>> Okay, I'm Joe Orengia, and
this is my business, Joe's Gym,
Erie, Pennsylvania, current
world champions.
I'm a veteran, I'm on Social
Security, and I'm a businessman.
I've been undefeated world
champion since 1993.
I have members in here from...
right now, the youngest one is
nine, the oldest one is 96.
And they all come in here
because I teach people how to
get their life back.
The only way you're going to get
your life back is to get your
strength back.
I want to see Erie the way it
used to be.
We've got to get our
manufacturing back.
For the sake of my children and
grandchildren, I hope something
happens.
>> Do you want to hear from the
next president of the United
States, Donald Trump?
(crowd cheering)
>> TRUMP: So Erie has lost
nearly one in three
manufacturing jobs.
You know that, all that you do.
I flew over, you're looking
at the plants.
But you see them.
They're falling over: the rain,
the sleet, the snow, the wind,
these are great buildings
that are falling apart.
So Erie has lost a lot, right,
you know that, right?
Hang in! Don't leave!
I promise, we can fix it so
fast.
We're gonna bring it back.
We're gonna bring back our jobs,
we're gonna bring back our
companies.
>> '50s and '60s, when I was a
kid, it was awesome.
I lived on the east side of
town, but there was a lot of
woods and stuff, we were always
playing, outside playing.
My dad raised seven of us kids,
as a coal miner, worked his butt
off.
They moved up here when I was
one years old to go to work at
GE.
My brothers and my nephews, they
all worked at GE.
They wanted me to go down to
GE, but I says, "I like this
physical stuff."
Because I was a bridge builder,
ironworker and bridge builder,
at local 348 union.
I was one of their best climbers
so I always got the job of
putting the buildings together,
which was fun.
You climb up the column, big
piece of steel comes up, you
bolt it up, you walk out, unhook
the cable, and stand there
and wait for the next piece.
And then I went, I got drafted,
went to Vietnam, came home from
Vietnam, got into the
weightlifting, because you've
got to handle this heavy iron
all day.
And then I had the gym part-time
at the time.
Coming into the '80s, lot of
manufacturing.
We had GE, we had Hammermill
Paper Company.
Everybody had good jobs.
Everybody had good-paying jobs.
You know, I needed a car, I had
the money to go buy one.
I was making my house payments,
feeding the family.
Even when I retired from
the ironwork, I didn't have to
retire.
They didn't want me to retire.
I says, "I want to run a gym.
I want to get my gym going."
Okay, put it back.
I'll lower it a little bit more.
I put up the big buildings for
the Hammermill Paper Company.
Ten-story buildings in Erie, I
put them up.
I was the connector.
I put these, ahhh, I had fun.
Looking over, I could actually
see Canada from the top of the
building at night.
Sometimes, I worked night
shift.
I'm looking... I can see the
lights in Canada.
I loved it!
They're gone.
They tore them buildings down!
All them buildings I put--
they're gone!
I drive down there the first
day, when they said they tore
them down, I go by, I go...
Oh, my God.
That was one of the... couple of
the best years of my life
working down there, putting them
up.
They're gone.
And the people are gone.
It seems like, about the last
15 years, things have
really sucked.
Because a lot of people are
leaving the area because the
manufacturing jobs have left.
There's no work.
And I used to see all these guys
walking down the street with
their lunch bucket in their hand
going to work.
Now you see them walking down
the street with food stamps.
I had a lot of members here from
GE.
I don't anymore.
I think I have two.
A lot of them left Erie.
They're not even around Erie
anymore.
My wife runs a business.
She owns Custom Audio right up
the road here.
My son owns a business.
He's got a big landscaping
business, so my family's all
small business people.
The minimum I put in here is
eight hours a day.
Last night, I was here 14
hours.
My wife puts in, minimum of 60
hours a week and sometimes 80.
We have to.
Love you.
>> Love you too.
>> Thank you.
>> So, I'm Sondralee Orengia.
I've owned an electronics store
for 33 years.
A couple of years ago, I really
cut back on the staff, and we're
just, we're really lean right
now, and I think a lot of
business owners are treating
their businesses that way.
What's happening to Erie is GE
is transitioning down to Texas
and Mexico, so those really
good-paying jobs will be
leaving.
Some of the other shops can't
afford those higher-paying jobs.
They can pay well, but not as
well as what some of the other
workers, you know, GE, are used
to.
(phone rings)
>> Joe's Gym.
Yeah, yeah... In fact, my sign
in front of the gym just blew
over.
That's never happened before.
Let's get those orange cones.
See if we can put them out here.
Make sure nobody goes
underneath that.
Put cones there so they got
to go around it.
>> Okay.
I love people, all kind of
people.
I want to see the American
patriots, the American people
that love this country, be happy
and healthy.
When your health goes, this
goes.
I've been knocked down thousands
of times in my life, in
everything I've done, and I came
back stronger than ever.
Come on, come on, come on!
Okay.
You could've done that.
So, no matter how many times you
get knocked down, it doesn't
matter as long as you get back
up and get going again.
You get knocked down, you stay
down, you're done.
Coming up!
You got it, you got it!
Okay.
Is that nine or ten?
>> That's ten.
>> Ten? Okay!
She's an animal!
I was actually a Democrat way
back, because my family was,
back when Democrats made more
sense to me.
>> The Democratic Party's so
strong here and then you get
someone like Donald Trump, who
is really a very different
candidate.
I mean, we've never seen
anything like him before, and I
think that scares people, but I
think the people who voted for
him, they're hopeful.
>> So, that night during the
election, I sat up until the
local news came on.
He won Erie, which has not been
won by a Republican since the
'80s.
If things get a little, even
just a little bit better, okay,
let's give him another four
years, because maybe they'll
get a little bit more better.
Okay, go for another minute on
that.
Watch that clock for one
minute, you're done.
If things get worse, no.
Keep her going.
Five more seconds.
I got to give him a chance.
But I'd still probably, I'm
still probably going to go back
to independent because I don't,
still don't agree with a lot of
either one of them, and I have
my own ideas and try to go
with the best person, not the
best party.
>> You got it.
>> Good enough.
Thank you.
And that's it for today.
