Attendees at Trump’s Bronx rally talk about his key issues for 2024
Attendees at former President Trump’s rally in New York City on Thursday came from diverse backgrounds, but many said they had the same two questions on their minds when choosing between the former president and President Biden.
CROTONA PARK, New York – Attendees at former President Trump’s rally in the South Bronx on Thursday came from diverse backgrounds, but many said they had the same two questions in mind when choosing a 2024 candidate.
The economy and illegal immigration.
In a sea of red hats, American flags and pro-Trump signs, supporters of all stripes said they came for very similar reasons.
Tyrone, of the Bronx, said the 2024 election is an opportunity “for us to take back our country.”
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Former President Trump, center, during a campaign event in Crotona Park in the Bronx, New York, on May 23, 2024. (Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“I’m proud to see that people are waking up and seeing that we need this change for this country,” he said.
He said illegal immigration was his main concern, compounded by taxpayer money the government spends on housing and aiding immigrants.
“Do it the right way so we know who’s who and we know we’re not going to let them [in] Murderers, rapists… ex-convicts from different countries,” he said.
Illegal immigration has skyrocketed during the Biden administration. Foreign spending continues as Americans suffer the effects of inflation at home. And President Biden’s handling of these issues has voters in traditionally blue New York taking Trump more seriously this election season.
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Supporters of Donald Trump try to catch a glimpse of the former president at a rally in Crotona Park in the Bronx, New York, on May 23, 2024. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
“I think there’s a wave of people changing their minds about him, especially in the black community, that I know of,” said Marilyn Miller, a former New York police officer who attended the rally from Queens. “They don’t like the policies that Joe Biden has subjected us to: inflation, the situation of immigrants.”
Democrats have established multiple migrant shelters in his neighborhood, he said.
“We need borders,” he said. “Every country has a border, and in the United States of America, he just lets everyone cross the border. Now I have them in my neighborhood and they are committing crimes.”
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People gather for an election rally for former President Trump in Crotona Park in the South Bronx on May 23, 2024, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
KT, an Orange County resident, drove an hour from the Hudson Valley to get to the rally, but said his family is from the Bronx.
“In terms of where we are now versus where we were, it’s like night and day,” he said.
He said he hopes a Trump victory will reduce inflation. Later, the 45th president joked to the crowd: Bacon had become so expensive that he stopped eating it.
Crystal, from Queens, wore a Trump sign as a cape, but said she had never been involved in politics before until Biden took office.
“Look around you,” he said. “It’s clear and obvious that people are taking it a lot more seriously right now, and New York is going to turn red.”
Trump supporters raise their phones as the former president takes the stage in Crotona Park in the Bronx on Thursday, May 23, 2024. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
For her, who lives thousands of miles from the Mexican border, the effects of rampant illegal immigration are seen all around her, she said.
“Close that damn border now, not now, but right now, like yesterday,” he said. “All the effects of the border are around us.”
The rally, in Crotona Park in the Bronx, traditionally a Democratic stronghold, drew people from New York and surrounding states. Trump is the first Republican to make a campaign stop in the city in decades. And if he makes good on his promise to win his former home state, he would be the first Republican candidate to do so since the 1980s.
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He only garnered single-digit support in the county in 2016, but made significant improvement in 2020, and polls suggest he continues to make gains among Black and Hispanic voters.
