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

    Online Niel Posted on

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    NEW YORK – In a White House campaign that it stays pretty closeDonald Trump on Sunday tried to capitalize on his celebrity status and deliver a fun, glitzy event that could break through the recent buzz.

    Instead, the Republican presidential candidate’s popular Madison Square Garden rally sparked controversy with a series of off-color jabs at Democrats and a warm-up act from a comedian that sparked a political uproar with a key constituency Trump hopes to win in his bid for a second term in the White House.

    In the early stages of the rally, comedian Tony Hinchliffe, who goes by the stage name Kill Tony, mocked Puerto Rico as a “floating garbage island” and also said that Latinos are having too many children. While Trump’s campaign later tried to distance itself from the joke, it has already drawn condemnation from allies such as Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and the chairman of the Republican Party of Puerto Rico.

    “This joke bombed for a reason,” said Scott, a first-term senator who is his only. the heated race for re-election in 2024. “It’s not funny and it’s not true.”

    The Trump campaign hoped with The return of the Big Apple to create a moment with national resonance and get supporters to vote with an over-the-top event. While some political observers questioned the wisdom of going to a deep blue state instead of a swing state in the final days of the campaign, Trump and many of his Republican allies argued that New York was still in play.

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

    “The United States is now an occupied country, but soon it will no longer be an occupied country … in nine days it will be the day of liberation in America,” Trump said.

    Trump has not shied away from some of his most controversial remarks, doubling down on comments that Democrats and his opponents are the “enemy within.”

    “When I say the enemy within the other side is going crazy … they’ve done very bad things to this country, I’m really the enemy within,” Trump said.

    The former president went on 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 tied his attacks into a new campaign motto, that “Trump will fix.”

    “Problem after problem, Kamala has broken it, but I’m going to fix it,” he said.

    A celebrity show

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

    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 arguing that Trump is not a bully. Dr. Phil and Hulk Hogan were surprise, unannounced speakers.

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

    Trump said he wouldn’t let Kennedy, a longtime environmentalist, “get too crazy … with the oil and gas stuff,” but planned to let the anti-vaccine advocate “run wild from cause of health. I’ll let him go. wild on food, I’ll let him go wild on medicine.”

    Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran against Trump in the GOP primary, told the crowd he heard from a billionaire friend Sunday morning wondering 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 City instead of going to a swing state,'” Ramaswamy said.

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

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

    New York roots

    Supporters of the former president camped outside on the city streets for an event that many saw as “historic” – Trump’s ultimate rally.

    It comes as polling averages show Trump and Harris locked in a race that is within two points nationally and in every swing state. Candidates are making a frantic final push to get out the vote. Several speakers urged the crowd to “fight, fight, fight” — echoing Trump’s words on stage shortly after he was shot in a assassination attempt – and “vote, vote, vote”.

    The jumbotron in the arena had “vote early!” permanently displayed over the speakers, showing how Trump pivoted from criticizing early and mail-in voting, a move that may have cost him in 2020.

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

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

    The place has special resonance for Trump, who grew up in New York City and built his real estate empire there. He has attended events at the Garden for decades, sitting ringside for boxing matches and UFC fights.

    Speakers touted Trump’s New York roots. “The King of New York is back to claim 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, charged in four different criminal cases and charged with inciting an insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. For many at the rally, however, these were just signs of his toughness, persisting in the face of of what they described as unjust persecution.

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

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

    Along Eighth Street, a woman with bright red hair pulled a cart with a banner reading “Welcome to your Nazi rally.” Nearby, another woman with a “Stop Project 2025” band waved a banner that read “Trump should be in jail on one side” and “Don the felon” 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’m concerned about how the legal system will hold up in a Trump win or loss, and I’m here to testify,” Nagel said.

    Reporter Josh Meyer contributed

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