ReutersDonald Trump held a campaign rally in New York’s South Bronx neighborhood as he sought to win over black and Latino voters ahead of November’s presidential election.
Among those he shared the stage with Thursday was Florida Republican Byron Donalds, a black congressman and rumored to be a potential running mate.
This is Mr. Trump’s first campaign rally in New York in about eight years as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee tries to reach minority voters.
A recent poll by the New York Times and Sienna shows that Democrat Joe Biden is losing the support of key voting blocs in key states.
The Bronx is a predominantly Hispanic and black neighborhood and a Democratic stronghold.
Mr. Trump spent a lot of time talking directly to New York audiences about his mark on this city – where he built much of his fortune and reputation.
“We inspired the whole world,” he said early in his roughly 90-minute speech, but now he sees the city falling into “decline,” describing it as a place rife with crime and crumbling infrastructure.
He blamed Mr. Biden and the record levels of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border for the economic impact on minority voters.
“The biggest negative impact [of illegal immigration] against blacks and Hispanics, who are losing their jobs, losing their homes, losing everything they can lose,” Mr. Trump told the crowd.
Before Mr. Trump arrived, there were concerns about how he would be received in the Bronx.
“I wish he would just go away,” one man told the New York Times before the protest.
“No one I know supports him.”
Heavy police presence at Crotona Park as counter-protesters gather outside the rally.
They were eventually eliminated by New York police, according to the BBC’s American media partner, CBS.
But those who spoke to the BBC said they appreciated Mr Trump’s willingness to step out of his comfort zone.
“It was a bold move for him to come to the Bronx,” Geoffrey Davis said. “What he does here is very respectful.”
Mr. Davis said he supported Mr. Trump because “when he was president, there was no war. There was no Ukraine-Russia. There was no Israel-Gaza.”
“He’s America first,” said Thamar Corniel, a Trump supporter born in the Dominican Republic.
Mr. Trump has increasingly tried to reach out to minority communities in the hope they can make a difference in key swing states.
Mr Biden and Mr Trump are locked in a tight race ahead of the November 5 election.
In April, during a break in the hush money trial in New York, Mr. Trump stopped by a corner store in Harlem.
He also spoke at a gala for the Black Conservative Union, an organization that works to expand Republican support among black voters, and has hired a black communications director, Janiyah Thomas.
But there were missteps.
In February, he was criticized for saying his four criminal indictments increased his appeal to black Americans because they saw him as a victim of discrimination.
Recently New York Times and Sienna poll pointed out that Mr. Trump is defeating Mr. Biden in five battleground states, partly because black and Latino voters are leaving the Democratic Party.
President Biden took notice — that block was crucial to his victory in 2020 — and spent millions of dollars on targeted advertising.
Young and non-white voters appear to be losing faith in Mr. Biden and the Democratic Party as they grow increasingly frustrated with issues like inflation and the White House’s support for Israel.
During President Biden’s recent commencement address at Morehouse College, a historically black college, several graduating students turned their backs on the president during the ceremony to protest his treatment. Ho’s argument about the war in Gaza.
