BRONX, N.Y. — Former President Donald Trump on Thursday became the first Republican presidential candidate to visit the South Bronx since Ronald Reagan did it in 1980. Trump has been severely limited in where he can campaign after Democrats weaponized the justice system against him and tied him down to a Manhattan courtroom, in what experts on both sides of the aisle have dubbed a “dubious” case.
Still, the Crotona Park rally was an opportunity for “Mr. New York” to speak to voters who told The Federalist that they have been suffering under President Joe Biden for four years.
Thursday morning began with a torrential downpour that I expected would dissuade New Yorkers from attending the rally. But by mid-afternoon, thousands of Trump supporters were standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the brutal humidity and direct sun in hopes of getting a glimpse of the former president. Not everyone made it into the rally area by the time Trump took the stage, as security seemed to move unreasonably slowly despite hours of check-in time. Still, the crowd buzzed with patriotic energy on the eve of a Memorial Day weekend.
Democrats ‘Think We’re Little Children’
Standing near the entrance of Crotona Park was an attendee named Sean, a first-time voter enthusiastically selling T-shirts that read “Trump Policies or Die.”
“I’m tired of the looting of the pharmacies, especially because I’m a diabetic. My pharmacy got looted so much that it closed down and now I gotta travel about 10 minutes to Harlem,” Sean told The Federalist.
“But it’s not just insulin prices though, it’s everything, like food too.”
Originally from Kingston, Jamaica and now a Bronx resident, Sean said it “has to be Trump policies” going forward.
“Democrats are sending all this money to Ukraine, it’s like they’re washing money. I’m from the hood, I know a lot about certain schemes,” Sean told The Federalist.
He also blamed white liberals for “trying to tell black people what’s good for them instead of asking. They think we’re little children and that’s how they talk to us.”
“But when you look at Republican values, black people are conservative, we’re not liberal,” Sean said, adding that when he first immigrated to the states, he was told by black people that he had to vote Democrat because they were the lesser of two evils.
“But it’s a con game! If you talk to the average black person, even LGBT issues, we don’t deal with that. We go to church a lot, and we talk about God and Jesus all the time but Democrat policies go against that. They’re pushing abortion.”
‘Not Making Ends Meet Any More’
Sincede Savoca is a hairdresser and business owner from Queens, but she says being a business owner doesn’t reap the same benefits it did just four years ago.
“The business doesn’t make money like it did before because the money is going on payroll taxes, workers comp, everything else,” Savoca told The Federalist. “All I hear from clients is they don’t come in anymore because things are tight — everyone has their challenges, but mainly it’s all about the price of gas, food, and just not making ends meet anymore. I was making ends meet under Trump.”
But it’s not just Savoca’s clients struggling with the price of food.
“I have a mom who is very sick, she has dementia and so I’m her caregiver, and when I go to the grocery market to make sure her needs are taken care of, that she’s getting the nutrition she needs, it practically leaves nothing for me and my husband because we’re on a tight budget,” the mother of three told The Federalist.
And things are only exacerbated by the influx of illegal migrants into her community, she told The Federalist.
“One man walked into my store, so hungry and begging for money for food, so I helped him out, but I think Biden made a bad decision opening the borders the way he did because now we’re paying for these people. It trickles down to us and we can barely afford it ourselves.”
‘We Need Trump To Come And Fix This’
Dilhara A., who said she had been a registered Democrat who switched parties after Trump burst onto the political scene in 2015, echoed similar sentiments as Savoca.
“I got very angry with the migrant crisis,” she told The Federalist.
Dilhara was born in Switzerland and currently resides in Staten Island, though her parents hail from Sri Lanka.
“I’m a brown woman but I’m angry about the crisis because when I came to this nation, I invested in school, then I worked my butt off and then I worked my way up. I never took anything. How come all these illegals get tons of money, they get tons of benefits, they get to live in good places, and we didnt get that?”
“You don’t open the d-mn border for migrants.”
Dilhara also shared how she and her family have struggled keeping up with rising prices.
“I’m making money and I can’t even save a penny. I have to live paycheck to paycheck,” Dilhara said.
“We made money under Trump, we were able to put money into our 401k. I have to wait for my next paycheck now. It’s horrendous what we go through. You go to the supermarket, I don’t think I’ve been this month because it’s so bad, the food items are so expensive. My heart goes out [to those] who have little children and they have to juggle these food bills.”
“We need Trump to come fix this,” she added.
‘A Gallon Of Milk Costs $6’
Twenty-three-year-old Steven Ducasse was the youngest supporter I spoke with — though certainly not the youngest there. Ducasse, who lives in the South Bronx and works as a 911 operator, says while it was his first rally, he voted for Trump in the past and considers himself a lifelong Republican, in part because Trump’s “political and moral views align” with his.
And some of those political views include policies that drive down costs, because as Ducasse said, the economy is a top concern.
“I’m most concerned that my community’s average median income is about $40,000 and a gallon of milk costs $6.”
“The rent is too high, the bills are too high and on top of that — you have to pay for groceries. We need to make things more affordable,” Ducasse said.
But, like other rally goers, Ducasse also expressed concern about the growing illegal migrant crisis.
“I run in Randall’s Island. If you know it, you love it. If you haven’t been, well — the migrant crisis there is horrible,” Ducasse said. “I had to change my route now, nothing against migrants but I think generally it’s a bit safer when you don’t have a breach of migrants into NYC.”
But it’s not just their illegal presence that affects Ducasse — it’s the drain on taxpayer resources.
“The unpaid tax dollars, the hotels that had vacancies but now don’t because migrants have been housed there, bunch of schools being occupied by migrants, you have to pick up the baggage,” he said. “And as a citizen of New York, I don’t want to pick up that baggage, we don’t have the money for that.”
‘Biden Is Making It Harder To Survive’
Danny M., donning a shirt that read “Traitor Joe’s,” lamented how Biden’s policies have made it “harder to survive.”
“It’s gotten much worse under Biden,” Danny, a New York City resident, said shaking his head. “Every time I go to the grocery store, the bill is insane. My credit card is going up, under Trump we had tax breaks. Biden is making it harder to survive.”
Danny, who has a young daughter and another on the way, said the economy is his top issue, followed by the border.
“I see the migrant crisis every day. People all over the corners begging for money or trying to sell things on the side of the road. It’s not safe.”
Bill Deegan, wearing a shirt plastered with Trump’s mugshot, nodded along, adding he’s also concerned about the lack of law and order.
“I want law and order, but law and order doesn’t mean anything anymore in the courts because they’re using it against Trump,” Deegan said. “They just want him out because they can’t beat him at the polls. The only way to get Trump out is to get him in jail.”
Trump ‘Is New York’
Steve Merczynski told The Federalist he felt he had “an obligation to be here as a New Yorker.”
“Trump has done so much for New York City, not just from when he saved the skating rink, but he raised the stature of New York City, he made it respectable from when it was near bankruptcy,” Merczynski said.
“He is New York. Everyone loved him and and to see him being treated like crap by New York City, it disgusts me.”
Merczynski didn’t skip a beat when asked what he cares most about heading into November.
“The economy, the border, crime, competency, and foreign policy.”
“Democrats told us ‘Oh, we need the adults back in the room.’ Well look what the adults did, we have two wars because of weakness, because we enriched Iran,” Merczynski said. “Democrats turned their back on Israel yet say Trump will turn his back on our allies. But our No. 1 ally, Israel, Democrats turned their back on … to have a few Arab votes in Michigan.”
But it’s not just Arab voters in Michigan that Biden is catering to. The president also announced this week he’d be charging taxpayers for additional student loan debt despite the Supreme Court previously ruling he did not have the authority.
“Biden is buying votes now even though the Supreme Court said he couldn’t,” Merczynski said. “Look how we’re paying off these rotten college kids … but what about people who didn’t go to college or paid their debt off?”
“And that’s another thing, ‘Trump is a threat to democracy’?” he added. “Biden and the Democrats are destroying democracy with the courts.”
