Donald Trump Jr. tells an audience of about 400 people Monday at The Maronite Center in Youngstown to get out and vote. The president’s eldest son criticized Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden as corrupt and feeble.

YOUNGSTOWN — Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, said the election comes down to a choice between his father, who is fighting for working-class Americans, and Democrat Joe Biden, who he described as corrupt, out of touch and ineffective.

“The reality is Joe Biden destroyed more hardworking blue-collar jobs with his policies and his incompetence than any other person in the history of the United States,” Trump Jr. said Monday during a nearly 30-minute speech at The Maronite Center.

Trump Jr. criticized Biden as “likely the most corrupt person to ever run for office in the United States, let alone the presidency — office.”

He added, “I know people who are running for first-grade class president that have spent more time campaigning, seriously, than Joe Biden for president of the United States because he feels he’s entitled to it.”

About 400 people attended the Youngstown event, most of them not wearing face masks and in close proximity to each other. The temperatures of those attending the event were taken before they were allowed inside. Political rallies are exempt from the state’s mask mandate in effect because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As for his father, Trump Jr. said, “You have someone willing to fight, who’s willing to take on the establishment.”

Trump Jr. said the mainstream media is working to get Biden elected — and when the president got COVID-19 they were “hoping he’d drop dead” — and social media is conspiring against his father.

Trump Jr. repeated lines from his speech last Thursday in Steubenville, including, “I am the son of a billionaire from Manhattan, and I have had more blue-collar jobs than Joe Biden,” and “This isn’t your grandparents’ Democrat Party. It’s not your parents’ Democrat Party.”

Trump Jr. urged voters Monday to give his father another four-year term “to fight for you, to fight for your families, to fight for your freedoms and your liberties.” If you don’t vote for Trump, “you will not recognize your country anymore,” Trump Jr. said.

Biden is too feeble to run the country, he said, and “can’t leave his basement to do a public event in the last 10 days before the election.”

But Biden is scheduled to campaign today in Georgia, Thursday in Florida and Friday in Wisconsin and Iowa.

Because of the pandemic, Biden isn’t planning large public rallies while Trump has had them, including Saturday in Circleville with about 10,000 in attendance.

Biden visited a voter service center Monday during an unannounced stop in Chester, Pa., a 25-minute drive from his house. Trump Jr. said Biden campaigns a lot in eastern Pennsylvania because it’s near his Delaware home.

National polls show Biden with a lead over Trump and a tight race in Ohio.

Biden, vice presidential running mate Kamala Harris, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have visited Ohio, but none have campaigned in the Mahoning Valley and no local events with any of them are scheduled. The election is a week away.

During the rally, Trump Jr. touted the candidacy of Christina Hagan of Marlboro Township, the Republican nominee in the 13th Congressional District race. Hagan gave the opening prayer during Monday’s event.

Trump Jr. said, “We’ve got to retire (U.S. Rep.) Tim Ryan. Christina’s going to do that.”

In response, Ryan, D-Howland, said it was “completely irresponsible” for Trump Jr. to have a rally without proper social distancing not only during a time when the state has seen the largest number of reported COVID-19 cases during the pandemic, but in a county that is Level 3 (red) on the Ohio Public Health Advisory System. He again criticized Hagan for not living in the district.

“We’re almost in shutdown mode, and he’s having a superspreader event,” Ryan said. “Donald Trump Jr. has a big event and doesn’t talk about the positive things about our community. They don’t have a plan.”

Regarding Trump Jr.’s talk of Biden being corrupt, Ryan said, “He shares his dad’s flair for exaggeration. He’s clearly talking to the base and trying to run on this corruption thing. People are tired of it. It’s clear what Trump has done to anyone who wants to pay attention.”

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper noted this was the first Trump visit since the president’s July 25, 2017, rally where he urged people to not sell their houses because jobs were coming back.

Pepper added, “Haven’t the people of the Mahoning Valley suffered enough? Working families across the region have lost their health, lives and livelihood because of Donald Trump’s four years of chaos and incompetence.”

Erin Bishop, Youngstown health commissioner, said her office told the Trump campaign about “the threat of increased exposures in this type of event.”

She said the space was examined by the city fire department to “establish enough space for the maximum of 500 people to attend and maintain appropriate social distancing of 6 feet while indoors.”

Less than 500 people attended Monday’s event, however, and there wasn’t anywhere near the space for even those in attendance to be 6 feet apart.