven months. So I feel full confidence that he is going to do what he said he’s going to do. Everybody wants things immediately.”
Kathy F., who didn’t want to give her last name talking about politics and gambling, joined her husband at the casino Tuesday, despite her misgivings about losing money at a time when prices are going up.
“I go to Costco and everything is $5 more than it used to be. That’s a lot,” she said, bundled in a puffy black coat as her husband gambled nearby.
“I really don’t understand politics,” said the retired New York City civil servant, who voted for then-Vice President Kamala Harris last year. “It seems like they just fight with each other nonstop when all people want is to be able to afford to live.”
As he stretched his legs between games, Stephen Miller — “not that Stephen Miller,” he clarified — laughed off the notion of going to see Trump in person a floor below.
“If I want to see him, all I have to do is turn on the TV. He’s on at 12, he’s on at 3, he’s on at 5, seven days a week.”
The 75-year-old retired contractor supports Trump, though, and called the economy “half-decent.” He said food prices are high but eggs have gone down.
“The economy is glacial, so it moves slow. Democrats are definitely locked onto the affordability. But, affordability means, what? It means whatever you want it to mean.”
Miller glanced down at a few vouchers in his hand to set off for the next set of machines.
“I’m not winning yet but, I will be and the Donald will be,” he said. “Give it time.”