Trump vows NY win at Nassau Coliseum rally

Former President Donald Trump vowed to make Ground Zero a national monument, while painting a bleak picture of Long Island and New York City as overrun with Central American migrants during a raucous rally Wednesday at the Nassau Coliseum.

Trump spoke for nearly 90 minutes before a packed crowd inside the 16,000-seat arena. Many of his supporters camped overnight outside the Uniondale arena, as the 45th president attempts a feat no Republican has accomplished in 40 years — to win solidly blue New York State.

"It hasn’t been done in a long time," Trump said, "but we are going to win New York."

Speaking to a sea of Long Islanders sporting largely red Make America Great Again swag, from hats and pins to flags and T-shirts, Trump vowed to lower inflation, increase wages and defend American jobs while cutting interest rates and insurance costs. He offered few details on his policies.

Trump credited the U.S. Secret Service for stopping an apparent attempt on his life on Sunday in Florida — the second assassination attempt on him in recent months — and vowed to rebuild the nation’s bridges, subways and highways while increasing tariffs on products made in China and other nations.

And 23 years after the nation’s worst terror attack, Trump said he would make Ground Zero in lower Manhattan a national monument maintained by the federal government.

"That hallowed ground and the memory of those who perished there will be preserved for all time," he said.

In his first rally on Long Island since 2017, Trump railed against the policies of President Joe Biden, who defeated him in 2020, and Vice President Kamala Harris, who will be the Democratic candidate in November.

Trump directed some of his most inflammatory rhetoric at Harris, alleging that New York "will be like a Third World nation" if she wins.

And he offered a message to Democrats, who have painted Trump as an existential threat to democracy if he returns to office.

"I’m not a threat to democracy," Trump said. "They are."

The Harris campaign responded to Trump on the social media site X, reposting a clip where Trump told the Coliseum crowd: “Vote for Donald. What have you got to lose,” alongside an image of an article detailing the death of two Georgia women who died because they could not access medically necessary abortions in time.

It was the issue of immigration that appeared to most animate Trump, as he cited a litany of crimes he claimed were committed by migrants and vowed to establish a special task force to "crush the remnants" of the MS-13 street gang.

Trump pledged to stop the "invasion" across the Southern border into the United States and said, "illegal migrants are sucking your public resources dry."

Since the spring of 2022, more than 210,000 migrants have arrived in New York City, straining government resources including housing, medical services and meals, city officials have said.

"We’re going to get them out of our country," Trump said.

Trump also said he would travel to Springfield, Ohio, the focus of unsubstantiated claims targeting Haitian migrants eating pets, in the coming weeks.

Throughout his remarks, members of the crowd periodically chanted "build the wall," a throwback to Trump's first term.

Trump also pledged to eliminate the $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction, known as SALT — a measure he signed into law as president.

Long Island lawmakers from both parties have proposed bills to lift the cap each year since Trump signed it into law in 2017, but the majority of Republicans voted against and blocked those attempts.

Throughout his speech, Trump referenced a host of Long Island issues and some of its most recent tragic events.

He offered words of condolences to the family of NYPD officer Jonathan Diller, of Massapequa, who was shot and killed during a Queens traffic stop in March, and cited the 2016 slaying of Long Island teenagers Nisa Mickens and Kayla Cuevas by MS-13 members. Trump attended Diller’s funeral and invited the parents of Mickens and Cuevas to sit in his box at the 2018 State of the Union.

The rally also provided some lighter moments, with Trump at one point calling himself "the greatest of all time; maybe even greater than Elvis because Elvis had a guitar."

The event doubled as a showcase for Long Island congressional candidates, many of whom were cited by Trump from the stage.

Nassau GOP officials said they believe flipping New York is within reach and that Trump’s visit could help down-ballot candidates.

"It’ll be very helpful," said Joe Cairo, the Nassau GOP chair. "Lots of enthusiasm, excitement."

But State and Nassau County Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs, who led a counterprotest of about 50 people outside the Coliseum prior to the rally, said "Trump brought his campaign of division, hate and retribution to Nassau County. And Nassau County voters will wholeheartedly reject it on Election Day."

NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman added: "Tonight we heard the usual waterfall of lies, racism and cruelty from Donald Trump. When he spoke about New York, Trump used his two favorite political ploys: Fearmongering on crime and immigration."

Trump last held an event on Long Island when he spoke to police in Brentwood at Suffolk County Community College. He also held a rally in Bethpage in 2016.