Staff photo / David Skolnick U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, speaks Thursday at a Mahoning County Republican Party fundraiser in Canfield.

CANFIELD — U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan sharply criticized Democrats and the media for tearing down America and seeking to discredit President Donald Trump.

“There is one party that is pro-American,” Jordan, R-Urbana, told a crowd of 300 on Thursday during the Mahoning County Republican Party fundraiser at Waypoint 4180, Canfield.

“Think about that, the sad state we are now at. The Democratic Party wants to undermine everything that makes this nation — the United States of America, the greatest country, the principles, the values, the foundation that makes us the best — there is one pro-America party and I thought I would never say that because that wasn’t the case when John F. Kennedy was a Democrat.”

The ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee, the legislative body’s main investigative committee, Jordan is a close Trump ally.

He said he told the president: “I know how the press attacks me, the lies,” and “the false things (the media) say about you and the way they twist things and lie about you. I know what I did and it’s not fun when you’re dealing with it. But I said, ‘You get it 1,000 times worse. You get it every second of every day and you keep on fighting.'”

Jordan said Trump responded by saying: “Jim, what are you going to do? Get in the corner in a fetal position and suck your thumb? You’ve got to fight.”

Jordan said he was confident Trump again will win Ohio but admitted he had concerns about Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, saying the election could come down to those two states that the president won in 2016. However, Jordan said Trump would be re-elected and Republicans will take back the House.

With Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, choosing U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate, Jordan said: “I think we’ve now moved from — for so long it’s been basically a referendum on the president — now it’s going to be a choice” because Democrats have moved too far to the left.

Turning to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jordan said: “Democrats don’t want you, won’t let you. Won’t let you go to church, won’t let you go to work, won’t let you go to school, won’t let you go to the beach, won’t let you go to a loved one’s funeral and won’t let you play college football. But, boy, you can protest, riot and loot. Right? That mindset is what’s at stake.”

In response, Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper said: “With some of the nation’s biggest COVID hot spots exploding right in his district, and towns across the district suffering from all its effects, Jim Jordan has become the embarrassing poster child of the extremists who make things worse. He and the president’s denial of basic steps to deal with COVID are why schools are struggling to reopen safely and why we have no college football this fall. And by not supporting the HEROES Act, Jordan essentially voted to defund the police and other first responders.”

Pepper added: “All he seems to care about is raising his own political profile, likely for a primary run against (U.S. Sen.) Rob Portman in two years.”

The event raised about $30,000 for the county party, Chairman Thomas McCabe said.

The crowd was limited to adhere to social distancing guidelines. However, hardly anyone at the event wore a face mask while mingling.