Local Bronx politicians, unions and political organizations brought a heated response to former President Donald Trump’s well-attended campaign rally in Crotona Park Thursday evening.
Hundreds congregated at the northeast end nearly three hours before the start of the counter rally — dubbed “Trump isn’t welcome in the Bronx” — on May 23.
Bronx Assembly Member Amanda Septimo, whose office was one of the rally’s organizers, told the Bronx Times before the event that the former president has used the Bronx “as a tool,” and “exploit[ed] our painful history.”
“You don’t get to come to the Bronx and not get an answer from us,” Septimo said on the microphone in front of the crowd. “The Bronx is standing up for itself.”
The assembly member was interrupted by one person cheering for Trump, who was ushered out by event organizers, to which Septimo said, “You’re at the wrong rally.”
Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson had choice words to say about the former president at the counter rally, calling him “a distraction” and “a criminal.” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams had a similar sentiment, saying Trump “represents the worst leaders in history.” Bronx Assembly Member Landon Dais, who called Trump “the most litigated developer in the history of the state,” said the former president is “fool’s gold — just as bad as his colored hair.”
Multiple labor unions came out to the counter rally in numbers on May 23 — including the 1199 SEIU healthcare union, Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA!) and more. Each union came wearing their own organization’s T-shirts, and many carried signs that showed support for current President Joe Biden.
Individual Bronxites also attended the rally, some of whom stumbled upon it seemingly by accident.
Maria — whose last name wasn’t confirmed by the Bronx Times — was cutting through Crotona Park on her way to a medical appointment when she came across a crew setting up a stage. When she found out the event was in protest of Trump’s visit, Maria — who said she isn’t a citizen of the United States and can’t vote — canceled her medical appointment, changed from the red shirt she was wearing into a blue one, and stayed.
Maria said through a friend who translated that she stayed in the park “for democracy.”
Speakers at the counter rally didn’t just lambast Trump, however — a lot of the messaging was about how elected officials should invest in the Bronx, and especially the South Bronx. Speakers noted that many Bronx voters have become disillusioned by politics because of past underinvestment in the borough.
“Even if you gotta hold your nose, get in there and vote,” Williams said.
Trump in Crotona Park
Just down the hill from the “Trump isn’t welcome in the Bronx” rally, the former president was met with thousands of his supporters — some of whom traveled across the country to attend his campaign event on May 23.
“This is my 77th Donald Trump rally,” Edward Young from New Jersey told affiliate amNewYork-Metro. “A Donald Trump rally is the greatest show on Earth.”
According to amNewYork-Metro, Trump positioned himself as a hometown hero during his campaign rally in Crotona Park, taking aim at both Biden and the media for the duration of his hour-plus long speech.
“I’m here tonight to declare we are going to turn New York City around,” Trump said.
The NYPD barricaded a large section of Crotona Park just west of Indian Pond for the former president’s campaign event, but his voice could be heard from the speakers to the outside of the barriers. The Bronx Times saw some people outside the rally live streaming Trump’s speech on their phones, others talking about politics while leaning on the barricades.
Another large group of counter protesters gathered outside of the Trump event with signs that said “Convict Trump already,” “No Trump,” “F–k Trump F–k Biden,” and pro-Palestine sentiment, to name a few. Scores of Trump supporters heckled them until the NYPD made moves to disperse the demonstrators from the sidewalk and street. While in a line formation all the way down the block, one police officer leaned to his colleague on the right and said, “this is crazy.”
Pols gather to denounce Trump in Thursday morning press conference
U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres started the day off with a press conference to warn his constituents about the dangers of Trump ahead of his rally Thursday evening.
Torres, who represents the South Bronx in New York’s Congressional District 15, said the inclement weather at the start of his presser was an indication of something more.
“I think the biblical level of flooding is a sign of divine disapproval for President Trump,” he said.
Trump, who was president of the United States from 2016 to 2020 and has secured the Republican nomination this year, will likely take on current Democratic President Joe Biden this November in a déjà vu election year.
Tom Sheppard, a 53-year-old Throggs Neck resident who also serves on the citywide Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), told the Bronx Times in an interview after the presser that he hopes Bronxites consider Trump’s history and context — decrying the former president for many of his policies and political initiatives, including calling for the death penalty for the Central Park Five, his so-called Muslim ban, and his efforts to build a wall along the southern U.S. border with Mexico.
Sheppard, a Black man himself, also warned that “Democrats need to be careful” not to take the POC (people of color) vote for granted.
“You built your fortune by discriminating against Black people,” he said about Trump. “But you have the nerve to show up in the Bronx? Seriously?”
Torres, like many other prominent Bronx Democrats, has lambasted Trump during his second presidential campaign cycle — mostly slamming him for his various ongoing criminal indictments.
This journey to the White House is different for Trump than his first — and historic — as he’s been unable to hold as many campaign events while in court. He’s the first American president or former president in history to be indicted — currently charged with wrongdoing in four separate criminal cases, which Politico has been chronicling:
- The hush money case where Trump is accused of ordering his former personal attorney Michael Cohen to pay off adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for keeping a sexual encounter between Daniels and Trump quiet — and disguising re-payments to Cohen as corporate legal expenses;
- The classified documents case that accuses Trump of taking national security documents when he left the White House after his first term in 2021;
- The Georgia election interference case that accuses Trump in 2020 of urging state officials to reverse Biden’s win during the election and “find” 11,000 some-odd other votes to overcome Biden’s victory in Georgia;
- And the federal election interference case that charges Trump for attempting to derail the peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
The former president has been in Manhattan Criminal Court for more than a month now for his hush money case, which according to NPR wrapped up its prosecution this week. Trump’s defense team has also made their case, and the jury was set to begin deliberating as early as Wednesday, NPR reported.
Trump has not yet gone to trial in the classified documents case, the Georgia election interference case, or the federal election interference case.
As far as the Bronx Times could surmise, Trump has never campaigned in the Boogie Down before, and the decision to visit the South Bronx of all places raises eyebrows — since he’s the prophet of the far right and the area is one of the bluest in a borough that already overwhelmingly votes for Democrats. In fact, the New York Times reported tonight’s rally will be his first campaign event in New York state since 2016.
In the presidential primary race last month, more than 50,000 people voted on the Democratic line compared to 10,459 on the Republican side. The majority of Bronx local and state races favor Democrats on any given Election Day, so it’s consistent that more than 83% of all the people who voted on April 2 voted in Biden’s primary — however Trump did pick up twice as many votes in 2020 compared to 2016 in three South Bronx Assembly districts. And while overall turnout in 2020 was higher than in 2016, the gains marked a better-than-expected — but still relatively small — showing among predominantly Latinx voters in the South Bronx.
Torres said Thursday that while Trump does have some support in the Bronx, it’s few and far between and he wants to “put to rest the narrative” that he’s gaining much ground.
“Trump has made gains at the margins,” the congress person said, but his popularity in the Bronx is “less than the Mets and Red Sox.”
At least one group — led by Ruben Diaz, Sr., a Bronx minister and former member of state Senate and City Council — as well as Tina Forte, who ran an unsuccessful Republican bid against U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez in 2022, recently took to the streets in support of the former president.
The Post Millennial posted a video on social media last week of the group displaying Trump 2024 signs, chanting the former president’s name and marching with a banner that read “The South Bronx for Donald Trump.” Burgos, the Bronx Assembly District 85 rep, shook off the group, re-posting the video saying “I’ve seen more people waiting for a Bx 36 bus than this ‘rally'” with two cry-laughing emojis.
Torres told reporters Thursday morning that Trump “has no regard for the Bronx,” and that his campaign event tonight is “nothing more than a photo-op.”
“Come November, we’re going to have a familiar message for the former host of Celebrity Apprentice: You’re fired,” Torres said.
Gabriele Holtermann and Dean Moses contributed to this report.
This is a developing story, last updated at 10:15 p.m. on May 23.
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