NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump hosted a rally featuring crude and racist insults at New York’s Madison Square Garden Sunday, turning what his campaign had dubbed as the event where he would deliver his closing message into an illustration of what turns off his critics.
With just over a week before Election Day, speakers labeled Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” called Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris “the devil,” and said the woman vying to become the first woman and Black woman president had begun her career as a prostitute.
“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” said Tony Hinchcliffe, a stand-up comic whose set also included lewd and racist comments about Latinos, Jews and Black people, all key constituencies in the election just nine days away.
His joke was immediately criticized by Harris’ campaign as it competes with Trump to win over Puerto Rican communities in Pennsylvania and other swing states. Puerto Rican music superstar Bad Bunny endorsed Harris shortly after Hinchcliffe’s appearance.
The normally pugnacious Trump campaign took the rare step of distancing itself from Hinchcliffe. “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement.
But other speakers also made incendiary comments. 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 pimp handlers will destroy our country.”
The marquee event reflected the former president’s tone throughout his third White House campaign. Though he refrained from doing so Sunday, Trump often tears into Harris in offensive and personal terms himself, questioning in recent weeks her mental stability and her intelligence as well as calling her “lazy,” long a racist trope used against Black people.
The event was a surreal spectacle that included former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, TV psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw, someone who painted a picture of Trump hugging the Empire State Building, and politicians including House Speaker Mike Johnson. At times, it felt like an amped-up version of the Republican National Convention in July that convened two days after Trump was nearly assassinated at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, which featured many of the same personalities — this time delivering speeches with far more volume.
And that was all before Trump was to take the stage, running more than two hours late.
After being introduced by his wife, Melania Trump, in a rare public appearance, the former president began by asking the same questions he’s asked at the start 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 whether we’ll have four more years of gross incompetence and failure, or whether we’ll begin the greatest years in the history of our country,” he said.
Trump announced a new tax credit for caregivers
Trump on Sunday added a new proposal to his list of tax cuts aimed at winning over older adults and blue-collar workers, which already includes vows to end taxes on Social Security benefits, tips and overtime pay: A tax credit for family caregivers.
This comes after Harris has talked about the “sandwich generation” of adults caring for aging parents while raising their children at the same time. Harris has proposed federal funding to cover home care costs for older Americans.
Trump otherwise repeated familiar lines about 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 ends.”
As Trump’s remarks came up on an hour, some of the crowd began trickling out.
Tech mogul Elon Musk, who spoke earlier and introduced Melania Trump, was a prominent part of Trump’s closing campaign message. The former president called Musk “a genius” and “special.”
Musk nodded to Trump’s recent plan to allow him to lead a government efficiency commission to audit the entire federal government. Several of Musk’s businesses, including Tesla and SpaceX, have major government contracts or have relied on U.S. subsidies, and Musk has faced criticism after reports that he spoke privately in recent years with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Your money is being wasted and the department of government efficiency is going to fix that,” Musk said before taking a place offstage beside Melania Trump.
The rally was an amped-up version of the RNC
Many of the speakers Sunday appeared on stage at the Republican National Convention. This time, the same speakers shouted and railed more against Democrats.
Hogan, returning to the venue where he performed years ago as a professional wrestler, seemed to reprise his character, emerging wearing a giant red, orange and yellow boa and violently waving a large American flag as he posed and danced. He spat on the stage during his speech, flexed his muscles repeatedly and told the audience: “Trump is the only man that can fix this country today.”
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 ripped Hillary Clinton, the Democrat defeated by Trump eight years ago, for saying recently that Trump would be “reenacting” the 1939 event.
“Hey guys, they’re now scrambling and trying to call us Nazis and fascists,” said Alina Habba, one of Trump’s attorneys, who draped a sparkly “MAGA” jacket over the lectern as she spoke. “And you know what they’re claiming, guys? It’s very scary. They’re claiming we’re going to go after them and try and put them in jail. Well, ain’t that rich?”
Declared Hogan in his characteristic raspy growl: “I don’t see no stinkin’ Nazis in here.”
Trump has denounced the four criminal indictments brought against him as politically motivated. He has ramped up his denunciations in recent weeks of “enemies from within,” naming domestic political rivals, and suggested he would use the military to go after them. Harris, in turn, has called Trump a “fascist.”
The arena was full hours before Trump was scheduled to speak. Outside the arena, the sidewalks were overflowing with Trump supporters in red “Make America Great Again” hats. There was a heavy security presence. Streets were blocked off and access to Penn Station was restricted.
In the crowd was Philip D’Agostino, a longtime Trump backer from Queens, the borough where Trump grew up. The 64-year-old said it was appropriate for Trump to be speaking at a place bills itself as “the world’s most famous arena.”
“It just goes to show ya that he has a bigger following of any man that has ever lived,” D’Agostino said.
A New Yorker returns home
New York has not voted for a Republican for president in 40 years. But that hasn’t stopped Trump from continuing to insist he believes he can win.
Trump routinely uses his hometown as a foil before audiences in other states, painting a dark vision of the city that bears little resemblance to reality. He’s cast it as crime-ridden and overrun 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 tabloid and reality TV star. Its residents indicted him last year on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He was found guilty in that case, and also found liable in civil court for business fraud and sexual abuse.
On Sunday, however, Trump was much more complimentary of the city. He said “no city embodies the spirit” and energy of the American people more.
And as he concluded his speech after over an hour, opera singer Christopher Macchio came on stage to perform the song “New York, New York.”
The former president smiled and swayed slightly, his wife standing next to him on stage.
