This evening, the former president is set to hold a
rally at the
How Do I Say This Crotona Park in the Bronx.
Yes, President Joe Biden defeated Trump in the Bronx by
over
67 points in 2020. In 2016,
Donald Trump lost the Bronx to Hillary Clinton by nearly
80 points.
And ahead of that rally,
the Biden Harris 2024 campaign is out with a brand
new ad highlighting the dire threat Donald Trump poses to
Black America if he's re elected.
I'm Joe Biden and I approve this message.
Of course I hate these people.
Donald Trump disrespecting black folk is nothing new.
He was sued for refusing to rent his apartments to
black families and called for the execution of five innocent
black and brown teenagers.
And it's more than anger.
It's hatred. It's why Trump stood with violent white supremacists,
warned of a bloodbath if he loses the next election
and if he's president again,
vowed to be a dictator who wants revenge on his
enemies.
Now who do you think that is?
Of course, I hate these people.
Grab your thoughts on that ad.
I think that ad is,
first of all, is accurate.
I was involved in fighting him on housing discrimination and
marched on him about the Central Park fire.
So they're not stretching the truth.
That is his record and you must remember that in
all of the racial issues we've had in New York
from Howard Beach in the 80s where black kid was
killed just for being in a white neighborhood.
Till now, the only race sensitive case Donald Trump ever
stood up on was to say that 5 black and
brown young men should face the death penalty when
a white woman was brutally and viciously beaten and raped
in Central Park and end up.
They didn't do it and he still wouldn't take it
back.
He never stood up on any the issue he was
president when George Floyd happened,
the biggest case in in in recent memory,
he was president and did nothing other than say if
the looting starts,
the shooting starts. So Congressman Torres and you and I've
worked on many of these issues together for him to
come to your district.
First of all, he'll probably import some of the crowd
because there's certainly not a lot of fervor for him
there.
But I, I think that it,
it, it, he's using it as a prop since he's
kind of cornered into having to be in New York
and can't do a lot because he's on criminal trial.
How do you see the response in your district and,
and, and in the Bronxes of the country?
Because it could backfire and energize a lot of people
to get angry that he's maneuvering us sort of as
a backdrop to him being
having to be in New York for his criminal trial.
All
right. I think as far as we're concerned,
you know, Donald Trump is nothing more than a criminal
suspect facing 91 felony counts desperately searching for a self
pardon.
So it's obvious to all of us that his priority
is not the people of the Bronx.
His priority is a self pardon and self preservation.
And I'm confident that the people of the Bronx are
not going to buy
the snake oil he's selling.
I mean, his presidency was a catastrophe for the Bronx.
His mismanagement of COVID left a death toll of more
than 7000 in the Bronx,
which is greater than the combined death count of Pearl
Harbor 911.
So instead of holding a rally in Crotona Park,
he should be apologizing to the people of the Bronx
for the damage he's done.
Willie Congressman, good morning. You've written a new op-ed in
the New York Daily News titled The Bronx Gives a
Bronx Cheer to Donald Trump.
In it, the congressman writes,
quote, the Bronx is the bluest county in America.
Is Trump so arrogant as to believe he's the one
Republican who can compete in the bluest Congressional District?
In answering that question, one must be reminded of who
Trump is,
A malignant narcissist with boundless delusions of grandeur.
He once declared himself the best president ever for African
Americans,
even surpassing Abraham Lincoln. If only Lincoln had read The
Art of the Deal,
he tells himself, the Civil War would have been averted
just like October 7th or 9/11,
or every human tragedy that has ever transpired would have
been prevented by the omnipotence that Trump seems to attribute
to himself.
Any megalomaniac who ranks himself above Lincoln is too dangerously
delusional to be anywhere near the Bronx,
let alone the White House.
That is the congressman's op-ed part of it in the
New York Daily News today.
So, Congressman, there has been some concern if you look
at polling,
and we will use all the caveats that were almost,
you know, six months away from Election Day,
the Biden campaign believes that voters will come home.
But we have seen in polling anyway,
at this early stage, some black voters,
some Latino voters in numbers larger than we've seen in
the past for a Republican and numbers larger than we've
seen for Donald Trump over a couple of previous elections,
at least saying they are open to the idea of
voting for Donald Trump.
How much stock do you put into those numbers?
Look, obviously, we have to be careful not to treat
the Latino community as a monolith,
right? There are elements of the Latino community that are
open to voting for Republicans.
George W Bush, 140% of the vote in 2020.
Having said all that, I'm confident that the Bronx is
going to overwhelmingly reject Donald Trump.
Based on the polling data that I've seen among likely
voters in the Bronx,
Donald Trump is so unpopular as to be radioactive.
You know, he's even less popular than arsenic in the
Bronx.
So I'm confident that the Bronx is going to overwhelmingly
support Joe Biden.
I wonder where this crowd is going to come from.
Yeah, I want to just pick up where Willie is,
where you look at the numbers.
For African Americans, the economy has never been better for
them,
The wages has never been better.
Unemployment's never been better. Yet still,
to Willie's point, there is a disconnect,
particularly among black men. Try.
I can't figure that out.
Try and explain it as best as you can.
Look, I I sense men of all races.
I see it among Latino men,
African American men, white men.
There is a bitter disillusionment with the system.
There's a sense that the system is failing them.
And that transcends any particular presidency.
And obviously, there's a challenge of inflation,
which has been a global problem.
But, you know, we have to tell the story of
the Biden
administration's success. We've had the fastest recovery from COVID
of any major economy in the world.
The president is addressing the cost of living.
The Bronx has among the highest rates of diabetes.
Capping the price of insulin at
$35.00 a month is a game changer and a lifesaver
for the people of the Bronx.
You know, President Biden created
15,000,000 jobs compared to 2.9 million lost under Donald Trump.
Donald Trump claims that he's in favor of cutting taxes.
He imposed the largest tax increase in New York City
in recent history. The loss of SALT deductibility cost our
state $15 billion in revenue.
So New Yorkers are paying more in taxes and receiving
fewer services because of Donald Trump.
So, Congressman, you say you need to make the argument
better.
Democrats at large, you make the argument was pretty good
as to what the administration needs to do and you
started to there.
But are there a few points?
Does it seem like the Biden team is very proud
of it,
haven't broken through yet? Like,
for instance, the economy, You mentioned that,
but also the fact that it was Republicans who blocked
this border bill.
And it seems like immigration and migrants,
a major issue here in New York City also resonates
nationally. The crime has actually gone down in most places
this year.
How can they be sharpening their message to have that
actually breakthrough?
Because polls suggest it's not.
Look, I feel like I think we have to follow
the,
the, the Tom Swazi model in New York 3,
right? Instead of standing by passively and allowing the Republicans
to weaponize the issue of border security,
he leaned in, he proactively owned it.
He defused the bomb, so to speak.
And I feel like that should be the template that
we follow on a national stage.
Don't, don't. We
aren't we helped by looking at
2020 when the polls also said that
Trump was having this bump up with black men and
it didn't happen.
And I think, again, we're repeating the same mistake that,
yes, some black men will go there as they did
in 20.
But he ended up getting just about what most Republicans
got.
And I think that we shouldn't get twisted with that.
The other thing I want to ask you,
Congressman, it has been suggested to me,
we don't know the makeup of his jury in this
hush money
trial. And maybe there's some blacks and Latinos in the
jury.
Maybe this thing tonight is really about his lawyers saying
we need to soften up some people in the jury
that may look at you as racist or bigoted because
he could not be campaigning for votes.
He could be campaigning to a jury.
Look, if Donald Trump did not have a criminal trial
in New York City,
he would never be caught dead in the Bronx.
And as far as I'm concerned,
the only place in the Bronx where Donald Trump has
any place being
as Bronx Criminal Court, OK.