Trump Bronx rally attendees discuss key issues for 2024
People from a variety of backgrounds attended former President Trump’s rally in New York City on Thursday, but many of them said the same two issues were most important to them when deciding between the former president and President Biden.
Crotona Park, New York – People from all backgrounds attended former President Trump’s rally in the South Bronx on Thursday, but many of them said the same two issues were top of mind when choosing a candidate for the 2024 presidential election.
The economy and illegal immigration.
Amid an abundance of red hats, American flags and pro-Trump banners, supporters across the board said they came for very similar reasons.
Tyrone, a Bronx native, said the 2024 election is “our chance to take our country back.”
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Former President Trump (center) during a campaign event at Crotona Park in the Bronx, New York, on May 23, 2024. (Bing Guang/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“I’m proud that people are waking up and starting to realize that we need this change in this country,” he said.
He said illegal immigration was his biggest concern, a situation made worse by tax money the government spends on housing and helping immigrants.
“If you do it the right way, you know who is who, [in] “Murderers, rapists, ex-convicts from different countries,” he said.
Under Biden, illegal immigration has soared, Americans have struggled with inflation at home while spending abroad continues, and Biden’s handling of those issues has led voters in traditionally Democratic New York to take Trump more seriously this election season.
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Supporters of Donald Trump try to catch a glimpse of the former president during a rally in Crotona Park in the Bronx, New York City, on May 23, 2024. (Michael Lewis/Fox News Digital)
“I think there’s a wave of people changing their minds about him, especially in the black community that I know,” said Marilyn Miller, a former NYPD officer who traveled from Queens to the rally. “They don’t like the policies that Joe Biden has pushed through, the inflation, the immigration issues.”
Democrats have set up multiple migrant shelters in her neighborhood, she said.
“We need borders,” she said. “Every country has borders, and in the United States, we allow anyone to come across our borders. Right now, they’re in my neighborhood, committing crimes.”
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Crowds gather at a campaign rally for former President Trump at Crotona Park in the South Bronx, New York City, on May 23, 2024. (Spencer Pratt/Getty Images)
KT, an Orange County resident, drove an hour from the Hudson Valley to attend the rally, but said his family is from the Bronx.
“When you compare where we are now to where we were before, it’s like night and day,” he said.
He said he hoped a Trump victory would bring down inflation. The 45th president then joked with the audience that he had stopped eating bacon because it had become so expensive.
Crystal, a Queens native, wore a Trump flag as a cape but said she had never been involved in politics before Biden became president.
“Look around,” she said, “it’s clear that people are taking him a lot more seriously now, and New York is going to be red hot.”
Trump supporters hold up their cellphones as former President Trump takes to the stage at Crotona Park in the Bronx, Thursday, May 23, 2024. (Michael Lewis/Fox News Digital)
Living thousands of miles from the Mexican border, she said the effects of unchecked illegal immigration are visible everywhere.
“Close that damn border now. Not now, but right now, like yesterday,” she said. “The impact of the border is all around us.”
At the rally in the Bronx’s Crotona Park, traditionally a Democratic stronghold, which drew crowds from New York and surrounding states, Trump became the first Republican to campaign in the city in decades and, if he follows through on a pledge to win his former home state, would be the first Republican candidate to win since the 1980s.
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After earning only single-digit support in the district in 2016, he improved significantly in 2020, and polls show he continues to gain support among black and Hispanic voters.
