(Fox News) Former President 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 – who waited hours for a shot at getting inside even after the event began.
“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.”
Former President 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?”
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. Many said they were from the Bronx, Brooklyn or Queens.
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.”
