Trump was introduced by an extensive lineup of MAGA celebrities, including RFK Jr., J. D. Vance, and Tucker Carlson.
Manhattan — Former president Donald Trump and a star-studded roster of campaign surrogates rallied at Madison Square Garden on Sunday in front of a raucous crowd that packed the world’s most famous arena and clogged the surrounding city blocks.
Trump finally took the stage hours into an all-day event that looked more like this summer’s Republican National Convention than a typical campaign rally. The arena was surrounded by tens of thousands of MAGA faithful that snarled traffic for blocks in every direction.
Former first lady Melania Trump made a rare campaign appearance to briefly introduce her husband, following newly anointed MAGA celebrities such as Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“I’d like to begin by asking a very simple question. Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” Trump began, borrowing Ronald Reagan’s famous phrase. “I will end inflation. I will stop the invasion of criminals coming into our country, and I will bring back the American dream.”
“Kamala, you’re fired,” Trump proclaimed.
Trump was cheered by a diverse group of supporters who traveled from near and far to experience what could very well be the last major Trump campaign rally ever.
“The black community in Harlem, we’re all voting for Trump. It’s just the gentrifiers, the hipsters, and the transgenders that are rocking with Kamala,” said a black man who came to the rally from his home in Harlem.
A black woman from Bronxville, N.Y., in nearby Westchester County, expressed similar sentiments, telling NR that black men and black women in her community are all in for Trump.
“Every black person from the Caribbean in my company is voting for Trump — 99.9 percent. That was not the case four years ago,” she said.
Promising a “new golden age,” Trump blamed Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden for destroying the country and painted a dark picture of America under the Biden administration. He contrasted the inflation of Biden’s term with the economic performance of the Trump years.
Trump reiterated his promises not to tax tips, overtime pay, or social-security payments. He announced a new policy — a tax break for caregivers who are aiding loved ones — and vowed to provide interest-free car loans. Additionally, Trump laid out his “eye for an eye” retaliatory tariff plan.
Trump spoke at length about the crimes committed by illegal immigrants and highlighted the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua before playing a video montage of news stories about illegal immigrants suspected of murdering Americans.
“On Day One I will launch the largest deportation program in American history,” Trump pledged. “I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered. And we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail,” Trump added. He also called for enacting the death penalty for migrants who kill American citizens or law-enforcement personnel.
Praising his surrogates, Trump assured the crowd that Kennedy would be allowed to “run wild” on health care but not the “liquid gold” underground, a reference to oil.
“I’m gonna let him go wild on health, I’m gonna let him go wild on foods, I’m gonna let him go wild on the medicines,” Trump said.
Trump was preceded on stage by a list of speakers that included his family members, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.), former Democratic representative turned GOP activist Tulsi Gabbard, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani (R.), former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, and his running mate J. D. Vance.
“I’m not just MAGA. I’m dark, gothic MAGA,” Musk began, sporting a dark hat with Trump’s signature slogan.
“We’re going to get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook,” Musk asserted. He promoted his idea of a government-efficiency commission to root out waste and urged the crowd to get friends and family members to vote early.
Vance, for his part, put Trump in the same class as legends such as Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali, who have shined at the Garden throughout its storied history.
“And now, on the eve of the most important election in our history, the most important champion of them all, Donald J. Trump, has come to Madison Square Garden!” Vance said.
The Madison Square Garden rally is a landmark moment for Trump’s political career as the Republican presidential nominee for three straight cycles. A native son of Queens, Trump spent much of his life in the Big Apple expanding his family’s business empire and becoming a fixture of New York’s elite social scene.
Before he became a politician, most city natives and attentive tourists would have recognized Trump’s name from his his Celebrity Apprentice fame. If not, they may have noticed Trump’s name adorned on his Midtown properties and Central Park’s famous Wollman Rink, a fixture of the city’s majestic winters.
New York’s relationship with Trump fundamentally changed, however, when he went down the Trump Tower escalator nine years ago and launched his 2016 GOP primary campaign.
In May, Trump was convicted by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg (D.) of 34 felony charges for falsifying business records. Judge Juan Merchan will be sentencing Trump soon after the presidential election for the business-records offenses.
Like Trump, New York City mayor Eric Adams (D.) is being prosecuted on criminal charges including bribery for an alleged kickback scheme involving the Turkish government. Trump defended Adams during his speech and claimed that he was another victim of the Biden administration’s weaponized Justice Department.
Although New York City is overwhelmingly Democratic, the enthusiastic crowds and flurry of clips from the rally could make the event politically beneficial for Trump, especially as nearby Republican candidates fight to win toss-up congressional races.
“You know what I love? That all these young people got their heads screwed on straight. It gives me hope for the country,” an older New Yorker told National Review in the security line.
One of those excited young attendees is an Orthodox Jewish Gen-Zer from Brooklyn whose community began backing Trump after Hamas’s October 7 mass slaughter of Israeli civilians. His family has supported Trump since 2016, and he noticed plenty of “Jews for Trump” chants in the vicinity.
An Ohio woman who had been to four Trump rallies, and her husband who had been to five, lamented to National Review the recent case of a neighboring Ohio town that was overwhelmed by a few thousand migrants.
Lockland, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, has received 3,000 migrants from Mauritania, a country in Northwest Africa. The migrants have practically doubled the small town’s population over the past few months and strained the town’s resources.
In a rally full of prominent speakers, the most controversial was comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who delivered a typically off-color joke about Puerto Ricans during his afternoon speech.
“There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” Hinchliffe said.
Clips of Hinchcliffe’s joke were widely shared among people who appeared to not be familiar with his comedy. Hinchcliffe is best known for his association with comedian Joe Rogan, the world’s most popular podcaster, who interviewed Trump on Thursday for more than three hours.
“These people have no sense of humor. Wild that a vice presidential candidate would take time out of his ‘busy schedule’ to analyze a joke taken out of context to make it seem racist. I love Puerto Rico and vacation there. I made fun of everyone…watch the whole set. I’m a comedian Tim…might be time to change your tampon,” Hinchcliffe wrote on X, responding to criticism from Tim Walz.
He was not the only speaker to venture into vulgar and crass territory early on. Trump’s childhood friend David Rem called Harris the “anti-Christ,” and scientologist Grant Cardone claimed that Harris’s “pimp handlers” are trying to destroy America.