HARRISBURG - A question was repeated as the crowd of hundreds grew to a crowd of thousands.

"Why does Trump keep coming back to Pennsylvania?"

It was asked during otherwise glowing reviews of President Donald Trump's first 100 days, a milestone he chose to celebrate in the state capital.

The answer is simple: This is Trump country.

On just about any other day, nobody would describe reliably blue Harrisburg as Trump country. The ideals of the protesters outside would've made more sense than those of the president's supporters inside.

But the people inside the Farm Show Complex & Expo Center came from all swaths of the commonwealth and other states throughout the northeast. They agree Trump is a great president.

It doesn't matter if he called Harrisburg a "war zone." It doesn't matter if he congratulates someone for receiving a Purple Heart. It doesn't matter if questions and controversy swirl around his business ethics and ties to Russia. It doesn't matter if he didn't keep the promises he made about his first 100 days in office. It doesn't matter if the country is as divided as it was when he was a candidate - a level of unrest that was again on display in protests in front of the Farm Show Complex.

His supporters will blame "the rioters," the leftists, Congress and the "fake news" media, or they will say he just needs more time.

President Trump is always Candidate Trump, and he's never judged on substance. He's judged on style.

"I don't care what he says," said John Murphy, who traveled to the Harrisburg rally from Canton, New York. "He's had trouble with health care and the tax plan, but that's not his fault."

Murphy blames Congress and the media.

"He's done all this with everyone against him," Murphy said of Trump's first 100 days."

Except his supporters, who in Pennsylvania delivered his biggest crowds in Hershey and Harrisburg, including Saturday night when more than 12,000 filled the New Holland Arena of the Farm Show Complex.

It didn't matter what Trump did or didn't do during the first 100 days. It didn't matter that Saturday night he had his biggest crowd in the state and spent most of the time blasting the media attending the White House Correspondents roast of him.

The only thing that really matters to these supporters is that he talks like they do and has them convinced he will "make America great again" and "bring America back."

"I like him because he's pretty plain spoken," Murphy said. "A lot of us non-college types understand him. I know academia looks at him like he's a boob. We don't."

Trump came back to Pennsylvania Saturday to remind everyone watching that he doesn't need the "Washington, D.C. elites" at the White House Correspondents Dinner. He still has the people who helped him upset Democrat Hillary Clinton and flip Pennsylvania from blue to red for the first time since 1988.

"I love this state. I love the people of this state," Trump said shortly after taking the stage. Pennsylvania "carried us to a big, beautiful victory."

Trump said, just as he chose the state over the White House Correspondents Dinner this year, he might do the same next year.

"I'm with a much larger crowd and much nicer people," Trump said. "There's nowhere I'd rather be than here in Pennsylvania."

That's welcome news to Beverly Moyer of Lancaster County who said the president is a man who has kept his word.

"He can't help it that Congress won't listen."

It's people like Murphy and Moyer that keep Trump coming back, analysts said.

"He's coming back to his base," said Terry Madonna, political analyst and pollster at Franklin & Marshall College. "The blue-collar voters are hanging in there with him. Pennsylvania is very important to him."

It's a state where he won by 44,000 votes overall and won 24 counties by 77 percent of the vote.

"Pennsylvania is one of his greatest trophies," said Chris Borick, political scientist at Muhlenberg College in Allentown. "For an individual who likes trophies, this is one that gave him a path to the presidency. It's one of the states he flipped. It serves as a symbol of his ability to change the political landscape in the country. It makes sense on the 100th day to be at the site of one of his best victories."

Two congressmen who sat in Trump's VIP area agreed.

"Why do you think he's coming to Pennsylvania?" said Rep. Scott Perry, a Republican from York County. "Because he knows Pennsylvania put him over the top."

"Donald Trump is in the White House because of Pennsylvania," said Rep. Tom Marino, a Republican from Williamsport who is reportedly Trump's pick for drug czar.

Another supporter, CNN's Jeffrey Lord, agreed that his hometown is Trump country.

"The president loves Pennsylvania," Lord said. "Pennsylvania was critical in winning the presidency, and inside the state, central Pennsylvania played a substantial role in that victory."

It's also a state in which Trump won all 67 counties in the Republican primary - an unprecedented feat.

"So it is no surprise to see him come back - and I'm sure we will see him again as his term progresses," Lord said. "The state slogan for a while was 'You have a friend in Pennsylvania.' That applies especially to President Trump."

It remains to be seen whether Pennsylvania has a friend in the White House, but Lord and the Farm Show crowd would say they already know.