Trump’s event in Madison Square Garden begins with crude jokes and denunciations of critics

Donald Trump finally gets his Madison Square Garden moment.

With just over a week to go before Election Day, the former president will take the stage in one of the country’s most famous venues on Sunday, hosting a hometown rally to deliver the closing message of his campaign against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris .

The opening of the rally was a mix of Trumpism, with an extended clip played from the 1970 film “Patton,” a painting of the American flag with Trump in front of him, while “God Bless America” ​​blared from speakers and a stand. -routine from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, which was full of lewd jokes, often invoking racist stereotypes of Latinos, Jews, and blacks.

“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there is literally a floating island of trash in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” said Hinchcliffe, whose joke was immediately picked up by the campaign of Democrat Kamala Harris, who is competing with Trump to win over Puerto Rican communities in Pennsylvania and other swing states.

Several critics slammed Hillary Clinton, the Democrat defeated by Trump eight years ago, for saying Trump on Sunday would “reenact” a pro-Nazi event at the Garden in February 1939. One speaker, radio host Sid Rosenberg , used a profanity to denounce the former secretary of state.