Hundreds of Trump supporters pack Bronx rally as protesters jeer outside

For the first time in years, Donald Trump held a campaign rally in New York City, taking to a Bronx park to recite some of his most familiar talking points as protesters jeered from the sidelines.

Trump has spent much of the past eight weeks on the opposite side of the city, fighting the hush-money prosecution in Manhattan Supreme Court that could make him the first former president ever to be criminally convicted.

But on Thursday evening in Crotona Park, hundreds rallied in his support, chanting, “USA!, USA!” before Trump took to the stage.

He started off by praising his hometown, where he is widely unpopular.

“I’m thrilled to be back in the city I grew up in, the city I spent my life in, the city I helped build and the city that we all love,” said the presumptive GOP nominee in this year’s presidential election.

“We are going to turn New York City around, and we are going to turn it around very, very quickly,” he added.

Amid boasts that he’d boost the economy and fix the subway — saying, “We’re going to renovate New York’s subway system so it no longer looks like it hasn’t been cleaned since 1932” — Trump promised to collaborate with Mayor Adams and Gov. Hochul, both Dems, as president.

“We are going to work with them, and we are going to get this state and this city to a level that it’s never been before,” Trump said.

Adams’ office shunned the statement.

“As usual, Donald Trump is wrong. We don’t need his insults, and we don’t need his help to turn New York City around because New York City is already back,” mayoral spokesman Fabien Levy said in a statement to the Daily News.

Trump, who last held a campaign rally in New York City in 2016, saw his support inch up in the Bronx between that year, when he won 9.4% of the vote, and 2020, when he garnered 15.7% in the contest he lost to President Biden.

Trump’s Thursday rally came as he’s been trying to boost support among Black and Hispanic voters.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re Black or Brown or white or whatever the hell color you are,” he said. “We are all Americans, and we’re going to pull together as Americans.”

Trump went on to claim Black and Hispanic voters have been most affected by the recent surge in asylum seekers, drawing chants of “build the wall!”

About 200 protesters rallied against him on Claremont Parkway, which cuts through Crotona Park, some holding a sign that read, “F–k Trump, F–k Biden, the people of the Bronx, we run this s–t.”

Sherine King, a Bronx resident and former counselor for incarcerated youth, was among those who rejected Trump’s presence in the borough.

“He isn’t the type to have a conversation. Trump gives orders like he’s speaking to children, but he’s the child who throws tantrums,” said King, 57.

“Everything is a lie with him. In his past, present and future,” she added.

Javette McCoy, 43, voiced a similar loathing of the 45th president.

“I just don’t like the man. I don’t understand how a man who has done so much bad, so much corruption, someone who has set the races against each other, can be welcome in the Bronx,” she told The News. “He’s not for the people. He’s not even for his people. He’s for Donald Trump.”

Bronxites were hard to find among those attending the rally.

“Donald Trump’s rally may be IN the South Bronx but it is not OF the South Bronx. Bluntly put, the Trump transplants are much whiter than the locals of the South Bronx, which is almost entirely Latino and Black,” Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat, posted on X, including a video of the crowd.

Protesters took to the streets in a rally of their own after Trump delivered his roughly 90-minute-long remarks.

City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli, a Republican, and New York Young Republican President Gavin Wax were in attendance, while Bronx Councilman Oswald Feliz joined protesters outside the rally.

“We have members of different races, different religions, people speaking different languages. These are the communities that were under direct attack by Trump almost every single day when he was the president,” said Feliz, a Democrat.

Ruben Diaz Sr., a controversial former councilman from the Bronx, took to the stage before Trump went on. He led the crowd in a chant of, “Donald Trump is welcome here! Donald Trump is welcome here!” — evoking 2016-era anti-Trump chants of “immigrants are welcome here.”

Trump campaign volunteers set up voter registration tables and a flag reading “TRUMP 2024” was hoisted above the rally from a huge crane.

“We’re showing our support because we’re looking for a big turnaround with closing the borders, getting somebody in charge that can run the country financially,” said Thomas Auringer, CEO U.S. Crane and Rigging LLC., a business partially based out of nearby City Island.

Graham Smith, a retired truck driver from Ocean County, N.J., came to the Bronx because he said he wanted to have a “fun time.”

“Most of the people are actually really decent, and you know it’s a fun time,” said Smith, a lifelong Republican.

“[Trump] is the only choice, because Biden has been a disaster,” he added. “How much does it cost you to fill up your car? How much does it cost you to buy groceries for your family?”