Trump peddles lies and bashes Harris to thousands of supporters at surreal MSG rally: Election live updates

Donald Trump claimed that the US was “very close to World War III,” and said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel would not have occurred if he had been president.

“All those people would be alive,” Trump claimed.

He then pivoted to inflation, claiming there would have been no inflation under his presidency. He said inflation was caused in part by government overspending on the “Green New Scam” — referencing the Green New Deal — which is incorrect.

Trump then insinuated that Kamala Harris would lead the US into another war, and baselessly suggested that the draft might be reintroduced under her leadership.

There is no evidence to believe that the draft will be reintroduced.

Trump said that he “got along” with the world leaders, and claimed he told Russian President Vladimir Putin “don’t go in” to Ukraine.

Donald Trump said that his possible next term would usher in “America’s new golden age,” and said that it would happen “very quickly” once he takes office.

He said “Kamala Harris, you’re fired,” — invoking his Apprentice catch-phrase — to wild applause.

Trump accused Kamala Harris, specifically, of causing inflation, pushing for higher taxes, and killing jobs. Harris, even if she wanted to, has no such power to do any of what he claims.

The former president said he would “massively cut taxes,” including “no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security benefits for our seniors.”

He also announced a tax credit program for caregivers who are taking care of a parent or family member, and said he’d make interest on car loans tax deductible, so long as the car is made in the US.

He provided no details as to how any of those programs would work.

Trump also said the US would achieve energy independence, and claimed that within one year he’d cut Americans’ energy prices in half — via “drill baby drill” policies.

He then lied to the crowd and claimed thee was “nobody” doing hurricane relief work in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.

Trump said that the federal government could not help in North Carolina because it spent all of its disaster relief funds flying illegal immigrants into the US on “jets.”

FEMA has been active in North Carolina following the hurriance, and no FEMA disaster relief funds were used to fly migrants into the US or house them at the southern border. Trump is repeating a long-debunked lie that he and other Republicans have been pushing since Hurricane Helene.

He claimed the response to Hurricane Helene was worse than the response to Hurricane Katrina.

Melania Trump took the stage at her husband’s New York City rally to “Paradise City” by Guns n’ Roses, then launched into a bleak, but misguided, diatribe about how bad things are in the Big Apple — and the rest of the country.

The former first lady has made few appearances with her husband on the campaign trail. She attended the RNC in Milwaukee and the Al Smith dinner in New York City but has, for the most part, been absent. On Sunday, her speech was a surprise, as she was not on a pre-released list of speakers.

She came out to the famous Guns n’ Roses song, as frontman Axl Rose has spoken out against Donald Trump‘s use of the band’s songs without permission. The lively crowd launched into applause when Elon Musk introduced her.

Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk spoke at Donald Trump’s Sunday rally, where he once again introduced himself as “dark, gothic MAGA.”

Musk, who Trump has tapped to help allegedly reduce “waste” in the federal government through the “department of government efficiency,” said he thought he could help the US save “two trillion dollars.”

He called all federal spending “taxation.”

After explaining how he intended to gut the federal government, the crowd chanted “Elon.” The Tesla CEO ate up the adoration, saying “this is the kind of positive energy America is all about,” before leading a “USA” chant.

He then called for Republicans to make the margin of victory for Donald Trump in the 2024 election “so big that you know what can’t happen.”

His unsubtle omission suggested that Democrats would try to steal the election from Trump if the former president doesn’t win in 2024 by an overwhelming majority of votes.

Robert F Kennedy Jr — fresh off a scandal involving him carrying on a relationship with a reporter and bizarre stories about his dead brain worms, a dead bear cub, and a dead whale carcass — spoke in support of Donald Trump on Sunday.

RFK Jr initially tried to primary Joe Biden but then ran as an independent. He ultimately dropped out backed Trump.

“I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me,” he told the cheering crowd.

He said that the modern Democratic Party was the “party of war, the party of the CIA,” and was “dismantling women’s sports by letting men play women’s sports.”

“We don’t even know how Kamala Harris received the nomination,” RFK Jr said.

He also accused the Democrats of giving us the “sickest children in the world,” though it is typically Republicans who oppose agricultural and food production regulations.

The former primary candidate claimed that Trump would “rebuild the middle class,” despite the fact that Trump’s tax cut was responsible for a massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the richest Americans during his term.

The parade of defeated primary opponents continued at Donald Trump’s New York rally; former US Representative Tulsi Gabbard — who failed a Democratic presidential primary run in 2020 — took the stage. Gabbard recently announced she was joining the Republican Party.

“A vote for Kamala Harris is a vote for Dick Cheney,” Gabbard said, claiming that it was a vote for “nucelar war.”

She insited that Trump would keep the US out of war and would stop the nation’s involvement in ongoing conflicts around the world.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, Former Representative Liz Cheney, have both voiced their opposition to Trump.

She also claimed a vote for Harris was a vote for “censorship” and the “erosion” of American’s Constitutional rights.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani — fresh off a judge’s decision to turn over his property to Georgia election workers he defamed — took the stage at Madison Square Garden for Donald Trump’s rally on Sunday.

He started with an impression of Pope John Paul II calling New York city great.

Within a minute of being on the stage, he had referenced 9/11 and the New York Yankees.

Giuliani bungled a reference to East Palestine, Ohio by calling it “New Palestine” and referenced a “subway derailment.” East Palestine was the victim of a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals that derailed and polluted the city. There is no subway system in East Palestine.

The former mayor then discussed 9/11 again and likened it to the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel. He said he was “on the side of Israel” and claimed that Palestinians were taught from the age of 2 to kill Americans.

At one point Giuliani said “I’m not gonna do conspiracy, but I’m not not gonna do conspiracy,” after which he immediately posited the baseless conspiracy theory that Democrats were behind the assassination attempt on Trump, saying “they better not do it again.”

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has asked her Puerto Rican Democratic followers to widely share a clip of MAGA pdocaster Tony Hinchcliffe’s racist remarks about Puerto Rico to their families in an effort to convince them not to back Donald Trump in the upcoming election.

Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” during a speech he gave to open Donald Trump’s Sunday campaign rally at Madison Square Garden. He also made vulgar and racist remarks about Latinos in general.

She cut detractors claiming she’s overly-sensitive off at the pass, saying she “doesn’t give a s*** about crude humor,” but was annoyed that Hinchcliffe didn’t “own” his words when he insisted he was making fun of “everyone” during his opening set.

Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally has ended.

A live rendition of “New York, New York” began after his finished. Trump stood on stage with former First Lady Melania Trump during the song, mugging his approval of the singer throughout the song.

Immdiately after “New York, New York” ended, “YMCA” began and Trump left the stage.

Donald Trump suggested a bill that would see individuals who burn the American flag put in jail for a year.

The burning of the flag is a protected means of protest, and to criminalize it would be to limit Americans’ free speech rights — rights that people like Trump and his new buddy, Elon Musk, frequently claim they champion.