Christian Smith
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump campaigned Thursday in one of the most Democratic counties in the country, holding a rally in the South Bronx as he tries to turn out minority voters days before a Manhattan jury begins deliberations about whether to condemn him. of criminal charges in his silent criminal trial.
Trump addressed his supporters at Crotona Park, a public green space in a neighborhood that is among the city’s most diverse and most impoverished, a change from the mostly white areas where he holds most of his rallies. Although the crowd was not as diverse as the South Bronx as a whole, it included a large number of black and Hispanic voters; The Spaniard was heard by the entire crowd.
Trump, in his speech, presented himself as a better president for black and Hispanic voters than President Joe Biden, as he criticized Biden on immigration, an issue that Trump made central to his campaign. He insisted that “the biggest negative impact” of the influx of migrants in New York is “against our black population and our Hispanic population who are losing their jobs, losing their housing, losing everything they can lose.” .
Some people in the crowd responded by chanting “Build the wall,” a reference to Trump’s effort while in the White House to build a barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border.
With Trump confined to New York for much of the past six weeks due to his trial, the presumptive Republican nominee’s campaign has planned a series of local stops in his hometown before and after court. He visited a bodega in Harlem, passed by a construction site and took a photo at a local fire station.
But the rally in the Bronx was his first event open to the general public, as he insists he is making a play to win an overwhelmingly Democratic state that has not supported a Republican for president since Ronald Reagan in 1984. In addition to creating a spectacle of participants and protesters. , the rally also gave Trump the opportunity to highlight what he argues are advantages on economic and immigration issues that could affect key Democratic voting blocs.
“The strategy is to demonstrate to voters in the Bronx and New York that this is not a typical presidential election, that Donald Trump is here to represent everyone and get our country back on track,” said Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, a potential Trump running mate who grew up in Brooklyn and spoke at the rally.
The former president opened his rally with an ode to his hometown, talking about its humble beginnings as a small Dutch trading post before becoming a glamorous capital of culture that “inspired the entire world.” Although Trump took up residence in Florida in 2019, he recalled on Thursday his efforts to revitalize Central Park’s Wollman Rink and people he knew in the real estate industry.
“Everyone wanted to be here,” he told the enthusiastic audience. “But unfortunately, this is now a city in decline.”
“If a New Yorker can’t save this country,” he continued, “no one can.”
Hours before Trump’s rally began, a long line of supporters dressed in red “Make America Great Again” hats and other Trump gear snaked through the park, waiting for security screening to begin. People were still streaming into the park well into Trump’s speech, with some eager supporters heading up a hill toward the rally site after getting through security.
The Bronx Democratic Party protested Trump’s appearance with its own event in the park.
Members of several unions were present, holding signs that said “The Bronx says no to Trump” in English and Spanish.
“We are used to elected officials, to government officials, to opportunists of all kinds coming into our community and using our painful history,” said Democratic state Rep. Amanda Septimo, who represents the South Bronx. “They talk about the Bronx and everything that’s wrong with it, but they never get to the part where they talk about what they’re going to do for the Bronx, and we know Trump will never get to that part of his speech. ”
But some residents in Thursday’s crowd disagreed.
Margarita Rosario, a 69-year-old who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 60 years, said she saw Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York on television the night before, suggesting the Bronx would not support Trump. That spurred her to show up, holding a Trump flag and a poster that said, “Make America Great Again.”
“I was so angry about it. I said, ‘How dare she speak for the entire Bronx?’” Rosario said.
Muhammad Ali, a 50-year-old man who lives in the Bronx and said he planned to vote for Trump in November, said he used to think the former president was racist but that his opinion has changed.
“We need a patriotic president right now, and I consider Donald Trump to be more patriotic right now than Joe Biden,” said Ali, a Bangladeshi immigrant and New York City transit agency worker.
At least one New Yorker in the crowd said he knew Trump from his days as a local billionaire real estate developer.
Alfredo Rosado, 62, said he has supported Trump since 1998, when he worked for several months as a substitute summer doorman at Trump’s Trump Tower.
Rosado recounted how Trump asked her name and stopped to talk. “He’s the same person you see,” he said of the former president.
The Trump campaign believes it could diminish support for Biden among black and Hispanic voters, especially younger men who may not follow politics closely but are frustrated with their economic situation and attracted to Trump’s tough guy personality. .
He also argued that the charges he faces in New York and elsewhere make him relatable to Black voters frustrated with the criminal justice system, a statement that has been sharply criticized by Biden allies.
Biden’s campaign on Thursday released two ads aimed at undermining Trump’s attempts to make inroads with black voters, highlighting his propagation of the “birther” conspiracy against former President Barack Obama and his calls for the death penalty for five men wrongly convicted of rape in 1989. Central Park Five case. A radio ad that fictionalizes a conversation between a Trump campaign volunteer and a Black voter will air on national Black radio stations, while a shorter television ad will air in major cities, swing states and on digital platforms, with the goal of reaching voters in the Bronx, near Trump’s headquarters. race.
The demonstration comes during a pause in Trump’s criminal trial to hide the money. Court will resume after Memorial Day weekend with closing arguments. The jury will then decide whether Trump will become the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted of a criminal offense and whether he will be the first major party presidential candidate to run as a convicted felon.
The Bronx was once the most Democratic neighborhood in the city. Barack Obama won 91.2% of the district’s vote in 2012, the highest in the state. Biden won 83.5% of the district in 2020. Trump won just 16% of the vote.
The area Trump visited is predominantly non-white – unlike most of his rally locations. About 65% of residents are Hispanic and 31% are black, according to U.S. Census data. About 35% live below the poverty line.
Ending his speech, Trump said he woke up on Thursday uncertain about the reception he would receive in the Bronx.
“I said, ‘Will it be hostile or friendly?’” he said. “It was beyond friendly. It was a love fest.”
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Associated Press writers Zeke Miller in Washington and Liset Cruz in New York contributed to this report.
