US election campaign: “Carnival of resentment”: Trump woos voters in New York

Nine days before the presidential election in the USA, the Republican candidate Donald Trump campaigned for votes in the fight for the White House in the middle of the Democratic stronghold of New York. In the famous Madison Square Garden in the US east coast metropolis, which has almost 20,000 seats, the 78-year-old held an event on Sunday (local time) together with prominent supporters that the New York Times described as a “carnival of resentment, misogyny and racism.” titled.

Trump denigrated his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris during his speech, sparking widespread cheers. The 60-year-old is “highly incompetent” and unsuitable for the office of president, Trump said. Nobody respects her, nobody trusts her. “Everyone knows she has a low IQ.”

He also repeated a number of falsehoods about migration policy, calling the United States an “occupied country.” Election Day on November 5th will be “the day of liberation,” said Trump and announced steps against immigrants in the USA. “On day one I will launch the largest deportation program in America,” he said. “We will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in prison and expel them from our country as quickly as possible.” As before, he called the Democratic Party an “enemy within.”

Jokes about Puerto Rico in the opening act

Even before Trump’s appearance, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe caused a stir when he joked about the Latino birth rate. “These Latinos Love Making Babies”. He described the US territory of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean as a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.” In a statement that was available to several US media outlets, the Trump team later distanced itself from it: “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” it said.

Puerto Rico is a US territory, but not a state. The citizens there are not allowed to vote. However, with polls predicting a close race between Trump and Harris, Trump is also trying to win over people with roots in Latin America in his campaign. According to the Washington Post, one of the largest Puerto Rican communities in the USA lives in the important swing state of Pennsylvania.

Shortly after Hinchcliffe’s performance, Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny shared a video of Harris on his Instagram Story. In it, the vice president said Trump had abandoned the Caribbean island after two devastating hurricanes. Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin, who also have roots in Puerto Rico, also shared the video. The three singers have a combined total of more than 314 million followers on Instagram.

During his appearance, Trump was supported by prominent guests. Tech billionaire Elon Musk praised the future economic policy under Trump – with his input: “The future will be great,” he shouted to the crowd.

Previously, Trump’s wife Melania Trump, who had rarely appeared during the election campaign, announced her husband and kissed him on stage. Former wrestling star Hulk Hogan and right-wing talk show host Tucker Carlson also spoke at the event in Manhattan.

With his appearance in the largest American city, a stronghold of the Democrats, Trump obviously wanted to make a statement. That should also help some Republican legislative candidates who are hoping to win in a number of close races in the state and win a seat in the U.S. Congress after the Nov. 5 election.

Tense relationship with New York

Trump comes from the New York borough of Queens and, as the heir to a real estate company, enjoyed a brilliant rise in New York in the late 1970s and 1980s, which helped him achieve national prominence. Since the polarizing election campaign in 2016, many liberal New Yorkers have turned away from Trump and his right-wing populist politics.

Most recently, the politician, who now lives in Florida, was a frequent guest in Manhattan for court appointments, among other things. There, at the end of May, he became the first former US president to be found guilty of a crime for concealing hush money payments to a porn actress.