Former President Trump Hosts Rally in the Bronx to Connect with Hispanic and Black Voters
Former President Donald Trump is set to host a rally in the Bronx on Thursday as part of his campaign strategy to engage with Hispanic and Black voters in preparation for the upcoming November election.
Former President Donald Trump is set to host a rally in the Bronx on Thursday in an effort to connect with Hispanic and Black voters before the upcoming election in November.
This event will take place in one of the most Democratic counties in the country and comes just before the final arguments in Trump's New York criminal hush money trial, where he is facing 34 felony charges and has entered a plea of not guilty.
Trump's first major campaign rally in New York since 2016 will take place at Crotona Park in the South Bronx on Thursday. Despite being tied to his trial in New York for the past six weeks, Trump has made visits to various locations in the city, including a bodega where a fatal stabbing occurred in 2022, a construction site, and a fire station in Manhattan.
A Trump campaign official shared with CNN that the decision to hold the rally in the Bronx was influenced by several factors. These include Trump's longstanding ties to New York, his efforts to appeal to minority voters, and the desire to challenge the Democratic stronghold in the state. The rally's location near Trump's criminal trial was also a factor considered in the decision-making process.
Trump believes he has a chance to win New York in the upcoming fall, something no Republican presidential nominee has achieved since 1984. Despite losing the Bronx by a large margin to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump did better than in the previous election when Hillary Clinton won by an even larger margin of 79 points. The South Bronx, where Trump's rally is being held, is home to a majority of Hispanic (64%) and Black (31%) residents, according to the US Census Bureau.
Some House Republicans from New York had to cancel their attendance at Trump's event due to changes in the chamber's voting schedule on Thursday.
House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, along with seven other lawmakers, announced that they will not be able to attend the event in New York as planned. The House schedule changed and they will be voting on issues related to banning illegal immigrants from voting in elections and protecting Americans' right to financial privacy.
The Biden campaign launched two new ads on Thursday to emphasize what they see as Trump's failures and broken promises to Black Americans. The ads mention Trump's history of housing discrimination, promoting racist conspiracy theories, advocating for the death penalty for wrongly accused minority teenagers, and standing with violent White supremacists in Charlottesville in 2017.
Voting booths at Glass Elementary School's polling station in Eagle Pass, Texas, are shown on November 8, 2022. 
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The Trump campaign claimed that the ads were trying to manipulate Black voters by "gaslighting" them.
According to Janiyah Thomas, the campaign's Black media director, Joe Biden played a significant role in passing the 1994 Crime Bill. This bill had a negative impact on Black communities due to its harsh sentencing laws and increased rates of incarceration. Thomas also pointed out that Biden's policies are pushing Black families further into poverty and making them less safe.
Democratic Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ritchie Torres, who both represent areas in the Bronx, criticized the upcoming event of the ex-president.
Ocasio-Cortez, speaking to NY1, described it as a way to deceive some of the residents, while Torres, talking to The New York Times, referred to Trump as being "radioactive" in the Bronx.
Trump’s efforts to connect with minority voters coincide with his focus on stirring up concerns about undocumented immigrants. He often spreads inaccurate information about illegal immigration and uses disrespectful language when talking about migrants.
CORRECTION: This article has been revised to fix the misspelling of Crotona Park.
CNN’s Kit Maher contributed to this report.
Editor's P/S:
Former President Trump's upcoming rally in the Bronx has sparked mixed reactions. While Trump hopes to connect with Hispanic and Black voters, the event has drawn criticism from local Democratic representatives who view it as an attempt to deceive residents.
Trump's focus on stirring up
