5 takeaways from Trump's Madison Square Garden rally

Former President Trump on Sunday held a rally at Madison Square Garden, kicking off the final full week of campaigning in the heart of Manhattan.

The Trump campaign trotted out a number of high profile speakers to excite the crowd. And while Trump is unlikely to be competitive in New York on Election Day, the event served as a way to generate significant media attention and deliver something akin to a closing message to voters. But some of the earlier speakers overshadowed the event with their incendiary rhetoric.

Here are five takeaways.

Trump’s closing message sounds familiar

The former president’s Madison Square Garden rally was billed as the opening salvo of his closing argument to voters just nine days before Election Day.

There were signs of a closing message scattered throughout Trump’s speech. He opened his remarks by asking attendees if they were better off than they were four years ago.

“On issue after issue, Kamala broke it, but I will fix it. And we’re going to fix it,” Trump said later as supporters seated behind the stage waved signs that read, “Trump Will Fix It.”

But those looking for a clearer, more concise message heard more of the same from Trump as he repeated many of his same attacks on Vice President Harris’s intelligence, described the U.S. as an “occupied country” because of the surge in immigration at the southern border and emphasized his plans to impose tariffs on foreign imports and companies that outsource production.

The former president repeated many of the same anecdotes he tells at other rallies, including one about watching a SpaceX launch and another claiming New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted on federal corruption charges for speaking out about the surge in migrants in the city.

Trump brings out high profile allies

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, billionaire Elon Musk, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Donald Trump Jr., Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Hulk Hogan and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) were among those who took the stage ahead of the former president. 

Former first lady Melania Trump made an extremely rare campaign appearance, delivering brief remarks and introducing her husband.

The slew of speakers are unlikely to win over voters on the fence, but their presence on the trail could boost enthusiasm among Trump’s base and among less reliable voting blocs, such as young men.

Musk and Carlson in particular have become popular with Trump’s base and have had a more active role on the trail in the closing weeks of the campaign.

“This is a real election battle. So you need to get friends and families to vote. Make sure they vote. Vote early. This is important,” said Musk, who basked in the adoration of the crowd.

Carlson spoke at a Trump rally in Georgia last week and will host an event with the former president in Arizona on Thursday.

Musk has backed a major super PAC working on get out the vote efforts for the Trump campaign, spending millions on the effort. He has also campaigned in the key battleground of Pennsylvania, even as some of his efforts to register swing state voters have drawn legal scrutiny. 

Guest speakers stir controversy

The parade of guest speakers who preceded Trump seemed intent on creating controversial headlines for the party, hurling racist and sexist insults.

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who goes by Kill Tony, delivered a set that included inflammatory attacks on Puerto Ricans.

"There’s a lot going on. Like I don’t know if you know this but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico," Hinchcliffe said, eliciting mixed reactions from the crowd.

Harris campaign aides noted that Hinchcliffe's remarks came as the vice president was in Philadelphia speaking at a Puerto Rican restaurant, where she detailed her plans to assist the island and bolster its electrical grid. Others noted the key battleground of Pennsylvania is home to hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans.

Carlson mocked Harris’s racial identity.

Sid Rosenberg, a New York City radio host whose show Trump calls into periodically, blasted Democrats in derogatory and explicit terms.

“She is some sick bastard, that Hillary Clinton. What a sick son of a bitch,” he said of the former secretary of State and 2016 Democratic nominee. “The whole fucking party. A bunch of degenerates.”

One speaker described Harris as “the devil” and “the antichrist.”

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani spent a portion of his remarks fear-mongering about Palestinians, saying they are taught to “kill us at 2 years old” and are “on the side of the terrorists.”

“Usually pre-game speeches matter little. Pretty remarkable Trump’s MSG warm up acts are all creating controversy and content that will hurt him,” senior Harris campaign aide David Plouffe posted on X. “And that’s before his Soviet style speech that will generate much material of concern to the remaining undecided voters.”

Trump repeats ‘enemy from within’ attack

The former president has drawn backlash from Democrats in recent weeks as he has repeatedly labeled his political rivals the “enemy from within” and suggested his opponents are worse than foreign adversaries.

On Sunday, Trump defended and repeated that line.

“When I say the enemy from within, the other side goes crazy. Becomes a soundbite – ‘Oh how can he say…,’” Trump said. “No, they’ve done very bad things to this country. They are indeed the enemy from within. But this is who we’re fighting.”

He later disparaged the press as the “enemy of the people.”

Trump has used the line repeatedly in recent weeks, including in an interview with Fox News when he suggested the military could be used to quell protests from his critics. Those comments have been at the center of criticism from some of his former top White House aides and from the Harris campaign.

The former president’s insistence on using such harsh attacks against his critics come as some Republicans have claimed Democrats are going too far with their rhetoric by labeling Trump a fascist.

Another tax proposal

Trump rolled out one new policy, and it is one that echoed something first proposed by his opponent.

“I am announcing a new policy today that I will support a tax credit for family caregivers who take care of a parent or a loved one. It's about time that they were recognized,” Trump said.

Harris earlier this month introduced a new plan to expand Medicare benefits so that the program covers the costs of long-term home care for older Americans. The plan is aimed at helping the “sandwich generation” who are caring for both their own children and their aging parents.

Trump has previously called for eliminating taxes on tipped wages, overtime and Social Security benefits, though some experts have questioned how Trump would pay for those tax cuts without expanding the deficit.