By james art Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was scheduled to lead a rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday that began with a series of vulgar and racist remarks from allies of the former president.
Trump, a New York celebrity for decades, had hoped to use the event at the iconic venue known for Knicks basketball games and Billy Joel concerts to make his closing argument against Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, even though the state last endorsed a Republican candidate. for president in 1984.
“We want to close it with a beautiful bang,” he said last week.
Some of the inaugural speakers used racist and misogynistic language to warm up the crowd in the hours before Trump spoke.
Rudy Giuliani, a former mayor of New York and former personal attorney for Trump, falsely claimed that Harris was “on the side of the terrorists” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and wanted to bring Palestinians to the United States.
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe used crude language, joking that Latinos “like to make babies” and calling the Caribbean US territory of Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage”.
Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin posted a clip of the comments on his Instagram and wrote in Spanish, “This is what they think of us.”
Harris earlier on Sunday visited a Puerto Rican restaurant in Philadelphia in the mandatory state of Pennsylvania to encourage people to vote. She posted a video on social media pledging to “invest in the future of Puerto Rico” as president.
The Harris campaign said in an email that the Madison Square Garden rally “reflects the same dangerously divisive and demeaning message” as Trump.
Trump’s 2016 presidential opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, accused him of “reproducing” a pro-Nazi rally that took place at Madison Square Garden in 1939 on the eve of World War II.
Trump’s critics have long accused him of empowering white supremacists with dehumanizing and racist rhetoric.
Trump rejected the 1930s comparison. “It’s called Making America Great Again, that’s all,” he said Friday.
“This is Donald Trump’s house today,” wrestler Hulk Hogan said in a speech at the New York event on Sunday, later dismissing accusations that Trump was a fascist: “I don’t see any Nazis here.”
Polls show the rival candidates neck and neck in the battleground states that will determine the next president with just over a week to go until Election Day. More than 38 million votes have already been cast in early and postal voting.
Trump is trying to tie Harris to the Biden administration’s handling of immigration and the economy. Last week, Trump debuted a new attack: “She broke it and I promise you I’m going to fix it.”
The US economy has fared better than the rest of the developed world since the COVID-19 crisis, and stock markets have hit record highs this year. But high food, utility and housing prices have rattled voters who believe the economy is headed in the wrong direction.
Harris, who held a rally with Bruce Springsteen in Atlanta on Thursday and Beyoncé in Houston on Friday, will hold another high-profile event with a speech on Tuesday on the National Mall in Washington where she will highlight the contrasts between herself and Trump.
“He is full of complaints. It’s full of dark language that’s about retribution and revenge,” Harris said of Trump in Philadelphia on Sunday.
Trump, who held a rally in Long Island, New York, in September, said he was playing for the state. Ronald Reagan’s re-election was the last time New York supported a Republican for president; Democrat Joe Biden won the state in 2020 by 23 percentage points.
“Show of Power”
By staging the attention-grabbing event in the world’s largest media market, Trump could help boost Republican candidates in New York’s congressional race. The state has seven competitive seats that could help determine whether the party holds onto the U.S. House of Representatives next year.
It could also give Trump a boost in nearby northeastern Pennsylvania, a battleground state that has increasingly become home to New York commuters.
The Trump campaign said the event at the 19,500-seat arena, which could cost more than $1 million to rent, is sold out. Tickets are free and on a first-come, first-served basis, as was the case for Harris’ rally in Houston.
A crowd of about 30,000 people attended Harris’ rally with Beyoncé on Friday night in Houston, and about 20,000 attended the rally in Atlanta.
“My internal research is my gut,” Harris told reporters in Philadelphia when asked how the campaign was doing according to internal poll projections.
“The momentum is with us,” she said.
After Sunday’s Philadelphia borough stops, Harris plans to visit each battleground state in the coming days, including a rally and concert in Madison, Wisconsin with folk rock band Mumford & Sons and an event in Las Vegas with Mexican pop group Mana.