During an epic, if also sad, incident in western Pennsylvania on Monday, September 23, a local business owner spoke out to former President Donald Trump about how awful the Biden-Harris economy has been for him. Specifically, the business owner said that his store consistently turned a profit until President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were elected in 2020.
That conversation came when the former president spoke with the owner of Sprankle’s Market in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, just before his rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania or the evening of that Monday, September 23. His campaign quickly took to social media to share a clip of the conversation between the former president and the formerly profitable business owner.
In the video of the conversation, the Sprankle’s Market owner, Ryan Sprankle, told former President Trump that he has the “best crew in the world” working for him at the shop but that the little stores in America like his are at quite the disadvantage compared to big grocery chains when it comes to turning a profit each year, particularly in this economy.
He said, commenting on how the store is doing, “You know, I’m very proud because every year we’ve been up.” Continuing, he explained that inflation has devastated his store, as prices of the goods he buys are higher than ever but sales are down because of the high costs. He said, “Except for the last three years because of this inflation. It’s exactly what you said: the prices are up, our sales are down, so we’ve had to get super creative in how we use our space to try to —”
The former president said, emphasizing Mr. Sprankle’s point, “—Prices go up and yet your sales are down.” Mr. Sprankle again said that that is the case but that he, thankfully, has a hard-working crew and family. He said, “Yeah, so it’s been brutal just to try to — thankfully, I have a great crew, great staff, my family works together.”
Trump then inquired about the history of the store, asking, “How long has this been open?” Then, when Mr. Sprankle said they had been in business at the Sprankle’s market location, the one that now is suffering under the Bidenflation situation but was formerly quite prosperous, for a whopping 25 years, Trump said, “Wow.”
Continuing, Mr. Sprankle told him that the location, before he bought it and turned it into what it currently is, has now been a grocery store of one sort or another for nearly a decade. He said, “We bought it — and this store, where you’re standing, has been a grocery store since 1929.” Mr. Trump replied, “Wow. That’s great, that’s beautiful.”
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Watch Trump and Mr. Sprankle here:
The Trump War Room account on X, posting a clip of the incident, wrote, “Pennsylvania grocery store owner tells President Trump he’s made profit every year he’s been in business EXCEPT for the last 3 years under Kamala Harris. This is the brutal reality of Kamala’s economy. Family businesses passed down through generations struggling to stay open.”
It was at the same market that Trump bought popcorn and interacted with a family shopping there. At one point, Trump grabbed a large bag of popcorn, telling one of his staffers, “Oh, look, I gotta get some of this!” He added, “Look at that stuff. This is what I want. We gotta get it.” One person standing nearby said, “My mom just got a bag of that, actually.” Trump asked, “Is it good stuff? Good?” He responded, “She says it’s the best. She says it’s the best.”
“Is that the best?” Trump said. “If it is, I’ll be sending — I’ll be in Washington, D.C., hopefully in the Oval Office, I’ll send for popcorn.” Paying for the snacks, Trump said, “Take the rest of it.” The former president proceeded to pay for another customer’s groceries at the register behind him. “Here, it’s going to go down a little bit,” he said, giving her some money to help ease the burden of her bill. The woman, who was a mother of three, smiled as she picked up the money. Trump added, “It just went down a hundred bucks.” She replied, “Thank you so much!”
Watch that here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video