By james art By Janice Hissel
Contributing writer
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump took the stage at New York’s world-famous Madison Square Garden on Sunday, filling the 20,000-seat arena for a star-studded and potentially pivotal six-hour rally that ended with his speech.
A crowd of people watched Trump’s speech on large screens installed in the arena.
Trump rose to fame and fortune in New York, but became the subject of controversy after running as the Republican candidate in a city that overwhelmingly supports Democrats.
At the rally, Trump and other speakers said the size and energy of the crowd, combined with recent polling trends, meant a shift in momentum toward him as the Nov. 5 election approaches.
“There’s something going on that’s really good, but let’s get it over with,” Trump said, referring to his race against Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
The two candidates are locked in a statistical tie for the national vote, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average; Trump recently edged Harris in seven swing states.
By holding the rally in Madison Square Garden, the former president also fulfilled a personal dream. For the first time in his life, the native New Yorker headlined his own event at The Garden.
Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, noted that the venue has hosted “America’s most famous heroes and legends,” from singer Elvis Presley to Hulk Hogan, the professional wrestler who later burst onto the scene , waving an American flag and trailing a red and yellow feather boa.
After ripping off his T-shirt to reveal a Trump-Vance T-shirt, Hogan said he’s seen sold-out crowds at Madison Square Garden many times, but that “the energy here is like nothing I’ve ever felt. It’s Donald Trump’s house today bro!”
The tide may be turning
Trump may not have been able to draw such a large crowd to Madison Square Garden during his two previous presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020, his son Donald Trump Jr. told the packed house.
“Do you think this could have happened four years ago or eight years ago, in the heart of New York?” the younger Trump said, his voice rising as the audience’s cheers grew louder.
“My father changed the skyline of this city. He fixed the things that incompetent clerks couldn’t handle. … Do it for our country too. And now everyone recognizes that.”
His son said the size of the crowd in New York seemed to be an indicator of the candidate’s policies that people preferred, as it suggested a swing toward Trump even in “blue” New York.
“The fact that I could drive here with my dad for about 25 blocks and see the streets of New York lined with red MAGA hats tells us everything you need to know,” Donald Trump Jr. said, referring to the caps bearing Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.”
“Dream Big Again”
In a new twist on Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan, the glowing signs read “Dream Big Again.”
“This is the city where I was born and raised, and this is the city that taught me that Americans can do anything,” Trump said. “Regardless of our differences, when we work together, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish.”
He presented the election as a choice between two drastically different achievements and visions.
After President Joe Biden was declared the winner of the contested 2020 election, Biden and Harris reversed many of the policies implemented by Trump as the 45th president.
If Trump wins re-election as the 47th president, he has promised to return to his previous policies with some additions, including tax relief measures.
“We will have the strongest economy, the most secure borders, the safest cities, the most powerful military, the best trade deals, and we will dominate the frontiers of science, medicine, business, technology and space,” he told the crowd.
For many voters, immigration and the economy are key issues in this election, which Trump and Harris have approached differently.
While Trump has pushed for tighter immigration controls, Biden and Harris have said they are seeking a more “humane” approach to immigration.
On the economy, Biden and Harris are implementing “Bidenomics,” which includes measures aimed at improving equality and creating more jobs.
Trump has argued that these policies are not working and that the Biden-Harris environmental regulations are stifling business creation while raising energy prices and thus the cost of consumer goods.
Trump has promised to improve American life on all fronts.
“I’m asking you to be excited again about the future of our country,” he told the audience. “I’m asking you to dream big again. … This will be the new golden age of America.”
Allies line up
If Trump wins re-election, he has said he would create a government efficiency department headed by innovator Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men.
Musk, who recently launched a campaign on behalf of Trump, told the crowd: “Your money is being wasted and the Department of Government Efficiency is going to fix that. We will get the government off your back and out of your pocket.
People who know Trump personally, including several longtime New Yorkers, took the stage to offer little-known insights about him. They testified to his often-maligned character.
Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson marveled that he was able to talk about the place where he attended a Grateful Dead concert years ago. His speech followed remarks by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Democrat, who abandoned ship and agreed to help Trump with the Make America Healthy Again initiative.
Trump is assembling a diverse coalition of supporters, Carlson said, evidence that a political “realignment” is taking place.
Carlson said he can’t imagine what it’s like for Trump to work so hard to improve New York, but “all of a sudden the leadership in New York decides they’re going to destroy you because they don’t like your politics.”
Carlson said it spoke volumes for Trump that he “returned to the city that produced him, with absolutely no embarrassment, with a room full of friends.”
A New Yorker at heart
Over the years, Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to take center stage at Madison Square Garden. He had appeared there at least twice before.
In 2013, Trump participated in a “Celebrity Fight Night” charity event at the venue, receiving a mixed reception. In response, he wrote on Twitter, now owned by Musk and rebranded as X, “LOVED the great energy at Madison Square Garden during my speech.”
Then, in 2019, while he was the 45th president and seeking re-election, Trump walked into the arena with Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White.
The experience felt “a little like going to a Trump rally,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
White was among Trump’s guest speakers on Sunday.
White’s endorsement of Trump: “The stakes have never been higher and the choices have never been clearer … he is the most resilient, hardest-working human being I have ever met in my life.”
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he gets angry when Trump is “demonized” because he has seen Trump repeatedly offer to help New Yorkers, especially police and firefighters, in times of crisis. When Giuliani wanted to publicize these acts of kindness, Trump refused, saying that God was giving him credit for his good deeds.
“This is a very compassionate and very good man,” Guiliani said.
Survival after shooting
Dan Scavino, a Trump campaign staffer, said, “I’ve been with this guy for 30 years,” adding that he’s repeatedly witnessed his determination to achieve the seemingly impossible.
“Nobody said we had a chance…we were picking the 1%.” Then he won the presidency,” Scavino said.
He has seen Trump through good times and bad, including the failed assassination attempt on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Scavino shared a behind-the-scenes look at the aftermath.
While Trump was in a hospital room being treated for a gunshot wound that grazed his ear, narrowly missing a direct hit to his head, Scavino showed Trump a photo taken by New York Times photographer Doug Mills.
Scavino said the image is so stunning that he believes it will be the most iconic image ever captured in American political history. The photo shows Trump surrounded by Secret Service agents, with blood running down his face and a raised fist; he had just shouted, “Fight, fight, fight!”
When Scavino showed Trump the photo, he stared at it for a moment.
“And the president’s reaction was, ‘How’s Doug?’ Is Doug okay?” Scavino recounted, looking choked up as he told the story.
After being “just shot in the bloody head,” his first instinct was to ask about other people, Scavino said.
That moment, Scavino said, told him something about Trump. “You have a fighter, behind the scenes and in public.”
Later, in an unannounced appearance at the rally, former first lady Melania Trump said she was proud that New York “has produced America’s most fearless leaders.”
But, she said, the city and the nation “need their magic back.”
To end the night, singer Christopher Macchio performed Frank Sinatra’s time-honored anthem “New York, New York” as attendees swayed in their seats.
