The Republican magnate Donald Trump held an unusual rally this Thursday (05/23/2024) in the Bronx, New York, a Democratic fiefdom where he was received by hundreds of people whom he ignited with his usual campaign themes, especially immigration.
The 77-year-old former president held an hour and a half rally in Crotona Park before some 3,500 followers of great diversity in race and age who showed him fervent support, while an imposing police deployment separated the anti-Trump protesters.
In a district in which more than half of the population is Hispanic and more than a quarter black, the Republican candidate for the next presidential elections argued that “millions” of immigrants are leaving their countries’ prisons empty, entering the United States illegally. and committing “migrant crimes.”
Amid cries of “Send them back” and “Build the wall,” Trump promised “the largest criminal deportation in history” and even suggested that immigrants “are creating an army from within” because ” They usually have good physique, between 19-25 years old, almost all of them are men, and they are of fighting age.”
His first appearance in the Bronx since 2016
For his first rally in New York since 2016, the politician chose some of the most shocking anecdotes, such as the “attack by a migrant gang on police officers” in Times Square or the use of a school as a migrant shelter in Brooklyn, and recovered from his previous campaign a metaphorical story about a snake (the emigrant) rescued from the street by a woman whom the animal then betrays and bites.
In response to Trump’s unusual overnight visit to New York due to the high-profile criminal trial he faces, Democratic state representative Amanda Séptimo, who represents the South Bronx, said they were “accustomed to opportunists of all kinds who come to our community and use our painful history”.
“They talk about the Bronx and everything that is wrong, but they never get to the part that talks about what they are going to do for the Bronx and we know that Trump is never going to get to that part in his speech,” said Séptimo.
The Republic rally comes during a break in the criminal trial that will resume after Memorial Day weekend with closing arguments. The jury will then decide whether Trump will become the first former president in the nation’s history to be criminally convicted and whether he will be the first major party candidate to run for president as a convicted felon.
The Bronx has been the most Democratic district in New York City. Barack Obama won 91.2% of the vote here in 2012, the highest percentage in the state. Biden won 83.5% of the district in 2020. Trump then received only 16% of the vote.
jc (efe, ap)
