Former President Donald Trump took aim at President Joe Biden over a range of issues while vowing to turn New York City around “very quickly” at a rally in the South Bronx on Thursday.
President Trump made the comments in front of a crowd of what appeared to be thousands of supporters in one of the most Democratic counties in the nation.
His appearance at Crotona Park, which comes as he is on trial in New York, marked his first large-scale campaign in the state since 2016, when he held two events at the Times Union Center in Albany and another in Buffalo.
President Trump used the rally to criticize his Democratic rival and his immigration policies amid the ongoing crisis at the southern border, telling the crowd of attendees that his rival was failing to “get the job done” for those living in the Bronx.
He also described his rival as “grossly incompetent.”
President Trump said that under President Biden’s watch, impoverished communities and minorities have been hit the hardest. He said President Biden’s policies have seen inflation, crime, and illegal immigration rise.
“African Americans are getting slaughtered, Hispanic Americans are getting slaughtered,” President Trump said. “These millions and millions of people that are coming into our country — the biggest impact and the biggest negative impact is against our black population and our Hispanic population who are losing their jobs, losing their housing, losing everything they can lose.”
‘MAGAnomics‘
The presumptive Republican nominee won loud applause when he promised to “throw out” Biden’s economic policies on “Day One” and “replace it with MAGAnomics.”
“The minute Joe Biden shuffles out the door, I will rapidly rebuild the greatest economy in the history of the world,” he added.
President Trump also used the rally to share his plans for the city — which is home to some of his sprawling business empire.
The former U.S. leader, likewise, vowed to bolster public safety and access to education, among other things.
“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,” President Trump said moments after taking the stage.
“We’re going to bring safety back to our streets, we’re going to bring success back to our schools, we’re going to bring prosperity back to every neighborhood in every borough of the greatest city in our land.”
President Trump also vowed to reduce taxes while simultaneously bringing business and “big taxpayers” back to New York.
“We are going to make New York bigger, better, and more beautiful than ever before, and that includes right here in the Bronx,” he declared to a cheering crowd.
The real estate mogul added that the overhaul of New York would be funded by “our great and beautiful White House” as soon as he takes office if he were to win in the Nov. 5 presidential elections.
President Trump also spoke of how the city was close to his heart while praising New Yorkers, who he said had built the city into “the towering forests of iron, aluminum, concrete, and steel.”
NYC — ‘Capital of global commerce’
“We made the city and state into the capital of global commerce, we turned our hometown into the bustling center of a confident, glamorous American culture, and we inspired the entire world, we inspired the world,” he said. “But sadly, this is now a city in decline.”
The businessman also used Thursday’s rally to highlight the ongoing homelessness and drug crisis plaguing the city while taking aim at what he said were “mobs of migrants fighting our police officers and giving America the middle finger.”
“Throughout my life, I’ve seen New York through good times and bad times, through boom times and crime waves, through market crashes and terrorist attacks, but I’ve never seen it quite like this,” President Trump said.
President Trump’s rally in the Bronx neighborhood comes amid a brief pause in his criminal trial in Manhattan, with the jury set to begin deliberations on whether or not to convict him of felony charges next week.
The former U.S. leader has been charged in connection to a $130,000 payment from his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to Stephanie Clifford, better known as adult entertainment actress Stormy Daniels, during his 2016 campaign.
He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
The Epoch Times has contacted the White House for comment.
