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NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden, billed as a triumphant homecoming, turned into a political fiasco on Sunday night as a pro-Trump comedian’s racist diatribe drew furious condemnation, including from prominent Republicans.
The rally, held just more than a week before Election Day, was intended to serve as a platform for Trump to make his closing argument. But the racist slurs and vulgarity of the former president’s opening acts were so striking — and sparked such backlash — that his campaign was left on the defensive and issued a disavowal.
The event began with comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, host of the “Kill Tony” podcast, who opened the rally with a set replete with slurs about Latinos, African Americans and other groups that Trump’s campaign is actively targeting to turn out for the former president.
Latinos “love making babies. There’s no pulling out. They come inside, just like they do to our country,” Hinchcliffe said to laughter inside the arena. He added: “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
His racist remarks drew swift rebuke from across the political spectrum, including from a pair of prominent congressional Republicans from Florida and New York. GOP Rep. María Elvira Salazar wrote on X that she was “disgusted” by his “racist” rhetoric that “does not reflect GOP values.” Sen. Rick Scott denounced the “joke” as “not funny” and “not true.” And Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.) said on social media that “the only thing that’s ‘garbage’ was a bad comedy set.”
David Urban, a Republican strategist and Trump ally who is close to the campaign, posted to X, “I understand that his K*ll Tony podcast is wildly popular, but I thought he was unfunny and unfortunately offended many of our friends from Puerto Rico. #TrumpLovesPR.”
Democrats moved quickly to denounce the derogatory remarks — and to split screen them with Vice President Kamala Harris, who had spent the day courting Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania and who had cut a video blasting Trump for withholding hurricane relief to the island even before his allies began their disparaging its inhabitants. Puerto Rican music superstars Ricky Martin and Bad Bunny reposted the video, which also included mention of her plan to boost economic opportunities for Puerto Rico, on Instagram to their combined tens of millions of followers.
Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser to Trump’s campaign, said in a statement that Hinchcliffe’s “joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”
But his derogatory comments and the slew of offensive remarks offered up by the pillars of Trump’s political movement throughout the hours-long program quickly overshadowed the spectacle of the event that drew thousands of MAGA faithful to the heart of Manhattan and was designed to serve as a capstone to the former president’s two-year attempt at a political comeback.
Trump supporter David Rem called Harris the “anti-Christ.” Businessman Grant Cardone claimed Harris has “pimp handlers.” Radio host Sid Rosenberg called Hillary Clinton, Trump’s 2016 rival and a former secretary of state, a “sick son of a bitch” and cast Democrats more broadly as “Jew-haters and lowlives.”
A Trump adviser said the speakers’ remarks weren’t vetted by the campaign.
In his own speech, Trump reprised some of his harshest remarks about immigration, with his calls to weed out “the enemy from within.”
Trump, who has demonized migrants, called for the death penalty for “any migrant who kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer,” and at one point stopped to show a video about Venezuelan migrants and gang activity in New York.
The crowd responded by chanting: “Send them back.”
The former president was introduced by his wife, Melania Trump, and started his speech by asking the audience, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” The crowd yelled back, “No.”
For years, Trump has wanted to hold a rally at Madison Square Garden in the heart of Manhattan. Trump’s campaign billed the event as the kick off to his closing argument and the event’s pre-program was stacked with MAGA stars and billionaires ranging from Elon Musk and former Fox News star Tucker Carlson to former pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan.
“Usually when I’m at Madison Square Garden I’m body-slamming giants,” said Hogan, who also spoke at the Republican National Convention. “The energy in here is something like I’ve never felt.”
“This is Donald Trump’s house, brother,” Hogan said. “You know something Trumpmaniacs, I don’t see no stinking Nazis in here,” he said, referring to the infamous 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden.
Longtime adviser Dan Scavino recounted being in the hospital room with Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, after the July assassination attempt and showing the former president an “iconic” photo of him pumping his fist to the sky by New York Times photographer Doug Mills. Scavino appeared emotional as he said Trump’s first instinct was to ask about how the photographer was doing.
“You’ve got a fighter behind the scenes and out in public,” Scavino said. “Get out and vote, and fight, fight, fight!”
Two former Democrats, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., attacked their old party and Republicans who are supporting Kamala Harris.
The Harris campaign has been aggressively courting moderate Republicans. Gabbard received cheers when she declared that a vote for Harris is a vote for Dick Cheney, the former Republican vice president who endorsed the current vice president.
Even though New York is not a battleground state, the Trump campaign leaned into the Manhattan setting knowing that it would attract massive media attention and could give a boost to down-ballot Republicans. A singer crooned “New York, New York,” as Trump and his wife stood on stage at the end of his speech.
The crowd also gave a standing ovation to Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor who lost his law license and was ordered by a New York judge this week to hand over some of his assets, including a $5 million Manhattan apartment and a signed Joe DiMaggio jersey, to two Georgia poll workers who won a defamation suit against him.
“President Trump grew up here — he’s a New Yorker. That’s why some people get annoyed with him: He speaks his mind,” said Giuliani.
Madison Square Garden, called “the World’s Most Famous Arena,” can hold 19,500 people. The Trump campaign said the event was sold out and every section of the arena was full.
Thousands of Trump supporters lined up overnight on the streets of New York to get a glimpse of the former president.
Tom Hilbert, 23, from Long Island, said he arrived at the arena at 2 a.m. He bore the cold without a jacket because it was his last chance to see Trump before the election.
“The country is going down the shitter,” he said. “We are on the brink of world war three, geopolitical tensions are getting higher and if Kamala gets elected we are screwed because everyone is going to think we are a joke.”
The Trump campaign turned the event into a fundraiser, and top donors were given backstage access or were given special skybox seating. The top tier “Ultra MAGA experience” was priced at $924,600 — the maximum an individual can donate to the former president’s joint fundraising committee by law — according to an invitation from the campaign.
And the president’s New Jersey golf club offered charter bus transportation and “private luxury suites” at the rally, according to an invitation that was sent to club members.
