NEW YORK – Former President Donald Trump has broken political norms by visiting one of the most deep-blue areas in New York City, a town not necessarily known for its kindness to Republicans.
Trump rallied a crowd of what his campaign estimated to be 25,000 supporters at Crotona Park in the Bronx on Thursday, far more than the initial 3,500 it said were expected to attend. Those numbers appeared to also include those lined up outside the event.
“I’m here tonight to declare we are going to turn New York City around, and we are going to turn it around very, very quickly,” Trump said after taking the stage, vowing to bring back safety and better schools to the city. “We are going to make New York bigger, better and greater than ever before.”
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Former President Donald Trump holds a rally in the historical Democratic district of the South Bronx on May 23, 2024, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Trump praised the history of New York, but lamented that it was “now a city in decline.”
“I’ve never seen it quite like this,” he said, noting the violent crime taking place on subways and homeless encampments across the city.
Trump went on to rail against President Biden, saying he wasn’t “getting the job done” for the people of the Bronx, and that he was “grossly incompetent.”
“If a New Yorker can’t save this city, no one can,” Trump declared to loud cheers. “Who said we’re not going to win New York?”
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Supporters of Donald Trump try to get a glimpse of the former president at a rally in Crotona Park in the Bronx, New York City on May 23, 2024. (Fox News Digital/Michael Ruiz)
He vowed, if elected, to work with Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democrat Mayor Eric Adams to fix the city and state, including renovating the subway system, cleaning up the parks and removing the homeless and mentally ill from the streets.
Trump also used the speech to rail against the economic downturn facing the country under the Biden administration, with an emphasis on how he said it affected Black and Hispanic families the most, and repeated some of his often used lines about energy, inflation and being “weak” on the foreign stage.
Near the end of the speech, he recited Al Wilson’s song, “The Snake,” which he often uses as a metaphor to criticize uncontrolled illegal immigration.
The thousands of people gathered to see the former president were a diverse group of people, including what Fox News Digital noted were Black, Hispanic, White, Asian and Muslim supporters. A number of attendees traveled from as far as Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut.
The former president touted his visit on social media ahead of the rally, while his campaign declared he was “unafraid to bring his message to every borough of New York, to every corner of this great country, because he believes his message is a winning one.”
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Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in the South Bronx in New York City on May 23, 2024. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump was the first Republican presidential candidate to actively campaign for the general election in New York City in decades, and, should he pull off what many expect to be an impossible feat, would be the first to win the Empire State in 40 years.
Trump won less than 10% of the vote in the Bronx in his 2016 presidential election victory. His support in the Bronx edged up to 16% in his 2020 re-election defeat, with Biden winning 83.5% of the vote, but current polls suggest the former president is making more gains with Black and Hispanic voters.
Trump’s campaign thinks the former president can make a dent in Biden’s support among both demographics.
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Democrats planned a counterprotest to the massive rally, with the Bronx Democratic Party holding their own event in the same park. Fox News Digital noticed a small group of about a few hundred protesters outside the event, but police cleared them out with no massive disruption.
The event came during a brief pause in Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan. Closing arguments are expected when court resumes on Tuesday, following a break for the Memorial Day federal holiday.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.