Vote 2024: Former President Trump's event at Madison Square Garden in NYC turns into a rally with crude and racist slurs

NEW YORK – Donald Trump took the stage at New York's Madison Square Garden on Sunday night to deliver his campaign's closing argument with nine days to go until the election, after several of his allies hurled crude and racist insults at Vice President Kamala Harris and other critics of the former president had pronounced.

The Republican candidate began by asking the same questions he had recently asked at the start of every rally: “Are you doing better now than you were four years ago?” The crowd responded with a resounding “No!”

“In this election, we must decide whether we will endure four more years of gross incompetence and failure or whether we will begin the greatest years in our country’s history,” he said after being introduced by his wife, Melania Trump. Her rare surprise appearance comes after she was largely absent from the election campaign.

Several speakers earlier Sunday grossly insulted Harris, who is vying to become the first woman and Black woman to win the presidency. And a stand-up comedian made offensive and racist comments about Latinos, Jews and blacks, all key constituencies in the election, which is just nine days away.

“I don't know if you know this, but right now there's literally a floating island made of trash in the middle of the ocean. I think her name is Puerto Rico,” said comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose joke was immediately criticized by Harris. Campaign competing with Trump to win over Puerto Rican communities in Pennsylvania and other swing states. Shortly after Hinchcliffe's performance, the Puerto Rican music superstar supported Bad Bunny Harris.

Trump's childhood friend David Rem, meanwhile, called Harris “the antichrist” and “the devil.” Businessman Grant Cardone told the crowd that Harris “and her pimps are going to destroy our country.” And former Fox News host Tucker Carlson called Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, “a Samoan, Malaysian, low IQ former California prosecutor.”

Trump's closing speech becomes a spectacle

The event was a surreal spectacle that turned what his campaign had billed as an event at which he would deliver his closing message in the final days of the campaign into an example of what alienated his critics. Participants included House Speaker Mike Johnson, television psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw, former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan and someone who painted a picture of Trump hugging the Empire State Building.

And all this before the Republican presidential candidate took the stage more than two hours late.

Trump on Sunday added a new proposal to his list of tax cuts aimed at attracting older adults and workers that already includes promises to eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits, tips and overtime pay: a tax credit for family caregivers.

This comes after Harris spoke of the “sandwich generation” of adults caring for aging parents while raising their children. Harris has proposed federal funding to cover home care costs for older Americans.

Trump repeated otherwise familiar phrases about foreign policy and immigration, calling for the death penalty for any migrant who kills a U.S. citizen and saying that on the day he takes office, “the migrant invasion of our country will end.”

The rally was an amplified version of the RNC

Many of the speakers appeared on stage at the Republican National Convention on Sunday. This time, the same speakers shouted and railed more heavily against the Democrats.

Hogan, returning to the venue where he performed as a professional wrestler years ago, appeared to reprise his role, wearing a giant red, orange and yellow boa and vigorously waving a large American flag as he posed and danced. During his speech, he spat on the stage, repeatedly flexed his muscles and told the audience: “Trump is the only man who can fix this country today.”

While some Democrats and pundits have questioned Trump's decision to hold what they dismiss as a vanity event in his hometown, the rally guarantees Trump what he craves most: the spotlight, wall-to-wall coverage and a national audience.

The final message his campaign says he will deliver on Sunday is that Harris has “broken” the country and that Trump will “fix it.” Hours earlier, rally participants waved signs that read, “Trump will fix it.”

Some Democrats who argue that Trump is a “fascist” have compared his Sunday rally to a pro-Nazi rally at the Garden in February 1939. Several speakers on Sunday criticized Hillary Clinton, the Democrat defeated by Trump eight years ago, for her recent statement that Trump was “reenacting” the 1939 event.

“Hey guys, they're arguing now and trying to call us Nazis and fascists,” said Alina Habba, one of Trump's lawyers, who draped a sparkly “MAGA” jacket over the lectern during her speech. “And you know what they say, people? It's very scary. They claim we are persecuting them and trying to put them in prison. Well, isn’t that rich?”

Hogan declared in his trademark hoarse growl, “I don’t see any stinking Nazis here.”

Trump has described the four criminal charges against him as politically motivated. In recent weeks he has stepped up his denunciations of “enemies from within,” naming domestic rivals and hinting that he would use the military to crack down on them. Harris, in turn, called Trump a “fascist.”

The arena was full hours before Trump's scheduled speech. Outside the arena, the sidewalks were filled with Trump supporters wearing red “Make America Great Again” hats. There was a heavy security presence. Roads were closed and access to Penn Station was restricted.

In the crowd was Philip D'Agostino, a longtime Trump supporter from Queens, the borough where Trump grew up. The 64-year-old said it was appropriate for Trump to speak at a venue that bills itself as “the most famous arena in the world.”

“It just shows that he has a bigger fan base than any man who ever lived,” D'Agostino said.

A New Yorker returns home

New York hasn't elected a Republican president in 40 years. But that hasn't stopped Trump from continuing to insist he can win.

Trump routinely uses his hometown as a foil to audiences in other states, painting a bleak vision of the city that bears little resemblance to reality. He describes it as crime-ridden and overrun by violent immigrant gangs that have taken over Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue and occupied Times Square.

Trump has a complicated history with the place where he built his business empire, and it has made him a tabloid and reality TV star. His residents charged him last year with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He was found guilty in that case and also held liable in civil court for business fraud and sexual abuse.

The rally is one of a series of detours Trump has taken from the battleground states, including a recent rally in Coachella, California – best known for the famous music festival named after the city – and one in May on the coast of Jersey. This summer he campaigned in the South Bronx.

To reach them, Trump has spent hours appearing on popular podcasts. And his campaign has helped create viral moments, such as his visit to a McDonald's restaurant last weekend, where he made french fries and served his fans through the drive-thru window. The video of the stop released by his campaign has been viewed more than 40 million times on TikTok alone.

Harris has also traveled to states where there are no battlefields for major events intended to convey a national message. She appeared with music superstar Beyoncé in Houston on Friday to talk about reproductive rights and will give her own closing statement on Tuesday at the Ellipse in Washington, where Trump spoke before the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Aside from the national spotlight and the thrill of performing on one of the world's most famous stages, Republicans in the state say the rally will also help reject candidates. New York is home to some competitive congressional elections that could decide which party controls the House of Representatives next year.

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WATCH: Bill Ritter and the Eyewitness News team with our Vote 2024 Election Guide.

For more information about what's on the ballot in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, see our voter guide.
For election updates, please visit abc7ny.com/vote2024. (edited)

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