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    • Trump rally at Madison Square Garden faces backlash over comedian’s riff
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    Trump rally at Madison Square Garden faces backlash over comedian’s riff

    Pabio Posted on

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    NEW YORK – As part of a White House campaign that stay close to the razorDonald Trump on Sunday tried to capitalize on his celebrity status and host an entertaining and glitzy event that could cut through the noise in the home stretch.

    Instead, the Republican presidential candidate’s much-touted rally at Madison Square Garden sparked controversy with a series of inappropriate jabs at Democrats and a comedian’s warm-up routine that sparked a backlash. political fury with a key constituency that Trump hopes to win over in his bid for a second term in the White House.

    At the start of the rally, comedian Tony Hinchliffe, known as Kill Tony, mocked Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” and also said Latinos had too many children. While Trump’s campaign later sought to distance itself from the joke, it had already drawn condemnation from allies like Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott and the chairman of the Puerto Rico Republican Party.

    “That joke bombed for a reason,” said Scott, a first-term senator who is in his own country. Heated 2024 re-election race. “It’s not funny and it’s not true.”

    The Trump campaign had hoped with the Return to the Big Apple create a moment with national resonance and bring supporters to the polls with an extravagant event. As some political observers questioned the wisdom of moving to a deep blue state rather than a swing state in the final days of the campaign, Trump and many of his Republican allies asserted that New York was still in play.

    While polls show Trump has an advantage on the economy and immigration, he highlighted those issues in the first part of his speech at the rally, as the campaign seeks to blame opponent Kamala Harris for the strong inflation and high levels of illegal immigration in recent years. Trump unveiled a policy proposal calling for new tax cuts for people caring for loved ones at home and sparked cries of “send them back” after invoking his plan to deport immigrants undocumented.

    “The United States is now an occupied country, but soon it will no longer be… In nine days it will be Liberation Day in America,” Trump said.

    Trump didn’t shy away from some of his most controversial remarks, doubling down on his comments that Democrats and his opponents are the “enemy within.”

    “When I say the enemy within is going crazy…they have done some very bad things to this country, they are indeed the enemy within,” Trump said.

    The former president also continued to attack Harris in aggressive and deeply personal terms, saying she “can’t put two sentences together” after a long line of speakers questioned her intelligence. He linked his attacks to a new campaign slogan, that “Trump will fix it.”

    “Problem after problem, Kamala broke it but I will fix it,” he said.

    A celebrity spectacle

    Trump held the spectacular rally in another late attempt to generate media buzz and energize his base, which filled the 19,500-seat venue known for hosting some of the biggest celebrities, musicians and sports figures.

    The show included former wrestler Hulk Hogan waving an American flag on stage, conservative media personality Tucker Carlson recounting seeing The Grateful Dead in the same arena, and talk show host Dr. Phil saying Trump doesn’t was not a tyrant. Dr. Phil and Hulk Hogan were surprise and unannounced speakers.

    Trump was also joined by former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani, entrepreneur Elon Musk, former Democrats turned supporters Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, his running mate JD Vance, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White , his wife and his two eldest sons. .

    Trump said he wouldn’t let Kennedy, a longtime environmentalist, “get too crazy…with the oil and gas business,” but he planned to let the anti-vaccine advocate “go wild on health care.” I’ll let him go. crazy about food. I’m going to let him run wild with the meds.

    Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran against Trump in the GOP primary, told the crowd that he heard a billionaire friend Sunday morning questioning why the former president was holding an event in New York. The friend said, ‘Why the hell are you wasting your time in New York instead of going to a swing state,'” Ramaswamy said.

    His response: “New York is a swing state.” Trump lost New York by a wide margin in 2020 and 2016, but the crowd loved it.

    After his big night in New York, Trump begins his final full week of campaigning before Election Day with a series of swing state events. He begins with a rally Monday in Atlanta, Georgia, and continues in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday and Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Wednesday, where he will be joined by former Green Bay Packers legend Brett Favre.

    New York roots

    Supporters of the former president camped into the city’s streets for an event that many considered “historic”: Trump’s ultimate rally.

    This comes as polling averages show Trump and Harris engaged in a two-point race nationally and in every swing state. The candidates are making a frantic final push to get out the vote. Several speakers urged the crowd to “fight, fight, fight,” echoing words Trump spoke on stage shortly after he was shot and killed. assassination attempt – and “vote, vote, vote”.

    The jumbotron in the arena had “vote early!” » displayed constantly over the speakers, showing how Trump rotated to criticize early voting and postal voting, a decision that could have cost him dearly in 2020.

    Speakers at Sunday’s rally highlighted Madison Square Garden’s rich history in an attempt to equate Trump with some of the other legends who have appeared there, from singer Elvis Presley to Hogan at the height of his professional wrestling fame.

    In an arena that has seen many champions, “the greatest of them all” is Trump, Vance said.

    The location has particular resonance for Trump, who grew up in New York and built his real estate empire there. He’s been attending events at the Garden for decades, sitting ringside for boxing matches and UFC fights.

    Speakers highlighted Trump’s New York roots. “The King of New York is back to reclaim the city he built,” Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., said to loud applause.

    Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, said the city teaches you “to be tough.”

    Trump has been impeached twice, indicted in four different criminal cases, and accused of inciting insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. For many at the rally, however, these were just signs of their tenacity, persisting in the face of what they called unjust persecution.

    “They don’t want to face Donald Trump at the polls, so they’ll do everything they can, jail him, kill him,” said David Rem, Trump’s childhood friend.

    Outside of the rally, many New Yorkers were unhappy with the MAGA invasion.

    Along Eighth Street, a woman with bright red hair pulled a wagon with a banner saying “welcome to your Nazi rally.” Nearby, another woman with a “Stop Project 2025” banner held up a banner reading “Trump should be in jail on one side” and “Don the Criminal” on the other.

    Some Trump critics even infiltrated the rally. Marty Nagel, a lawyer who lives on the South Shore of Long Island, is not a Trump fan, but he wore a red MAGA hat to the rally to blend in. He wanted to witness the scene in person.

    “I am concerned about how the legal system is going to hold up in a Trump victory or defeat and I am here to bear witness to that,” Nagel said.

    Journalist Josh Meyer contributed

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