Former President Donald Trump told Breitbart News that he may hold a rally at Madison Square Garden as part of his strategy to win deep-blue states like New York.
“I’m going to make a heavy play for New York, heavy play for New Jersey, heavy play for Virginia, heavy play for New Mexico, and a heavy play for a state that hasn’t been won in years, Minnesota,” Trump told Breitbart. “I’m going to do rallies, I’m going to do speeches, I’m going to work them. That doesn’t mean I’m going to work them as hard as I work Pennsylvania, where I’m doing very well.
“But we’re going to do these other states too, and it will be a heavy move,” Trump said. “I may rent Madison Square Garden and that’s the belly of the beast, right?”
Breitbart reporters Matthew Boyle and Alexander Marlow explained the significance of “The Garden”:
A Trump rally in Madison Square Garden certainly would be the “belly of the beast” in the heart of a Democrat stronghold, but it’s also in a city near and dear to Trump’s heart. Trump recently appeared at Madison Square Garden alongside former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, rocker Kid Rock, his son Donald Trump Jr., and UFC’s Dana White for the big UFC fight there in November. When Trump walked into the Garden, the crowd went wild. While that was a big moment for him, doing his own rally there would be a significantly bigger step and investment of campaign resources into the heart of a deep-blue state.
“We have some very good people there,” Trump said of New York Republicans, including Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY).
“So, I believe we have a chance to win New York. I believe we have a chance to win New Jersey. If you look at Lee, he lost by a pretty close race. But it’s 100 times worse now than it was two years ago. Now, you have people — you have migrants living on Madison Avenue. You can’t get into a hospital. You can’t get into a school. You go to a public school and half the kids are sitting there and have no idea what the teacher is saying. You can’t get into these schools. I think it’s really bad and I think the people in New York and New Jersey and a lot of these states are — it would have been semi-unthinkable but I think these are states that can be won.”
