Trump's Madison Square Garden event features crude and racist insults

Donald Trump took the stage Sunday night at New York’s Madison Square Garden to deliver his campaign's closing argument with the election nine days away after several of his allies used crude and racist insults toward U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris and other critics of the former president.

Donald Trump took the stage Sunday night at New York’s Madison Square Garden to deliver his campaign's closing argument with the election nine days away after several of his allies used crude and racist insults toward U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris and other critics of the former president.

The Republican nominee began by asking the same questions he’s asked at the start of every recent rally: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” The crowd responded with a resounding “No!”

“This election is a choice between whether we’ll have four more years of gross incompetence and failure, or whether we’ll begin the greatest years in the history of our country,” he said after being introduced by his wife, Melania Trump, whose rare surprise appearance comes after she has been largely absent on the campaign trail.

Several speakers earlier on Sunday crudely insulted Harris, who is vying to become the first woman and Black woman to win the presidency. And a stand-up comedian made lewd and racist comments about Latinos, Jews and Black people, all key constituencies in the election just nine days away.

“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” said comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose joke was immediately criticized by Harris’ campaign as it competes with Trump to win over Puerto Rican communities in Pennsylvania and other swing states. Shortly after Hinchcliffe’s appearance, music superstar Bad Bunny, who is from Puerto Rico, endorsed Harris.

Trump’s childhood friend David Rem, meanwhile, referred to Harris as “the Antichrist” and “the devil.” Businessman Grant Cardone told the crowd that Harris ”and her pimp handlers will destroy our country.” And former Fox News host Tucker Carlson called Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, “a Samoan, Malaysian, low-IQ former California prosecutor.”