Donald Trump pulled off one of the most diverse rallies of his political career on Thursday when he made a pilgrimage to a New York borough that rejected him by a whopping 68 points in 2020.
Winning the state of New York is the longest shot for the former president, while achieving a victory in the Bronx is unthinkable. But the trends evident Thursday at Trump’s rally there reflected broader themes of the campaign that are making Democrats nervous heading into the fall: that a small but potentially powerful share of Black and Hispanic Americans, especially younger voters, could turn out break away from President Joe Biden and vote. for Trump or a third party or stay home.
NBC News spoke to nearly a dozen Bronx voters ahead of Trump’s speech, many of whom were not there to attend his rally or a counter-protest. While some expressed disdain for him or said they felt he was crazy, others expressed appreciation for elements of his presidency — such as the stimulus checks sent out during the Covid pandemic that bore his name — and said they saw no problem with him showing up in the Bronx.
Carolina de la Cruz, a Bronx resident who owns and operates a daycare, took some of her children through Crotona Park Thursday afternoon to help them, she said, connect with nature and engage in “tree hugging.” . She didn’t know Trump would be giving a speech in the park later that evening until she asked a police officer about the increased patrol.
No problem, she said. De la Cruz said that although she identified as a Democrat, she voted for Trump in 2020 and planned to vote for him this fall as well.
“We definitely need change,” she said, adding that her neighborhood has become more chaotic in recent years and that other friends and family members who were turned off by Trump’s language and approach now say that “we need him back.”
“They forget what he said, and they are more focused on what he did when he was in power,” she said.
In addition, some voters expressed frustration with the influx of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border, especially those being moved to New York City, where they said it was straining social services.
Roberto M., a Bronx resident who attended Trump’s rally after work and declined to give his full name, described himself as a moderate and said he was looking ahead to the fall with an open mind and wanted to hear what Trump has to say had to say. He said he voted for Biden in 2020.
“A lot of people are considering giving him a chance,” he said, adding, “I’m all for social justice and people coming here to improve their lives. But I feel like there’s a lack of control in this administration over the influx of individuals coming here, especially in New York where we’re seeing a lot of cuts as we try to accommodate some people to get services.
The rally was a rare midweek campaign event for Trump as he has been in court four days a week in Manhattan for his criminal trial, which is wrapping up. A ruling could come as soon as next week.
The South Bronx rally was designed as an effort to reach minority voters, and the crowd was far more diverse than those at traditional Trump events. However, like other Trump rallies, many of the attendees were not from the area where the event took place.
During an event that lasted more than an hour, Trump spoke at length about his business career in New York, lambasted Biden’s economic and immigration policies and painted the city, his longtime home, as an apocalyptic dystopia that only he can save.
“As soon as I get back to the Oval Office, I’m going to pick up the phone, I’m going to call your mayor and your governor, and I’m going to say, ‘This is President Trump, and I want to come back and help,” he said, adding that he would make the people of New York “very, very happy.”
At several points, cries of “build the wall” and “send them back” broke out as Trump discussed immigration, including when he said Black and Hispanic Americans faced the greatest negative impact from the arrival of undocumented immigrants.
His promises include taking back “our parks” and renovating the entire New York City subway system – promising to “make it beautiful again.”
Many members of New York’s Orthodox Jewish community, one of the city’s more Trump-friendly demographics, were in attendance Thursday. As some Jewish attendees began chanting for the return of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, Trump said: “Many of the hostages that you are waiting for, and that everyone is waiting for, are dead. And it is a terrible thing.”
After repeating the falsehood that the 2020 election was rigged against him and that the war between Israel and Hamas would not have happened otherwise, Trump appeared to call on some of the blackmailers to take down the situation.
“OK, that’s enough. I know you’re on our side. But it’s enough,” he said, adding: “It’s a difficult situation.”
He then launched into a long monologue about how to achieve personal success.
Earlier, a series of warm-up speakers introduced Trump, including Ruben Diaz Sr., a conservative Democratic former city councilman and former senator, who said, “Donald Trump is welcome here in the Bronx.”
Democrats and Trump’s critics were quick to push back against the Bronx rally, with the Biden campaign even pre-empting it by releasing two ads aimed at “challenging Trump’s baseless claims about his achievements for the black community” that take place in battleground scenes. The ads point to past anti-Black rhetoric and Trump’s efforts to lead the so-called “birther” movement against former President Barack Obama, among other things.
In a statement, Janiyah Thomas, the Trump campaign’s director of Black media, said the effort was “yet another cheap attempt by the Biden campaign to highlight Black voters” who are “failing to address the terrible policies Biden’s actions that are harming our community.”
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. tweeted Ritchie Torres, who represents the district in Congress, said the event “may be happening IN the South Bronx, but not FROM the South Bronx. To put it bluntly, the Trump transplants are much whiter than the local population of the South Bronx, which is almost entirely Latino and Black.
The Rev. Kirsten John Foy, president and CEO of The Arc of Justice, said while participating in a counter-protest outside the rally that the idea of Trump making inroads into communities of color was “a false narrative.”
“They point to polls with questionable methodology,” Foy said. “They say Trump is increasing his support among blacks and among Latinos, and we just don’t see evidence of that on the ground. In fact, the people who came by wanted to know why we were here, and we told them why, and they decided to stay and join us, because no one who is authentically from the Bronx is willing to co-sign hate and hate. xenophobia and misogyny and all the things this man stands for.”
However, Tim Rios, a Bronx resident who walked through Crotona Park hours before Trump’s speech, said he had no problem with Trump coming to address his community.
“I don’t think he was that bad of a president,” Rios said, pointing to the stimulus payments made under Trump while adding that some of the concerns people had about him were overhyped. “Biden is here now, and what’s going on? Nothing else.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
