NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden, billed as a triumphant homecoming, instead turned into a political fiasco on Sunday night as a pro-Trump comedian’s racist diatribe drew furious condemnation, including from prominent Republicans.
The rally, held just more than a week before Election Day, was intended to serve as a platform for Trump to make his closing argument but sparked backlash for racial slurs and vulgarity.
The first speaker of the evening, Tony Hinchcliffe, the host of “Kill Tony” podcast, began the rally with slurs about Latinos and African Americans.
Latinos “love making babies. There’s no pulling out. They come inside, just like they do to our country,” Hinchcliffe said to laughter inside the arena. He added: “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
Hinchcliffe’s racist remarks drew swift rebuke from a pair of congressional Republicans from Florida. GOP Rep. María Salazar wrote on X that she was “disgusted” by his “racist” rhetoric that “does not reflect GOP values.” Sen. Rick Scott denounced the “joke” as “not funny” and “not true.”
Democrats moved quickly to denounce the derogatory remarks — and to split screen them with Vice President Kamala Harris, who had spent the day courting Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania and who had cut a video blasting Trump for withholding hurricane relief to the island even before his allies began their disparaging its inhabitants. Harris’ video, which also included mention of her plan to boost economic opportunities for Puerto Rico, was reposted by Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny on Instagram for viewing by his more than 18 million followers.
Another pre-program speaker, David Rem, called Harris “the anti-Christ,” while businessman Grant Cardone said Harris has “pimp handlers.”
A Trump adviser said the speakers’ remarks weren’t vetted by the campaign.
Trump’s closing message focused on the economy, his personal grievances and calls to weed out “the enemy from within,” and “sinister and corrupt forces.” Trump, who has demonized migrants, called for the death penalty for “any migrant who kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer,” and at one point stopped to show a video about Venezuelan migrants and gang activity in New York.
The crowd responded by chanting: “Send them back.”
The former president was introduced by his wife, Melania Trump, started his speech by asking the audience, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” The crowd yelled back, “no.”
For years, Trump has wanted to hold a rally at Madison Square Garden in the heart of Manhattan. Trump’s campaign billed the event as the kick off to his closing argument and the event’s pre-program was stacked with MAGA stars and billionaires ranging from Elon Musk and former Fox News star Tucker Carlson to former pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan.
“Usually when I’m at Madison Square Garden I’m body slamming giants,” said Hogan, who also spoke at the Republican National Convention. “The energy in here is something like I’ve never felt.”
“This is Donald Trump’s house, brother,” Hogan said. “You know something Trumpmaniancs, I don’t see no stinking Nazis in here,” he said, referring to the infamous 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden.
Longtime adviser Dan Scavino recounted being in the hospital room with Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania after the July assassination attempt and showing the former president an “iconic” photo of him pumping his fist to the sky by New York Times photographer Doug Mills. Scavino appeared emotional as he said Trump’s first instinct was to ask about how the photographer was doing.
“You’ve got a fighter behind the scenes and out in public,” Scavino said. “Get out and vote, and fight, fight, fight!”
Two former Democrats, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., attacked their old party and Republicans who are supporting Kamala Harris.
The Harris campaign has been aggressively courting moderate Republicans. Gabbard received cheers when she declared that a vote for Harris is a vote for Dick Cheney, the former Republican vice president who endorsed the current vice president.
Even though New York is not a battleground state, the Trump campaign leaned into the Manhattan setting knowing that it would attract massive media attention and would give a boost to down ballot Republicans. However none of those GOP candidates were included on the campaign’s list of speakers for the event.
The crowd jumped up to give a standing ovation to Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York who lost his law license and was ordered by a New York judge this week to hand over some of his assets including a $5 million Manhattan apartment and a signed Joe DiMaggio jersey, to two Georgia poll workers who won a defamation suit against him.
“President Trump grew up here — he’s a New Yorker. That’s why some people get annoyed with him, he speaks his mind,” said Giuliani.
This event is kicking off Trump’s closing argument — ‘Kamala broke it, and i’m going to fix it,’ said a Trump adviser, who said the slogan leans into Trump’s “origin story of being a builder, fixing bad properties, and who he was in the business world and the political world.”
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, told reporters that the former president would have an “aggressive” campaign over the next week with multiple events a day spread across battleground states.
Madison Square Garden, called “the World’s Most Famous Arena,” can hold 19,500 people. The Trump campaign said the event was sold out and every section of the arena was full.
Thousands of Trump supporters lined up overnight on the streets of New York to get a glimpse of the former president. Some of the rally goers waiting in line have been regulars at Trump’s events, like Blake Marnell, or “Brick Suit Man,” who travels to rallies and is often seated directly behind the former president wearing his orange suit with a brick pattern.
Read the full article here
