Trump’s New York rally draws large crowds but also racist speeches
Donald Trump addressed thousands of supporters at a huge campaign event at Madison Square Garden in his native New York, ITV News US Correspondent Dan Rivers reports
Words by US Correspondent Dan Rivers and Washington News Editor Jonathan Wald
Playing ‘the garden’ in Manhattan is a high point for any showman.
Madison Square Garden has played host to major sports, concerts and moments in history - Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday” here to President John F Kennedy at a Democratic Party fundraiser in 1962. For Donald Trump, appearing in Madison Square Garden fulfilled a lifelong dream; this seemed more about his ego than political strategy.
He knows he stands almost no chance of winning New York State in the Presidential race. But as a native New Yorker who grew up watching the city’s basketball and ice hockey teams, the New York Knicks and New York Rangers respectively, he has long coveted being centre stage at the venue that calls itself “the world’s most famous arena.”
Trump filled the 19,500 capacity with ease. Several thousand more were reportedly turned away.
As we queued for several hours in the autumn sunshine to see this celebration of MAGA (Make America Great Again), we were alongside some from New York City’s five boroughs. Others had travelled from further afield, but all were united in their visceral hatred of Kamala Harris, cheering obscene banners which labelled her in depraved misogynistic terms.
Trump arrived two hours late and spoke for nearly an hour and a half. This was intended to be his closing argument and he initially stuck to the script, covering the economy and immigration - the two most important areas to voters and ones where polls suggest he has an advantage over Harris.
"On day one I will launch the largest deportation programme in American history," he said. "I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered."
He called Harris “a very low IQ individual” and a “trainwreck".
"We will rapidly defeat inflation, and we will very simply make America affordable again," Trump said.
He then veered off script insisting that if there were a war with China “we would kick their ass.”
Trump praised his new-found ally, Robert F Kennedy Jr, a vaccine sceptic who incorrectly believes vaccines are linked to autism.
“I'm gonna let him go wild on health. I'm gonna let him go wild on the foods. I'm gonna let him go wild on the medicines," Trump said.
With eight days to go until the election, and early voting already taking place across the United States, his address needed to be focused. Instead, not only did Trump meander with digressions and insults but several of the supporting speakers were racist and more offensive.
The roll call of surrogates was extensive: from a childhood friend of Trump to the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
Podcast host and comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, set the tone from the start, referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage,” as well as making other offensive remarks about Latinos, African-Americans and Jews.
Senior Adviser to the Trump Campaign, Danielle Alvarez, said Hinchcliffe’s “joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the Campaign.”
It immediately drew a sharp rebuke and hastily released campaign ads from the Harris campaign. It prompted a high-profile Puerto Rican rapper, Bad Bunny, to endorse her campaign. Bad Bunny has more than 45 million followers on Instagram. Four percent or around 500,000 people in Pennsylvania are Puerto Rican.
Trump’s childhood friend David Rem referred to Harris as the "anti-Christ" and the "devil".
Businessman Grant Cardone said Harris and "her pimp handlers will destroy our country".
Sid Rosenberg, a radio host who Trump often talks to, called Hillary Clinton a "sick son of a b***," and referred to migrants as "f***ing illegals."
Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba emerged in a sequinned MAGA jacket, spitting out her words of denunciation against the Democrats with glee.
Rudy Giuliani, introduced as America’s mayor, further whipped up the crowd. "Funny they tried everything else and now they are trying to kill him," he said suggesting the Biden regime’ had a hand in the attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania.
"When he said fight, fight, fight, that’s the man to lead us back to the America we love," he yelled at the crowd, which then echoed the pugilistic chant back at him.
Madison Square Garden has had moments of infamy in its history. In 1939, on the eve of World War II, it hosted an American Nazi rally. On Friday last week, Hilary Clinton accused Donald Trump of ‘re-enacting’ it; a comment which was lambasted by repeated speakers.
Hulk Hogan ripped off his shirt before exclaiming he "don’t see any stinking Nazis in here".
Many invoked God in their praise of the Republican nominee. At times, it felt like a cult’s religious ceremony fused with a rock concert.
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Dan Scavino, Trump’s former Deputy Chief of Staff, said Trump’s first reaction on seeing the photo of the former President with blood streaming down his face, was to ask about the welfare of the photographer, Doug Mills. The message was simple: Trump is a living saint.
Stephen Miller, Senior Adviser to Trump, started by talking of the coming ‘salvation’ offered by his boss.
"Betrayal or renewal" was the choice before the country, he intoned. Like an evangelical preacher, he asked: "Who’s going to stand up for the women of America?"
This speech was being given not far from a court where Donald Trump was found liable for sexual assault and was also the centre of a case involving paying off a porn star.
Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democrat congresswoman, spoke of her respect for fellow servicemen and women who had paid the ultimate sacrifice. No mention from her of Trump’s 2018 "losers and suckers" comment which he allegedly made about fallen soldiers during a visit to France — words he has since disputed ever saying.
Tucker Carlson quipped he’d seen the Grateful Dead here in the early 80s and then referred to the racist “great replacement theory” - a conspiracy narrative that there is an ongoing and covert effort by the ruling class to replace white populations.
He rounded on Liz Cheney claiming she hadn’t earned the right to have any power and then disparaged Kamala Harris’ heritage, joking she was Samoan Malaysian. It drew laughs from the audience, but further underlined the racist subtext of the evening.
Soon afterwards, in came JD Vance who said he felt bad for Tim Walz as the crowd chanted “Tampon Tim”, a derogatory nickname after he passed a law in his state, Minnesota, mandating free menstruation products in both boys' and girls’ public school bathrooms.
He quoted Kamala Harris’ interview in which, when asked what she’d do differently from Joe Biden, she said nothing comes to mind. Vance suggested that could be her official campaign slogan.
Donald Trump Junior claimed the streets of New York were lined up with red MAGA hats. He also referred to the attempted assassination in Butler, "When you get shot in the face, that’s a bad-ass", adding "we’re not just gonna make America great, we’re gonna make the world great."
To the thump of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” in came Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, saying Trump had proven himself to be the strong leader allies and adversaries respect.
In a surprise appearance, Melania Trump spoke for the first time at one of her husband’s campaign rallies during this Presidential run. She introduced the former president.
At this stage of a Presidential campaign, speeches tend to have messages of unity to appeal to as many prospective voters as possible. Trump made a cursory reference to this,
“The Republican party has really become the party of inclusion, and there’s something nice about that,” he said near the end of his remarks.
But even before he’d finished, some people had started to leave. Perhaps they felt they’d heard enough or heard it all before. This was supposed to be a keynote address in an iconic venue, but instead, it felt like an incoherent rant, after several controversial speeches, which in the end may have alienated more voters than it convinced.
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