Vote 2024: Former President Trump’s event at Madison Square Garden in New York turns into a demonstration with crude and racist insults

NEW YORK — Donald Trump took the stage Sunday night at Madison Square Garden in New York to deliver the closing argument of his campaign nine days before the election, after several of his allies used crude and racist insults toward Vice President Kamala Harris and other critics of the former president.

The Republican candidate began by asking the same questions he asks at the beginning of every recent rally: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” The crowd responded with a resounding “No!”

“This election is a choice between having four more years of blatant incompetence and failure, or whether we will begin the best years in the history of our country,” he said after being introduced by his wife, Melania Trump. whose rare surprise appearance comes after being largely absent from the election campaign.

Several speakers on Sunday crudely insulted Harris, who is vying to become the first Black woman to win the presidency. And a comedian made lewd and racist comments about Latinos, Jews and blacks, all key constituencies in the election that is just nine days away.

“I don’t know if you know this, but right now there is literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” said comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose joke was immediately criticized by Harris. campaign as he competes with Trump to win over Puerto Rican communities in Pennsylvania and other swing states. Shortly after Hinchcliffe’s appearance, music superstar Bad Bunny, who is from Puerto Rico, endorsed Harris.

Meanwhile, Trump’s childhood friend David Rem referred to Harris as “the Antichrist” and “the devil.” Businessman Grant Cardone told the crowd that Harris “and her pimps will destroy our country.” And former Fox News host Tucker Carlson called Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, “a Samoan, Malay, low-IQ former California prosecutor.”

Trump’s final argument becomes a spectacle

The event was a surreal spectacle, turning what his campaign had billed as the event where he would deliver his closing address in the final days of the campaign into an illustration of what his critics dislike. The lineup included House Speaker Mike Johnson, television psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw, former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan and someone who painted a picture of Trump hugging the Empire State Building.

And all of that was before the Republican presidential candidate took the stage more than two hours late.

Trump on Sunday added a new proposal to his list of tax cuts aimed at winning over seniors and blue-collar workers, which already includes promises to end taxes on Social Security benefits, tips and hourly pay. Extras: a tax credit for family caregivers.

This comes after Harris spoke about the “sandwich generation” of adults caring for aging parents while also raising children. Harris has proposed federal funding to cover home care costs for older Americans.

Otherwise, Trump repeated familiar lines on foreign policy and immigration, calling for the death penalty for any migrant who kills a U.S. citizen and saying that the day he takes office, “the migrant invasion of our country will end.”

The rally was an improved version of the RNC.

Many of the speakers appeared on stage at the Republican National Convention on Sunday. This time, the same speakers yelled and criticized the Democrats more.

Hogan, returning to the venue where he performed years ago as a professional wrestler, appeared to return to character, emerging wearing a giant red, orange and yellow boa and wildly waving a large American flag while posing and dancing. He spit on the stage during his speech, flexed his muscles repeatedly and told the audience: “Trump is the only man who can fix this country today.”

While some Democrats and pundits have questioned Trump’s decision to hold what they dismiss as a vanity event in his hometown, the rally guarantees Trump what he craves most: the spotlight, wall-to-wall coverage. and a national audience.

The final message he will deliver on Sunday, according to his campaign, is that Harris “broke” the country and that Trump “will fix it.” Hours earlier, rallygoers waved signs reading “Trump will fix it.”

Some Democrats, arguing that Trump is a “fascist,” have compared his Sunday event to a pro-Nazi rally at the Garden in February 1939. Several speakers on Sunday criticized Hillary Clinton, the Democrat defeated by Trump eight years ago, for recently saying that Trump would be “recreating” the 1939 event.

“Hey guys, now you’re fighting and trying to call us Nazis and fascists,” said Alina Habba, one of Trump’s lawyers, who draped a bright “MAGA” jacket over the lectern as she spoke. “And you know what they say, guys? It’s really scary. They say we’re going to chase you down and try to put you in jail. Well, isn’t that nice?”

Hogan declared with his trademark hoarse growl, “I don’t see any stinking Nazis here.”

Trump has denounced that the four criminal charges brought against him are politically motivated. In recent weeks he has stepped up his denunciations of “internal enemies,” naming internal political rivals, and suggesting he would use the military to persecute them. Harris, in turn, has called Trump a “fascist.”

The arena was packed hours before Trump spoke. Outside the stadium, the sidewalks were packed with Trump supporters wearing red “Make America Great Again” hats. There was a heavy security presence. Streets were blocked and access to Penn Station was restricted.

Among the crowd was Philip D’Agostino, a longtime Trump supporter from Queens, the district where Trump grew up. The 64-year-old said it was appropriate for Trump to speak at a venue that calls itself “the most famous stadium in the world.”

“It just goes to show that he has more followers than any man who has ever lived,” D’Agostino said.

A New Yorker returns home

New York hasn’t voted for a Republican for president in 40 years. But that hasn’t stopped Trump from continuing to insist that he believes he can win.

Trump routinely uses his hometown as a foil to audiences in other states, painting a dark vision of the city that bears little resemblance to reality. It presents it as a place plagued by crime and invaded by violent immigrant gangs who have taken over Fifth and Madison avenues and occupied Times Square.

Trump has a complicated history with the place where he built his business empire and that made him a reality TV and tabloid star. His residents charged him last year with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He was found guilty in that case and also liable in civil court for commercial fraud and sexual abuse.

The rally is one of a series of detours Trump has made from battleground states, including a recent rally in Coachella, California – best known for the famous music festival that bears the city’s name – and another in May on the coast from Jersey. This summer he campaigned in the South Bronx.

To reach them, Trump has spent hours appearing on popular podcasts. And his campaign has worked to create viral moments like his visit last weekend to a McDonald’s restaurant, where he made French fries and served his followers through the drive-thru window. The video of the stop posted by his campaign has been viewed more than 40 million times on TikTok alone.

Harris has also traveled to non-battleground states for major events meant to push a national message. He appeared in Houston on Friday with music superstar Beyoncé to talk about reproductive rights and will deliver his own closing argument Tuesday from the Ellipse in Washington, where Trump spoke before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Beyond the national attention and the appeal of appearing on one of the world’s most famous stages, state Republicans say the rally will also help opposing candidates. New York is home to a handful of competitive congressional races that could determine which party controls the House next year.

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LOOK: Bill Ritter and the Eyewitness News team with our Vote 2024 election guide.

For more information about what’s on the ballot in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Please see our Voter Guide.
For election updates, visit abc7ny.com/vote2024. (edited)

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