Exclusive -- Ohio State Senator Michael Rulli: Trump's Visit to East Palestine 'Brought Hope'

Ohio State Senator Michael Rulli (R) told host Matt Boyle in an exclusive interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Saturday that former President Donald Trump’s recent visit to East Palestine, Ohio, “brought hope back” to the small town, and that it was refreshing to hear the Republican Party talk about the future again — rather than the past.

“I think the most interesting thing about Trump’s visit,” Rulli said, was “this is the first time in two years that all I heard him talk about was the future. And if he wants to be the president again, he needs to forget about the past, and show everyone the future that he gave us at one time, and can again.”

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“Because when he was there, he was talking about, ‘How do we move on from this point, to get to the future and fix this town?'” the state senator continued.

“And this train went through very affluent parts of Cleveland: Shaker Heights, Hudson, Chagrin Falls, Lakewood. Those are not Republican-voting sectors of Ohio. Those are very blue, Biden sectors of Ohio, and that train went through every one of those,” Rulli noted.

“So when 45 was talking to you about what we’re going to do with this problem, he was talking about the future, about how our Party will lead the future with solutions and common sense approaches to making a better machine for America to continue to be the leader,” he added.

Rulli also recalled a lighthearted moment in which Trump rolled down the window of his motorcade vehicle and told East Palestine residents “If you’re going to McDonald’s, it’s on me.”

“And I don’t know if it was an $8,000 or $9,000 bill, but one of my employees — his brother works there — and he said they sold out of everything. There was nothing left in the McDonald’s,” Rulli said.

The state senator went on to say that by the time the former president left East Palestine, “people were excited and energized and hopeful. He brought hope back.”

Rulli also noted that Trump’s visit was “quite an amazing thing,” as it “put a big spotlight” on the situation in East Palestine.

“The reason why I like the spotlight on the problem — and I don’t think much of Pete Buttigieg, I actually called for his resignation — but Trump coming actually triggered Buttigieg to come, and maybe it’ll trigger Biden to come,” he said.

Rulli also slammed U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for being “lazy” and pointing fingers at Trump, despite fact checkers — including left-wing media and members of Biden’s own administration — coming out and saying that blaming Trump is incorrect.

“If you’re the guy that’s in charge of transportation for this country, you better be competent,” he said. “And for you just to be a lazy person, and just say it’s Trump’s fault when it’s been proven that there’s absolutely no correlation with those two whatsoever, that shows you’re not fit for your job.”

“You and I know in the real world, you get fired for stuff like that,” Rulli added.

President Trump visited East Palestine on February 22, bringing truckloads of pallets of bottled water with him for the town’s residents. His visit was followed by one from Buttigieg, who arrived in the town the next day.

So far, President Biden has yet to step foot in East Palestine since the February 3 train derailment that spewed toxic chemicals into the environment and left the town in disarray.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.