The Democratic Party has long adhered to the aged adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Let’s face it: The decades-long tactic of branding Republicans as racist, sexist, bigoted homophobes has won them many elections. But any Democrat who bothered to watch even a few minutes of Donald Trump’s rally in the Bronx on Thursday night, or simply observed the people there and the electric atmosphere at the rally site, must know that all the things that have worked for them in the past, not go to work in 2024.
I have loved all of Trump’s rallies, but there is something special about this rally in New York.
A huge change is taking place.
Everyone comes together.Do you feel it? pic.twitter.com/yDiJMorYA6
— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) May 23, 2024
On the surface, the rally was like any other Trump rally. Estimates of its size vary, but it far exceeded the 3,500 that a permit allowed. Trump talked about Joe Biden and the Democrats’ policies that have destroyed the country, and how quickly he could, if re-elected, move the country away from those policies. What isn’t talked about much is how a billionaire, someone who has the means to do anything he wants, socializes with ordinary, average, everyday working Americans. The answer to that question is not what he said or did at the rally, but what he didn’t do.
Donald Trump held a huge, wildly successful rally in the Bronx today. That in itself is remarkable on many levels, but what I find quite remarkable is not what happened, but what DIDN’T happen. Let me explain.
The population in the Bronx is predominantly black and Hispanic.…
— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) May 24, 2024
At this or any other rally, Donald Trump is simply himself. At a rally in a place where the population is predominantly black and Hispanic, Trump did not feel the need to Turn into black preacher mode as former Vice President Al Gore did, or Hillary Clinton, who was compelled to tell a black audience: “I don’t feel tired at all.” Hillary took her pandering to the next level by saying in a 2016 interview with an urban radio station that she always carries hot sauce with her. Donald Trump didn’t need to pull hot sauce out of his pocket to build a “relationship” with his audience.
Donald Trump did not turn Americans against each other. In another nod to Hillary Clinton, he called no one “deplorable” and no one who disagrees with him “a threat to democracy.” Even New York Governor Kathy Hochul called her own constituents who attended the rally “clowns.” He rebuked the Democrats’ failings, but he was emphatic that we are all Americans first and foremost. No word on whether the media, which no doubt tried feverishly to edit that part out, succeeded.
As I watch the Trump rally in the Bronx, I ask myself: How is it possible that Donald Trump can speak for two hours without making any mistakes, and that Joe Biden speaks for 15 minutes and cannot finish a single sentence? pic.twitter.com/EwGAVXNJbY
— Carmine Sabia (@CarmineSabia) May 23, 2024
Donald Trump didn’t tell the people of the Bronx that he would give them endless government handouts or redistribute wealth to solve the borough’s problems. What he did say was that he knew how to repair an economy that Joe Biden and the Democrats had devastated so that Bronx residents could get themselves back on their feet by creating jobs, businesses, and education. He didn’t offer them serfdom; he offered them empowerment. It’s that declaration — that Bronx residents are not victims in any way, that they can tackle their borough’s problems — the same ones that many other places in America have, like crime and poverty — themselves, in a way that helps them all succeed.
In his graduation speech at Morehouse College, he said: Joe Biden told the graduates: America hates them because it’s racist. He told them they had to be “10 times better than everyone else to get a fair shot,” that “black men are being killed in the streets” and black communities are being left behind. Many of these graduates turned their backs on Joe Biden and his hackneyed fearmongering and his and the Democrats’ quadrennial promises designed to get votes, not to be kept.
Donald Trump’s best campaign tool in places like the Bronx will be word of mouth. The people who were at the rally will tell their families and friends what Trump says, and that message will prove consistent every time he says it because it’s sincere. And the best part is that it will spread faster than the media can slice it up.
Democrats must realize that their message is not getting through, but they will not try to figure out how to fix the problem.
Trump dances at the rally in the Bronx.
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 24, 2024
