By Steve Holland, Jeff Mason and James Oliphant
NEW YORK/PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump headlined a rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday that began with a series of vulgar and racist remarks by allies of the former president.
Trump, a New York celebrity for decades, hoped to use the event at the iconic venue known for Knicks basketball games and Billy Joel concerts to deliver his closing argument against Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, even though the state last backed a Republican presidential candidate in 1984.
“I’d like to begin by asking a very simple question. Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” Trump said at the start of his speech. The crowd shouted: “No.”
He went on to promise that he would stop an “invasion of criminals coming into our country” if he wins the Nov. 5 election, and called Harris a “very low IQ individual.”
The list of at least 20 opening speakers varied widely from former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan to former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani to Trump’s sons Eric and Don Jr.
Some of Trump’s introductory speakers used racist and misogynistic language in warming up a capacity crowd.
Rudy Giuliani, the one-time New York City mayor and a former personal lawyer to Trump, falsely claimed that Harris was “on the side of the terrorists” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and wanted to bring Palestinians to the United States.
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe used crass language in joking that Latinos “love making babies” and called the Caribbean U.S. territory of Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”
Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin posted a clip of the comments on his Instagram and wrote, in Spanish, “This is what they think of us.”
While Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, those living on the island cannot vote in U.S. general elections. However, millions of Puerto Ricans who have moved to the mainland United States can fully participate in elections, and many have taken up residence in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
Harris earlier on Sunday visited a Puerto Rican restaurant in Philadelphia in the must-win state of Pennsylvania to encourage people to vote. She posted a video on social media promising to “invest in Puerto Rico’s future” as president.
Harris’s campaign in an email said the Madison Square Garden rally was “mirroring the same dangerously divisive and demeaning message” as Trump.
Trump’s 2016 presidential opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, has accused him of “re-enacting” a pro-Nazi rally that was held at Madison Square Garden in 1939 on the eve of World War Two.
Trump’s critics have long accused him of empowering white supremacists with dehumanizing and racist rhetoric.
Trump rejected the comparison to the 1930s. “This is called Make America Great Again, that’s all this is,” he said on Friday.
“Today this is Donald Trump’s house,” said the wrestler Hulk Hogan in a speech at the New York event on Sunday, later rejecting accusations that Trump is a fascist: “I don’t see any Nazis in here.”
U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, who is supporting Trump’s reelection bid with his X social media platform, enormous wealth and cash giveaways that have raised legal questions, was greeted to the stage with chants of “Elon.”
“This is the kind of positive energy that America is all about,” Musk said.
Musk, who Trump has said he would tap to lead a new government efficiency commission, said the federal budget could be reduced by “at least” $2 trillion. Federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in fiscal 2024, which ended Sept. 30.
Trump got cheers inside the arena for his tough-on-migrants rhetoric. He vowed to ban sanctuary cities and invoke the 1798 Alien Enemies Act law to deport immigrants with criminal records.
Trump announced a new policy to provide a tax credit for family caregivers “who take care of a parent or a loved one.”
Polls show the rival candidates are neck and neck in the battleground states that will decide the next president with just over a week until Election Day. More than 38 million votes have already been cast.
Trump has been seeking to tie Harris to the Biden administration’s handling of immigration and the economy. Last week, Trump debuted a new attack line: “She broke it, and I promise you I will fix it.”
The U.S. economy has outperformed the rest of the developed world since the COVID crisis, and stock markets hit record highs this year. But high prices of food, utilities and housing have roiled voters, who believe the economy is headed in the wrong direction.
Harris, who held a rally with Bruce Springsteen in Atlanta on Thursday and Beyonce in Houston on Friday, will hold another high-profile event with a speech on Tuesday on the National Mall in Washington, where she will highlight contrasts between herself and Trump.
“He is full of grievance. He is full of dark language that is about retribution and revenge,” Harris said of Trump in Philadelphia on Sunday.
Trump, who held a rally in Long Island, New York, in September, has said he is making a play for the state. Ronald Reagan’s reelection was the last time New York backed a Republican for president; Democrat Joe Biden won the state in 2020 by 23 percentage points.
‘SHOW OF STRENGTH’
By staging the attention-grabbing event in the world’s biggest media market, Trump could help boost Republican candidates in New York congressional races. The state has seven competitive seats that could help determine whether the party holds onto the U.S. House of Representatives next year.
It could also give Trump a boost in nearby northeastern Pennsylvania, a battleground state that has increasingly become home for New York commuters.
Trump’s campaign said the event at the 19,500-seat arena, which can cost upwards of $1 million to rent, was sold out. Tickets are free and on a first-come-first-served basis, as was the case with Harris’ Houston rally.
A crowd of some 30,000 people attended Harris’ rally with Beyonce on Friday night in Houston, and about 20,000 attended the Atlanta rally.
“My internal polling is my instinct,” Harris said to reporters in Philadelphia when asked how the campaign is faring in its internal election projections.
“The momentum is with us,” she said.
After Sunday’s neighborhood Philadelphia stops, Harris plans to visit every battleground state in coming days, including a Madison, Wisconsin, rally and concert with folk rock band Mumford & Sons and a Las Vegas event with Mexican pop band Mana.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and James Oliphant in New York and Jeff Mason in Philadelphia; Writing by Simon Lewis; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Heather Timmons, Andrea Ricci, Lisa Shumaker, Bill Berkrot and Diane Craft)