Althea Legaspi
ROLLING STONE
Sun 27 October 2024
Donald Trump looked to go big in the final full week until Election Day with a rally at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, which gave him a large venue (capacity: 19,500) to attract not just a big crowd, but national attention when seven battleground states are in play. During his speech, he drove home his closing arguments in the race to the finish line with his oft-repeated unfounded claims, including that the U.S. is an “occupied country” due to alleged migrants taking over, and he railed on transgender people playing sports.
He also invoked his baseless “enemy from within” claims against the Democrats as well as the press.
Trump made the claim after rambling on about President Joe Biden not being smart and saying his Democratic opponent in the election Vice President Kamala Harris “means nothing,” adding that “She’s purely a vessel. That’s all she is.” He inexplicably said, “she’s becoming more MAGA than those politicians I told you about,” though it’s unclear to whom he was referring.
“We need very smart people. We’re running against something far bigger than Joe or Kamala and far more powerful than them, which is a massive, vicious, crooked, radical left machine that runs today’s Democrat Party. They’re just vessels,” he said. “In fact, they’re perfect vessels, because they’ll never give them a hard time. They’ll do whatever they want.”
“I know many of them. It’s just this amorphous group of people, but they’re smart and they’re vicious, and we have to defeat them,” he continued. “And when I say the enemy from within, the other side goes crazy, becomes a salvo — ‘Oh, how can he say’… No, they’ve done very bad things to this country. They are indeed the enemy from within. But this is who we’re fighting. These are the people who are doing such harm to our country with their open border policies, record-setting inflation, green new scam, and everything else that they’re doing. But we’re not going to let it happen any longer.”
In a conversation with CNN‘s Jake Tapper on Sunday morning before the rally, Trump’s VP running mate J.D. Vance denied that Trump’s “enemy within” rhetoric was referring to the Democratic Party. “He did not say that, Jake,” Vance responded when Tapper asked about Trump’s words. “He said that he was going to send the military after the American people? Show me the quote where he said that.” (During a Fox News town hall earlier this month, Trump specifically pledged to use either the National Guard or the military against “the enemy within,” whom he described as “radical left lunatics.”)
The Democratic Party is not the only “enemy” for Trump. As he’s said many times previously, he also places the press in that camp — a profession whose freedom is protected by the Constitution’s First Amendment, in case Trump needs reminding. While in the midst of calling Harris a liar, saying she lied about working at McDonald’s, without any evidence, and claiming she’s said he doesn’t want fracking, without evidence, he went after the press.
“One thing I have been — even the enemy, because they are the enemy — what they’ve said, even that enemy too, and they’re really the enemy. They’re the enemy of the people, the press, they said one thing about me that I consider a great compliment,” he said. “They said this guy is the most consistent person we’ve ever seen, because I’ve been against cars and car factories being taken out of Detroit and being taken out of our manufacturing, of automobiles being taken out of our system, out of our country for years.”
These are far from the first times he’s appeared eager to shut down democracy in pursuit of his openly authoritarian vows and his extreme policy agenda. Among the many examples, on Thursday in Las Vegas, he used similiar “enemy of the people” talk, saying of the media: “they sort of have a death wish.” Following an assassination attempt on him in July, his allies tried to bully Democrats and the media to stop discussing his fascist rhetoric. He’s also recently proposed a fascist plan to deploy military forces against U.S. citizens who oppose him on Election Day, just to name a few. Earlier this week, even his former Chief of Staff John Kelly said the former president fit “into the general definition of fascist.”
Trump’s MSG appearance on Sunday made sense for a man who appears to have dictator ambitions and seems to view himself as some sort of rock star, seeking to be adored by fans, drawing large crowds, and appearing to feed off enthusiasm from attendees, performing better when he gets that. Unfortunately for him, when it comes to the music realm, several rock stars have not felt a mutual kinship with him, sending cease-and-desist letters for him using their music without their approval. Still, he drew the likes of Dr. Phil, Hulk Hogan, and other celebrities to tout him before he took the stage.
The appearance was in the former president and GOP presidential nominee’s hometown, a solidly blue area where he’s been indicted and found liable of sexual abuse and defamation. Trump has been venturing into blue territory for recent stops as the election has drawn closer, though not to great results. At his rally in Coachella Valley in California, Trump threatened to withhold wildfire aid if Gov. Gavin Newsom doesn’t bend to his whims about the state’s water issues, should he win.
Donald Trump Tells Madison Square Garden Rally That Political Rivals Are The “Enemy From Within”
Ted Johnson
Sun 27 October 2024 at 7:21 pm GMT-6·3-min read
Speaking to his Madison Square Garden rally this evening, Donald Trump revived his attack on Democrats as “the enemy from within,” despite efforts earlier in the day by his running mate, JD Vance, to try to clarify what he actually meant.
“We’re running against something far bigger than Joe or Kamala, and far more powerful than them, which is a massive, vicious, crooked, radical left machine that runs today’s Democrat party,” Trump told the crowd. “They’re just vessels. In fact, they’re perfect vessels, because they’ll never give them a hard time. They’ll do whatever they want.”
More from Deadline
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Trump added, “I know many of them. It’s just this amorphous group of people, but they’re smart and they’re vicious, and we have to defeat them. And when I say the ‘enemy from within,’ the other side goes crazy…They’ve done every bad things to this country. They are indeed the enemy from within.”
In a Fox News interview last week, Trump suggested using the military to handle the “enemy from within” on Election Day, as he railed against “far left lunatics.” He later said that Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff were examples of the “enemy from within.”
Earlier in the day, Trump’s running mate, JD Vance appeared on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper and claimed that Trump was talking about using the military to handle those who rioted.
Another guest, Liz Cheney, responded to Vance’s comments and told CNN, “What we just watched is what it looks like when someone has got to go through just unbelievable contortions to try to find a way to defend the person that J.D. Vance himself called America’s Hitler.”
Last week, Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, spoke out in an interview with The New York Times, saying that he was disturbed by the former president’s “enemy within” remarks. He told of moments when Trump praised Adolf Hitler, and said that the former president “falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”
Trump’s rally rivaled the Republican National Convention in the number of MAGA stars who appeared, including Hulk Hogan and Tucker Carlson. Unlike the RNC, First Lady Melania Trump made remarks, as Elon Musk and Robert Kennedy Jr.
But the event also was notable for its extreme and even racist rhetoric, including remarks made by a comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, who said that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage” and talked of he and a Black friend having “carved watermelons” together.
He also said of Latinos, “They love making babies, too. Just know that they do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country.”
Trump’s remarks were carried by the major cable news networks, but CNN and MSNBC eventually cut away.
The Democratic National Committee projected the words “Trump Praised Hitler” on the side of Madison Square Garden, while the Lincoln Project hosted a conversation with Marshall Curry, the director of the 2017 short A Night at the Garden, about the 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden.
Sun 27 October 2024
Donald Trump looked to go big in the final full week until Election Day with a rally at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, which gave him a large venue (capacity: 19,500) to attract not just a big crowd, but national attention when seven battleground states are in play. During his speech, he drove home his closing arguments in the race to the finish line with his oft-repeated unfounded claims, including that the U.S. is an “occupied country” due to alleged migrants taking over, and he railed on transgender people playing sports.
He also invoked his baseless “enemy from within” claims against the Democrats as well as the press.
Trump made the claim after rambling on about President Joe Biden not being smart and saying his Democratic opponent in the election Vice President Kamala Harris “means nothing,” adding that “She’s purely a vessel. That’s all she is.” He inexplicably said, “she’s becoming more MAGA than those politicians I told you about,” though it’s unclear to whom he was referring.
“We need very smart people. We’re running against something far bigger than Joe or Kamala and far more powerful than them, which is a massive, vicious, crooked, radical left machine that runs today’s Democrat Party. They’re just vessels,” he said. “In fact, they’re perfect vessels, because they’ll never give them a hard time. They’ll do whatever they want.”
“I know many of them. It’s just this amorphous group of people, but they’re smart and they’re vicious, and we have to defeat them,” he continued. “And when I say the enemy from within, the other side goes crazy, becomes a salvo — ‘Oh, how can he say’… No, they’ve done very bad things to this country. They are indeed the enemy from within. But this is who we’re fighting. These are the people who are doing such harm to our country with their open border policies, record-setting inflation, green new scam, and everything else that they’re doing. But we’re not going to let it happen any longer.”
In a conversation with CNN‘s Jake Tapper on Sunday morning before the rally, Trump’s VP running mate J.D. Vance denied that Trump’s “enemy within” rhetoric was referring to the Democratic Party. “He did not say that, Jake,” Vance responded when Tapper asked about Trump’s words. “He said that he was going to send the military after the American people? Show me the quote where he said that.” (During a Fox News town hall earlier this month, Trump specifically pledged to use either the National Guard or the military against “the enemy within,” whom he described as “radical left lunatics.”)
The Democratic Party is not the only “enemy” for Trump. As he’s said many times previously, he also places the press in that camp — a profession whose freedom is protected by the Constitution’s First Amendment, in case Trump needs reminding. While in the midst of calling Harris a liar, saying she lied about working at McDonald’s, without any evidence, and claiming she’s said he doesn’t want fracking, without evidence, he went after the press.
“One thing I have been — even the enemy, because they are the enemy — what they’ve said, even that enemy too, and they’re really the enemy. They’re the enemy of the people, the press, they said one thing about me that I consider a great compliment,” he said. “They said this guy is the most consistent person we’ve ever seen, because I’ve been against cars and car factories being taken out of Detroit and being taken out of our manufacturing, of automobiles being taken out of our system, out of our country for years.”
These are far from the first times he’s appeared eager to shut down democracy in pursuit of his openly authoritarian vows and his extreme policy agenda. Among the many examples, on Thursday in Las Vegas, he used similiar “enemy of the people” talk, saying of the media: “they sort of have a death wish.” Following an assassination attempt on him in July, his allies tried to bully Democrats and the media to stop discussing his fascist rhetoric. He’s also recently proposed a fascist plan to deploy military forces against U.S. citizens who oppose him on Election Day, just to name a few. Earlier this week, even his former Chief of Staff John Kelly said the former president fit “into the general definition of fascist.”
Trump’s MSG appearance on Sunday made sense for a man who appears to have dictator ambitions and seems to view himself as some sort of rock star, seeking to be adored by fans, drawing large crowds, and appearing to feed off enthusiasm from attendees, performing better when he gets that. Unfortunately for him, when it comes to the music realm, several rock stars have not felt a mutual kinship with him, sending cease-and-desist letters for him using their music without their approval. Still, he drew the likes of Dr. Phil, Hulk Hogan, and other celebrities to tout him before he took the stage.
The appearance was in the former president and GOP presidential nominee’s hometown, a solidly blue area where he’s been indicted and found liable of sexual abuse and defamation. Trump has been venturing into blue territory for recent stops as the election has drawn closer, though not to great results. At his rally in Coachella Valley in California, Trump threatened to withhold wildfire aid if Gov. Gavin Newsom doesn’t bend to his whims about the state’s water issues, should he win.
Donald Trump Tells Madison Square Garden Rally That Political Rivals Are The “Enemy From Within”
Ted Johnson
Sun 27 October 2024 at 7:21 pm GMT-6·3-min read
Speaking to his Madison Square Garden rally this evening, Donald Trump revived his attack on Democrats as “the enemy from within,” despite efforts earlier in the day by his running mate, JD Vance, to try to clarify what he actually meant.
“We’re running against something far bigger than Joe or Kamala, and far more powerful than them, which is a massive, vicious, crooked, radical left machine that runs today’s Democrat party,” Trump told the crowd. “They’re just vessels. In fact, they’re perfect vessels, because they’ll never give them a hard time. They’ll do whatever they want.”
More from Deadline
Bad Bunny Backs Kamala Harris, Shares Video Of Her Talking About Her Plans For Puerto Rico
Dr. Phil Endorses Donald Trump At Madison Square Garden Rally
Stevie Nicks Says Not Getting An Abortion Would Have "Destroyed" Fleetwood Mac
Trump added, “I know many of them. It’s just this amorphous group of people, but they’re smart and they’re vicious, and we have to defeat them. And when I say the ‘enemy from within,’ the other side goes crazy…They’ve done every bad things to this country. They are indeed the enemy from within.”
In a Fox News interview last week, Trump suggested using the military to handle the “enemy from within” on Election Day, as he railed against “far left lunatics.” He later said that Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff were examples of the “enemy from within.”
Earlier in the day, Trump’s running mate, JD Vance appeared on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper and claimed that Trump was talking about using the military to handle those who rioted.
Another guest, Liz Cheney, responded to Vance’s comments and told CNN, “What we just watched is what it looks like when someone has got to go through just unbelievable contortions to try to find a way to defend the person that J.D. Vance himself called America’s Hitler.”
Last week, Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, spoke out in an interview with The New York Times, saying that he was disturbed by the former president’s “enemy within” remarks. He told of moments when Trump praised Adolf Hitler, and said that the former president “falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”
Trump’s rally rivaled the Republican National Convention in the number of MAGA stars who appeared, including Hulk Hogan and Tucker Carlson. Unlike the RNC, First Lady Melania Trump made remarks, as Elon Musk and Robert Kennedy Jr.
But the event also was notable for its extreme and even racist rhetoric, including remarks made by a comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, who said that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage” and talked of he and a Black friend having “carved watermelons” together.
He also said of Latinos, “They love making babies, too. Just know that they do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country.”
Trump’s remarks were carried by the major cable news networks, but CNN and MSNBC eventually cut away.
The Democratic National Committee projected the words “Trump Praised Hitler” on the side of Madison Square Garden, while the Lincoln Project hosted a conversation with Marshall Curry, the director of the 2017 short A Night at the Garden, about the 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden.
Deadline
Trump Doesn’t Hold Back at Hate-Filled Madison Square Garden Rally
Zachary Folk
Sun 27 October 2024 at 9:03 pm GMT-6·5-min read
Michael M. Santiago
Former President Donald Trump played the hits at a sold-out rally at New York City’s Madison Square Garden—railing against migrants, inflation, and complaining about the Justice Department’s investigations into him, after a marathon rally featuring bristling speeches from MAGAworld’s biggest stars.
“I would like to begin by asking a simple question—are you better off now than you were four years ago?” the former president asked a cheering crowd of fans at the Midtown arena, who chanted “No!” back to him. The Trump campaign reportedly sold out of tickets for the 19,500 capacity arena, which is typically the home of the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers.
“I am here today with a message of hope for all Americans. With your vote I will end inflation. I will stop the invasion of criminals from coming into our country and bring back the American Dream, we need the American Dream to come back home. Our country will be bigger, better, bolder, richer, safer, stronger than ever before.”
Trump used the rally to advocate for some new tax policies, including a tax credit for “family caregivers.” The policy mirrors a similar one proposed by Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, which would extend Medicare to cover the cost of in-home health care.
“It’s about time that they were recognized,” Trump said. “They add so much to our country, but they’re never spoken of ever, ever, ever. But they’re going to be spoken of now.”
However, much of the Republican nominee’s subsequent speech was filled with fear—demonizing his opponents and portraying the country he ran only four years ago on the brink of collapse.
“Over the past four years, Kamala Harris has orchestrated the most egregious betrayal that any leader in American history has ever inflicted upon our people,” Trump said. “She has violated her oath, eradicated our southern border, and unleashed an army of migrant gangs who are waging a campaign of violence and terror against our citizens. There has never been anything like it, anywhere in the world for any country.”
The speech followed an hours-long rally featuring some of Trump’s loudest celebrity supporters, including Hulk Hogan, Tucker Carlson, and Elon Musk. An early opener, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, bombed on stage after calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,”—remarks that were broadly condemned by both Republicans and Democrats. Lawmakers including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville were also in attendance.
In the weeks leading up to the rally, Trump faced fierce criticism from some of his former staffers. Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump, called Trump “fascist to the core,” veteran journalist Bob Woodward reported. John Kelly, his former chief of staff, told The Atlantic that the former president praised some of Adolf Hitler’s policies and the military generals serving in Nazi Germany.
Trump denied Kelly’s accounts, and has sought to portray the two men as disgruntled ex-employees.
But critics were quick to draw comparisons between Trump’s event and the notorious Nazi rally held at Madison Square Garden by the German-American Bund in 1939, on the eve of World War II. While the rally was underway, the Democratic National Committee projected the message “TRUMP PRAISED HITLER” on the side of the arena.
Some of the speakers addressed the comparison head-on. “I don’t see no stinking Nazis in here,” Hogan proclaimed. “I don’t see no stinking domestic terrorists in here. The only thing I see in here are a bunch of hardworking men and women that are real Americans, brother.”
Also in his speech, Trump bragged about the record-breaking early voting numbers reported in swing states. The early data available just shows how many registered Republicans, Democrats, and independents have voted in some states—not who those voters selected.
“We are leading every one of the swing states, all seven of them,” Trump still claimed. “We usually get them from behind, because Republicans like to vote on a thing called Election Day.”
When talking about the “weaponized” Justice Department, Trump thanked New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat elected in 2021. Adams was indicted on charges of bribery in September.
“Mayor Adams has been treated pretty badly,” Trump said. “I think they upgraded his seat in an airplane. That’s a very serious charge. I don’t know, maybe it was something else. But I have to tell you he’s been really great.”
Sunday’s event was not the first time Trump headlined an event in his home state this campaign season. In September, the former president spoke at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. “We are going to win New York,” he insisted to a crowd of supporters at the New York Islanders’ stadium. Trump lost the state in both 2016 and 2020.
On Sunday, Trump was similarly adamant about winning over the city where he was born. “We want to win our country, but we also want to win New York—and make it safe and strong and beautiful and affordable and vibrant again,” Trump said, before promising to work with the city’s mayor and governor to accomplish the somewhat vague goal.
As Trump concluded his speech, a singer took the podium to belt out a rendition of the theme from New York, New York as the former president and first lady smiled at the cheering crowd.
Trump Doesn’t Hold Back at Hate-Filled Madison Square Garden Rally
Zachary Folk
Sun 27 October 2024 at 9:03 pm GMT-6·5-min read
Michael M. Santiago
Former President Donald Trump played the hits at a sold-out rally at New York City’s Madison Square Garden—railing against migrants, inflation, and complaining about the Justice Department’s investigations into him, after a marathon rally featuring bristling speeches from MAGAworld’s biggest stars.
“I would like to begin by asking a simple question—are you better off now than you were four years ago?” the former president asked a cheering crowd of fans at the Midtown arena, who chanted “No!” back to him. The Trump campaign reportedly sold out of tickets for the 19,500 capacity arena, which is typically the home of the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers.
“I am here today with a message of hope for all Americans. With your vote I will end inflation. I will stop the invasion of criminals from coming into our country and bring back the American Dream, we need the American Dream to come back home. Our country will be bigger, better, bolder, richer, safer, stronger than ever before.”
Trump used the rally to advocate for some new tax policies, including a tax credit for “family caregivers.” The policy mirrors a similar one proposed by Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, which would extend Medicare to cover the cost of in-home health care.
“It’s about time that they were recognized,” Trump said. “They add so much to our country, but they’re never spoken of ever, ever, ever. But they’re going to be spoken of now.”
However, much of the Republican nominee’s subsequent speech was filled with fear—demonizing his opponents and portraying the country he ran only four years ago on the brink of collapse.
“Over the past four years, Kamala Harris has orchestrated the most egregious betrayal that any leader in American history has ever inflicted upon our people,” Trump said. “She has violated her oath, eradicated our southern border, and unleashed an army of migrant gangs who are waging a campaign of violence and terror against our citizens. There has never been anything like it, anywhere in the world for any country.”
The speech followed an hours-long rally featuring some of Trump’s loudest celebrity supporters, including Hulk Hogan, Tucker Carlson, and Elon Musk. An early opener, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, bombed on stage after calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,”—remarks that were broadly condemned by both Republicans and Democrats. Lawmakers including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville were also in attendance.
In the weeks leading up to the rally, Trump faced fierce criticism from some of his former staffers. Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump, called Trump “fascist to the core,” veteran journalist Bob Woodward reported. John Kelly, his former chief of staff, told The Atlantic that the former president praised some of Adolf Hitler’s policies and the military generals serving in Nazi Germany.
Trump denied Kelly’s accounts, and has sought to portray the two men as disgruntled ex-employees.
But critics were quick to draw comparisons between Trump’s event and the notorious Nazi rally held at Madison Square Garden by the German-American Bund in 1939, on the eve of World War II. While the rally was underway, the Democratic National Committee projected the message “TRUMP PRAISED HITLER” on the side of the arena.
Some of the speakers addressed the comparison head-on. “I don’t see no stinking Nazis in here,” Hogan proclaimed. “I don’t see no stinking domestic terrorists in here. The only thing I see in here are a bunch of hardworking men and women that are real Americans, brother.”
Also in his speech, Trump bragged about the record-breaking early voting numbers reported in swing states. The early data available just shows how many registered Republicans, Democrats, and independents have voted in some states—not who those voters selected.
“We are leading every one of the swing states, all seven of them,” Trump still claimed. “We usually get them from behind, because Republicans like to vote on a thing called Election Day.”
When talking about the “weaponized” Justice Department, Trump thanked New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat elected in 2021. Adams was indicted on charges of bribery in September.
“Mayor Adams has been treated pretty badly,” Trump said. “I think they upgraded his seat in an airplane. That’s a very serious charge. I don’t know, maybe it was something else. But I have to tell you he’s been really great.”
Sunday’s event was not the first time Trump headlined an event in his home state this campaign season. In September, the former president spoke at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. “We are going to win New York,” he insisted to a crowd of supporters at the New York Islanders’ stadium. Trump lost the state in both 2016 and 2020.
On Sunday, Trump was similarly adamant about winning over the city where he was born. “We want to win our country, but we also want to win New York—and make it safe and strong and beautiful and affordable and vibrant again,” Trump said, before promising to work with the city’s mayor and governor to accomplish the somewhat vague goal.
As Trump concluded his speech, a singer took the podium to belt out a rendition of the theme from New York, New York as the former president and first lady smiled at the cheering crowd.
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