Former President Donald Trump sought to recapture the enthusiasm and excitement of his post-assassination attempt Republican National Convention with his highly anticipated Madison Square Garden rally in New York City.
His six-hour-long rally on Sunday at the world-renowned 20,000-person capacity arena was a base play nine days before polls close in his 2024 election against Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, despite the race expected to be decided at the margins.
After Harris replaced President Joe Biden this summer, she experienced a surge of momentum that has since dissipated as Nov. 5 has neared.
Trump’s $1 million rally in New York, not a battleground state, was a demonstration of confidence and an opportunity to not only make his closing argument but also to announce a new tax credit for caregivers, a similar policy outreach as Harris’s Medicare expansion for members of the sandwich generation.
“We are not just running against Kamala, she means nothing, she is purely a vessel,” he said. “We are running against something far bigger than Joe or Kamala and more powerful than them, which is a massive, vicious, crooked, radical left machine that runs today’s Democrat Party.”
In a 90-minute speech that broadcast live on all three cable news networks, Trump previewed the prospect of Congress passing the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 in order to conduct mass deportations of illegal immigrants, his proposal of one-year imprisonment for people who burn the U.S. flag, and repeated his criticism of Democrats as the “enemy from within.”
“When I say the enemy within the other side goes crazy,” he said. “They have done very bad things, they are indeed the enemy from within.”
Donald Trump was introduced by his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, a surprise special guest appearing on the campaign trail for the first time this election cycle except for the convention who contended “New York City and America needs their magic back.”
The pair embraced on stage in a rare public moment on the campaign trail and the president went on to praise his wife’s new memoir.
“It’s a great book. You know what? I was nervous when I read it, I said, ‘I wonder if she said some bad stuff about me,’ but she’s great,” her husband said of her best-selling memoir. “Congratulations on that, that’s a big deal.”
Donald Trump was also introduced by Tesla, SpaceX, and X billionaire businessman Elon Musk, who in turn was introduced by the Trump campaign transition co-chair and Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as the next co-secretary of the Department of Government Efficiency.
“Make the margin of victory so big that you know what can’t happen,” Musk said of the election.
Trump’s pre-speech entertainment spanned Tucker Carlson, who downplayed Harris as a “Samoan Malaysian low I.Q. former California prosecutor” to a shirt-ripping Hulk Hogan. The opening speeches included expletives and the middle finger from 10X equity fund manager Grant Cardone, a joke that Puerto Rico is an “island of garbage” from comedian Kill Tony, advice on anti-bullying from Dr. Phil McGraw, and a live painting exhibition from Scott Lobaido.
“You know something Trumpmaniacs? I don’t see no stinking Nazis in here. I don’t see no stinking domestic terrorists in here,” Hogan said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) described the Democratic Party as “not your grandfather’s Democratic Party,” but one that is “full on to Marxism,” as Democrats compared Trump to German dictator Adolf Hitler and fascists and Sunday’s rally to a Nazi event after the German American Bund hosted one at Madison Square Garden in 1939.
“We’re about to grow that majority and New York is going to make that happen,” Johnson said. “You’re going to elect your incumbents here and our challengers. And you’re going to make a big difference.”
Fellow speaker Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) was met with “Tampon Tim!” chants from the crowd when he expressed sympathy for his Democratic vice presidential counterpart Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN). As governor, Walz passed a law compelling public schools to provide sanitary products in all restrooms used by students in grades four through 12.
“I’ve got the easiest job in American politics. All I’ve got to do is remind people what life was like when Donald Trump was president,” Vance said.
Many of the high-profile speakers, including UFC CEO Dana White, echoed the line-up at the Republican National Convention this summer when Trump made a triumphant entrance just days after his first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The Republican convention in Milwaukee coincided with Trump’s political almost invincibility as Biden tried to counter concerns about his age and mental acuity. However, shortly thereafter Biden bowed out of the race and Harris enjoyed a post-convention burst of momentum that has appeared to level out in October as Trump ramps out his final surge.
Former New York City Major Rudy Giuliani, who this week had to hand over his Manhattan penthouse apartment, 1980s Mercedes-Benz, and Joe DiMaggio New York Yankees jersey to the Georgia election workers a court found he had defamed, also made an appearance and received a standing ovation. David Rem, a childhood friend of Trump’s who launched his candidacy for New York City mayor, called Harris the “devil” and “antichrist” as he held a crucifix.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a New Yorker who projected optimism about her home state, underscored the importance of protecting Jewish students amid pro-Gaza protests on college campuses across the country, as Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) emphasized the importance of social issues, including anti-transgender policies and the sanctity of girls sport, and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy did the same for election security and integrity.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy and one-time Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, both of whom have flipped support to the GOP nominee, criticized former Vice President Dick Cheney, the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, and the CIA, as Harris appeals to Republicans who may consider voting for her over Trump.
Of Kennedy, Trump said he would encourage the healthcare advocate “to go wild on health,” “wild on the food,” and “wild on the medicine” as a member of his administration but, as an environmentalist lawyer, “the only thing I don’t think I’m going to let him even get near is the liquid gold that we have under our feet,” a reference to oil.
Republicans spotted in the crowd included Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, but they did not have speaking spots.
Two hours away at Philadelphia Youth Basketball’s Alan Horwitz “Sixth Man” Center, Harris released her plan for Puerto Rico, a pitch to Pennsylvania‘s small but ever-increasing Latino population, as her campaign seized on the political split screen between that and Kill Tony’s joke about the U.S. island.
Harris’s rally was briefly interrupted by a pro-Palestinian protester, whom she addressed during her remarks before returning to her stump speech.
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