Former President Donald Trump held a campaign rally in the South Bronx Thursday evening.
The rally started at 6 p.m. in Crotona Park, and the Trump campaign has a permit for up to 3,500 people to attend, his campaign announced last week.
This live blog has ended.
Former President Donald Trump and his supporters took over Crotona Park in the Bronx on Thursday. The former president reportedly attracted thousands of supporters, with a campaign staffer estimating 10,000 people showed up. Trump spoke on a variety of topics, including his upcoming debate with President Joe Biden, along with the border crisis. “We are going to win New York!” Donald Trump boasted at what he described as his Bronx “love fest” Thursday evening. Well . . . maybe. But Trump’s unexpected rally did show he can win enough of the country to take back the presidency. First was the setting itself.Highlights from Trump's Bronx rally
By Post Staff Opinion: Trump will win if he does more speeches like the one in the Bronx
By Post Editorial Board
Expletive-laden T-shirts marking disdain for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were seen outside former President Donald Trump's Bronx rally.
“Biden sucks, Kamala sw-llows!” the seller yelled while hawking the shirts.
CROTONA PARK -- The Trump supporters who made it past security and stayed for the whole thing are liking what they heard, as you might expect.
"We were so close, that was insane!" one spectator can be heard saying. "He’s so much larger in person! This is a part of history. We are going to tell our kids about this."
After the Trump campaign's senior adviser Chris LaCivita told me earlier that 20,000 people RSVPed, another staffer has estimated that 10,000 people were part of the crowd, which seems a bit more likely.
Remember the rally was permitted for 3,500 spectators.
Peter Blade -- who was born in Puerto Rico and raised in the Bronx -- calmly attended the rally to experience the buzz, despite losing faith in Trump following his 2017 visit to the storm-battered Caribbean island.
“The only time Trump went to Puerto Rico was after Hurricane Maria, and he threw paper towels at his supporters. Those were people who looked to Trump. It was a major hurricane. They went six months without light," said Blade, 50.
As a show of his silent opposition, the facility maintenance worker wore two rolls of paper towels on a nylon rope around his neck and a hat bearing the Coqui, or Puerto Rico's native frog.
"We haven't forgotten."
According to Blade, Trump's choice to host a rally in the Bronx was not out of kindness.
“I feel he came to the Bronx because we're the last resort. Due to his legal troubles, he had no choice. But it's OK. We're used to being the last resort. We're never counted out. We're just counted last," Blade emphasized.
Trump closes by exhorting his audience to vote Nov. 5, and tells them "hard-working patriots built this city" and "hard-working patriots are going to save this country."
He closes with his usual promise to "make America great again" and exits the stage to the strains of Sam and Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin'"
He spoke for a little more than 90 minutes.
CROTONA PARK -- One member of the crowd has been taken away in an ambulance and another has been taken out by police.
Unclear if they were actually being arrested or just ejected.
The crowd outside the checkpoint is smaller than it has been all evening.
Diaz tells Trump that "as a Hispanic, I want to apologize for Judge Juan Merchan," who is presiding over the "hush money" case in Manhattan.
He then calls out AOC "as a minister" after the congresswoman celebrated this morning's rain as a sign God didn't want Trump in The Bronx.
"Madam Prophet AOC, you have become a false prophet," Diaz says. "Look at what a beautiful day ... I would say, humbly, that even God wants you in the Bronx."
Trump recognizes former City Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr., who he calls a "friend of mine, and he helped me very much with the Ferry Point project."
Diaz later endorsed the former president during a short speech.
Trump on his anti-crime policies: "Remember, black, Hispanic, Asian people need this protection and safety more than anyone else, don't ever forget it.
"And after years of talk by the radical left Democrats, we're gonna give them the protection they need."
Donald Trump spoke on slain NYPD Detective Jonathan Diller's death during his Bronx rally Thursday.
"He was a beautiful person," Trump said, adding the officer was gunned down by a "vicious thug."
Trump visited Diller's wake in Long Island in March.
"This situation is sustainable by no country," Trump says.
This is what the crowd has been waiting for and a chant of "Send them back!" breaks out.
