Trump Takes Election Pitch to Storied New York Arena

Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in State College, Pennsylvania, US October 26, 2024. (Reuters)
Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in State College, Pennsylvania, US October 26, 2024. (Reuters)
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Trump Takes Election Pitch to Storied New York Arena

Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in State College, Pennsylvania, US October 26, 2024. (Reuters)
Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in State College, Pennsylvania, US October 26, 2024. (Reuters)

Donald Trump rallies supporters Sunday at an iconic New York arena while Kamala Harris goes neighborhood to neighborhood in Philadelphia just over a week before America votes in an extraordinarily close White House race.

Trump's gathering at the nearly 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden is expected to draw a blitz of coverage in the Republican's home metropolis, which is still very much a Democratic stronghold.

Both candidates are making closing pitches to voters in one of America's most divisive and suspense-filled electoral fights, with polls suggesting a dead heat ahead of the November 5 vote.

Harris, 60, has planned a packed day of campaigning in the biggest city in must-win Pennsylvania, including stops at a Black church and barbershop as well as a Puerto Rican restaurant.

A senior Harris campaign official said Sunday's visit will be the vice president's 14th trip to Pennsylvania since she jumped to the top of the ticket after President Joe Biden's shock withdrawal in July.

Harris will go before supporters to make what her campaign called her "closing argument" on Tuesday in Washington at the park where Trump rallied supporters before the January 6 riot.

Trump's rally Sunday at a venue dubbed "The World's Most Famous Arena" is set to include backers and surrogates like billionaire Elon Musk, who has personally hit the campaign trail for the ex-president.

It is a storied arena in US sporting and cultural life that has hosted the Rolling Stones, Madonna and U2 plus several Democratic and Republican presidential conventions over the decades.

However, the venue's association with the far-right, pro-Hitler Bund group that hosted a rally in 1939, complete with eagles, Nazi insignia and salutes, will generate darker headlines.

Trump appears at Madison Square Garden just days after one of his top former officials, John Kelly, said the Republican fits the definition of a fascist -- something Harris later said she agreed with.

- 'Genuine fear' of Trump win -

The latest high wattage surrogate for Harris, former first lady Michelle Obama, aired her "genuine fear" on Saturday that Trump could retake the White House.

She said Harris would be an "extraordinary president," but Obama also spoke of a sense of frustration and anxiety that few on the vice president's team dare express after she lost some momentum in recent weeks.

"My hope about Kamala is also accompanied by some genuine fear," Obama said, ripping into Trump's record and asking, "Why is this race even close?"

With more than 40 million people already casting early ballots, Americans are deciding between electing the country's first-ever woman president or the oldest major candidate ever.

Trump, 78, still refuses to accept his defeat in the vote four years ago and is expected to reject the result if he loses again -- potentially pitching the United States into chaos.

Trump swept Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania -- three usually Democratic states -- in his shock victory in 2016 only to see Biden reclaim them four years later.

He hopes to claw back one or more of the trio, and win the so-called Sun Belt swing states in the country's south to propel him back into power.



Trump’s New York Rally Attacks Harris, Draws Criticism

Former US First Lady Melania Trump applauds her husband former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after he spoke at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, October 27, 2024. (AFP)
Former US First Lady Melania Trump applauds her husband former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after he spoke at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, October 27, 2024. (AFP)
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Trump’s New York Rally Attacks Harris, Draws Criticism

Former US First Lady Melania Trump applauds her husband former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after he spoke at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, October 27, 2024. (AFP)
Former US First Lady Melania Trump applauds her husband former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after he spoke at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, October 27, 2024. (AFP)

Republican Donald Trump led a headline-grabbing New York rally on Sunday with nonstop attacks on Kamala Harris, but Democrats sought to capitalize on crude insults from some of his allies' opening speeches.

Trump took to the stage at the iconic 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden arena to deliver a closing message in the exceedingly tight race for the White House that reaches its apogee on November 5.

"You've destroyed our country. We're not going to take it anymore, Kamala," the 78-year-old told roaring supporters wearing trademark red "Make America Great Again" hats.

Several speakers drew cheers with their own barbs against Harris as well as Puerto Rico and Latinos at the rally in the Democratic stronghold city.

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe took aim at birthrates among Latinos and called the Caribbean US territory Puerto Rico "a floating island of garbage".

- 'Not a punchline' -

Harris, 60, seized on the attacks as she competes with the ex-president to win over Puerto Rican communities in the tight battleground states expected to decide the election.

"Puerto Ricans deserve a president who sees and invests in (their) strength," Harris said in a clip published on social media alongside Hinchcliffe's comments.

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat, noted the state is home to almost half a million Puerto Ricans and nearly three quarters are able to vote.

Ricky Martin, the Puerto Rican superstar with 18.6 million followers on Instagram, quickly shared a video of Harris's appeal to Puerto Rican voters, along with a clip of Hinchcliffe's remarks.

"This is what they think of us," Martin wrote in Spanish. "Vote for @kamalaharris."

Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny also showed support for the vice president by sharing one of her videos to his 45.6 million followers on Instagram.

Trump's rally at "The World's Most Famous Arena" included a surprise appearance by his wife Melania and backers such as billionaire Elon Musk, who has personally hit the campaign trail for the ex-president.

However, the venue also hosted a far-right, pro-Hitler rally in 1939, complete with eagles, Nazi insignia and salutes -- an association that has generated darker headlines.

Professional wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, who also spoke at the Republican convention in July, rejected criticisms of the rally: "I don't see any Nazis in here."

- Harris 'boots on ground' -

Other speeches also drew concern and criticism, including from Stephen Miller, one of Trump's most hard-right advisors.

"America is for Americans and Americans only," he shouted into the microphone, after pledging a crackdown on cartels and "criminal migrants".

While former Fox News host Tucker Carlson took a mocking shot at Harris's background, calling her "a Samoan Malaysian low I.Q. former California prosecutor".

Harris, meanwhile, charged through a packed day of campaigning in must-win Pennsylvania's largest city, including stops at a Black church, a barbershop and a Puerto Rican restaurant.

With barely a week to go, she was leaving nothing to chance in Philadelphia, where she must run up her vote tally to win the battleground state.

"We must not wake up the day after the election and have any regrets," she told a rally in Philadelphia.

Sunday's visit was the vice president's 14th trip to Pennsylvania since she jumped to the top of the ticket after President Joe Biden's shock withdrawal in July.

"This is the closest and the best opportunity we have to have a female in office who happens to be a Black female," Myrda Scott, from Philadelphia, told AFP at one of Harris's rallies in the city.

Harris rolled up to Philly Cuts barber shop in the largely Black neighborhood of West Philadelphia to meet residents, before ducking into the African-American-themed Hakim's Bookstore & Gift Shop.

"She's boots to the ground," 43-year-old African-American woman Myrda Scott, who runs a financial firm, told AFP as she awaited Harris at a youth basketball rec center rally.

On Tuesday, Harris will hold a major rally in Washington near the White House in the park where Trump fired up his supporters before they stormed the US Capitol to try to overturn the 2020 election result.