Trump set for historic Bronx rally: Thousands prepare to descend on New York City as residents of district reveal what they really think of Biden
Donald Trump is heading to the Bronx for a rally on Thursday, making him the first Republican presidential candidate in more than four decades to visit the borough for a campaign event.
The ex-president who visits as he wants to drive black and Hispanic voters away from President Joe Biden.
Trump will speak to supporters in Crotona Park around 6 p.m. ET. His campaign, which often touts the size of the crowd, expects several thousand people to attend.
In announcing the event, Trump’s campaign said the visit will highlight Biden’s “disastrous” record on the economy and the rise in violent crime.
The ex-president and former New Yorker insists he could win the state in November. But those chances are extremely slim for the presumptive Republican nominee and an even bigger reach in the Bronx.
Donald Trump will hold a campaign event in the Bronx on Thursday. He is the first Republican presidential candidate since Reagan to campaign in the district
Biden defeated Trump in the Empire State by double digits in 2020 with more than 60 percent of the vote, compared to Trump’s less than 38 percent.
Trump won less than 10 percent of the Bronx in 2016. In 2020, he won only 16 percent of the district against Biden.
No Republican presidential candidate has won the state of New York in the presidential election since President Ronald Reagan in 1984.
Trump has been in New York for his criminal trial, where he faces 34 felony counts of falsifying company records over the payment of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Outside of the courthouse, he made several stops around town, including a visit to a fire station, a construction site and a bodega.
Before the meeting in the Bronx, Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres, who represents the boroughs, denounced the ex-president who visited his neighborhood.
“It is clear to all of us that his priority is not the people of the Bronx,” Torres said on MSNBC. “His priority is self-forgiveness and self-preservation.”
“His presidency was a catastrophe for the Bronx, his mismanagement of COVID left a death toll of over 7,000 in the Bronx, which is greater than the combined death tolls of Pearl Harbor and September 11.”
Torres said that instead of holding a rally, he should “apologize for the harm he has caused.”
The congressman said he is confident the people of the Bronx won’t buy “the snake oil he’s selling.”
The Biden campaign released a 30-second ad on Thursday warning that Trump poses a “grave threat to black America.”
The ad emphasizes that Trump is calling for the execution of the Central Park Five. The five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were wrongly convicted of brutally beating a white woman in New York’s Central Park in 1989. Their convictions were vacated in 2002.
It was broadcast digitally ahead of Trump’s visit, targeting the Bronx and New York zip codes. The campaign is also airing the ad in battleground states.
One of the five Central Park members is now a New York City Council member. On Thursday he criticized Trump.
“During that dark period, Donald Trump took out full-page ads in New York City newspapers calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty. He pointed his finger at us and called for our execution without a shred of evidence,” Yusef Salaam said in a statement.
The Biden campaign released a 30-second political ad on Thursday calling Trump a serious threat to Black America. The ad emphasized that Trump called for the death penalty for the Central Park Five. It aired in New York ahead of Trump’s visit and in battleground states
“Unfortunately, this personal experience is not just a chapter in my life, but a stark illustration of the kind of leader Donald Trump is – a man who has consistently disrespected and dehumanized our community,” Salaam added, joining the Black and urged Latino communities not to sit down. the elections.
In the Bronx, in 2022, more than 28 percent of the population identified as black and more than 56 percent as Hispanic.
Reagan is the last Republican presidential candidate to hold a campaign event in the South Bronx. He visited the neighborhood while fighting President Jimmy Carter in the summer of 1980.
He provided comments in front of a vacant lot on Charlotte Street, the same place Carter had visited in 1977 and promised to make improvements, but little has changed since then.
Ronald Reagan made remarks in front of a sign that read “decay” during his 1980 visit to the South Bronx. The Republican presidential candidate went to Charlotte Street, the very place where President Carter had been years earlier. It was still lined with wastelands and rubble
President Reagan was the last Republican presidential candidate to campaign in the Bronx. He was also the last Republican to win New York state.
Reagan’s visit was met with some protests. Protesters behind barricades across the street chanted “you’re not going to do anything” and “go back to California.”
During his 1977 visit, Carter’s motorcade drove past blocks of burned-out buildings and vacant lots. Twice he stepped out of his motorcade to talk to residents and praised the spirit and hope of the people.
President Jimmy Carter in the South Bronx on October 5, 1977 as they toured one of the city’s most devastated areas.
Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton both also visited the district. President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch of the World Series just weeks after the 9/11 attack.