A show of strength in the heart of the Democratic stronghold of New York. A message of challenge from one of the most symbolic stadiums, Madison Square Garden, nine days before the elections. This Sunday, Donald Trump reclaimed the city where he was born and where he was convicted of 34 serious crimes in the Stormy Daniels case. To do so, he surrounded himself with his entire entourage in an event marked by racist insults from the speakers.
“Garbage island,” to refer to Puerto Rico or “the antichrist” to speak of Democrat Kamala Harris, are some of the comments that have resonated on the walls of the pavilion. “I don’t see any stinking Nazis here. “I don’t see any stinking domestic terrorists here,” shouted professional wrestler Hulk Hogan – surprise speaker at the event – when he took the stage. Even he was aware of the parallels to the pro-Nazi rally at the old Madison Square Garden.
Trump did not want to be left behind in the rampage of insults and attacks and has suggested that Harris is stupid: “Everyone knows that she is a person with a very low IQ.” The credit for the comment, however, went to journalist Tucker Carlson, who in his turn as the mogul’s opening act stated that “it is going to be very difficult for them to say that Kamala Harris got 85 million votes because it is very impressive. That the first former California prosecutor […] with low IQ has been elected president.” Insults and conspiracy theories about electoral fraud with a single stone.
The conspiracy ghost that Republicans stir up so much in the final stretch of the campaign has also been embodied in the appearance of Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York and former Trump lawyer accused in the state case of Georgia for trying to alter the result of the elections. of 2020. “I am not going to make conspiracy theories, and it is not that I am not going to make them, but it is something curious that they tried everything else [en referencia a las acusaciones penales contra Trump] and now they are trying to kill him,” said Giuliani, who can no longer practice as a lawyer in various states due to his attacks on the electoral results of the last elections.
The atmosphere and guest list this afternoon at Madison Square Garden was very similar to that of the Republican Convention in Milwaukee. Great figures of the Republican party, such as speaker Mike Johnson; bizarre figures like Hulk Hogan, and Trump’s big signing: the owner of X, Elon Musk. In Milwaukee, during the magnate’s final speech, it was rumored during the previous hours that Musk would appear to support him. The expectation of the Trumpists materialized in Butler on October 5, when Musk went on stage with Trump for the first time. Since then he has been preaching in favor of the Republican throughout the country.
The pavilion, which has capacity for almost 20,000 people, was completely full and they had set up the court so that more people could sit. After two hours of queuing starting at twelve noon, there were still people who had stayed outside. Many of the people who gathered on the streets adjacent to Seventh Avenue, where the entrances to the stadium had been opened, were from outside New York. Regina, 60, had come from New Jersey – which is next to Manhattan – to support Trump. “He has to win. I have supported him since day one, since 2016,” he stated. The red MAGA cap, already faded to a pink tone, attested to this.
Inside the stadium, as is customary, Trump appeared two hours late. His team had announced the intervention at five, but it did not take place until after seven. Complaints and frustration among some attendees were visible every time the stadium loudspeaker announced a new speaker and it wasn’t the Republican one. When it was announced that Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., was taking the stage, a man in a kippah who had already taken out his cell phone to record, said: “Almost. Let it come out now.” And he has saved the smartphone in the pants pocket.
Trump has taken a path through a state that is not key in these elections. New York is markedly Democratic and is very far from being considered a swing state. Just the fact of spending the penultimate weekend before the elections holding a rally here is a clear message of challenge to Democrats in an election that is predicted to be very close. Although there was also a point of sentimentality.
New York is still Trump’s city, although the tycoon is now registered in Florida to pay less taxes. For a few hours the tycoon has been able to entertain the idea of what it would be like to be able to change the color of this state. A fantasy that Republican Vivek Ramaswamy has fueled by saying that New York is a “swing state”, or Congresswoman Elise Stefanik: “As a New Yorker born and raised here, New York is Trump territory.” Harris leads Trump by 15 percentage points in this state, according to poll aggregator FiveTirthyEight.
Jokes that can cost votes
In a very close electoral race, the Latino vote is being crucial to boosting Trump in some key states such as Arizona. Still, that hasn’t stopped racist jokes about Latinos and blacks. The comedian Tony Hinchcliffe has been the author of the comment about Puerto Rico calling it a “garbage island.” Although he hasn’t stopped there: he has also joked about the size of Hispanic families (“These Latinos love to make babys”) and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, calling the first stone-throwers and the second cheapskates.
The comedian has also made fun of black men. To do this, he has resorted to the racist stereotype of blacks and watermelons that was created after the American Civil War.
Labeling Puerto Rico as a “garbage island” has unleashed nervousness among Latinos in the Republican party. The Puerto Rican congresswoman from the Republican Party, Jeniffer González, has expressed her rejection of the comedian’s comments. “What he said is not comical, in the same way that they were rejected by the audience, he deserves everyone’s energetic repudiation,” says González – although the joke was received with timid laughter from the audience – and He adds: “Space cannot be given to expressions as infamous and racist as those. “They do not represent the conservative values of the Republican Party.” Another Republican and Hispanic congresswoman, María Elvira Salazar, has equally criticized Hinchcliffe and insisted that “this rhetoric does not reflect the values of the Republican Party.”
The Puerto Rican singer, Ricky Martin, has shared the clip of the Trump comedian on his Instagram profile with the phrase “This is what they think of us” and has asked for the vote for Harris. Who has also shown his support for the Democrat has been the reggaeton singer and also Puerto Rican Bad Bunny, who has shared a video of Harris on his Instagram profile.
Trump, more aggressive
The former president has once again displayed his xenophobic and histrionic rhetoric, with the same promises of a “golden era” for the United States and a “mass deportation” if he returns to the White House after November 5. “On day one I will launch the largest deportation program in the history of the United States. “I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered,” he said.
The Republican, who already invoked the idea of an “internal enemy” in Butler and indirectly suggested that it was the Democrats, has stopped using euphemisms and has pointed them out directly. “A corrupt and radical left-wing machine runs today’s Democratic Party,[…] I know many of them; It’s just this amorphous group of people, but they’re smart and ruthless, and we have to defeat them, and when I talk about the enemy within they get upset. They are the internal enemy and a massive enemy,” Trump stated before the public.
In his speech, Trump argued that Americans are worse off now than they were four years ago and has announced a new policy that will offer a tax credit to caregivers who care for a parent or other family member. As is also customary, he has once again assured that if he governs the conflicts will end and he has promised that he will not start wars if he is president. Although he has included the nuance that if there were a conflict with China, “we would kick their ass.”
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