Outside Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, the streets Sunday afternoon were a sea of red, white and blue. Some people had arrived Saturday morning for former President Donald J. Trump’s rally scheduled for 5 p.m.
On the side of the Garden, a screen several stories high showed a behemoth Trump astride skyscrapers, pointing uptown, beside the words “Dream Big Again!”
Vendors did a brisk business in “Make America Great Again” ball caps. Members of a pro-Trump Jewish group threw arms around one another’s shoulders and sang a prayer in Hebrew. Some enthusiastic supporters predicted a red tsunami so huge that it could engulf even New York, where the former president trails in the polls by about 15 percentage points. Among likely voters in New York City, he is behind by 39 points.
Gregory Lamb, 27, from the Westchester County suburb of Mamaroneck, N.Y., and his father weaved through the thick crowd to get to the front of a “special guest” line. Mr. Lamb had gotten tickets through a campaign connection after volunteering to be a poll watcher.
“Kamala said during the debate that people don’t show up to Trump’s rallies, and that people are always bored and want to leave,” Mr. Lamb said. “I wanted to show her that we show up — and look how many people are around. We’re here and we’re not going anywhere.”
As the introductory speakers started inside the Garden, about 100 protesters assembled on the steps of Moynihan Train Hall across Eighth Avenue. Jennifer Fisher, 64, of Manhattan held up a sign with a photo of a 1939 pro-Hitler rally held at the Garden (which was then in another location).
She said she had a 93-year-old relative who had fled the Nazi regime in Austria through the Kindertransport program. “She told me one day she woke up, and half the world was crazy,” Ms. Fisher said. “That’s what it feels like now.”
Nadine Seiler, 59, held a sign that read, “Trump Should Be in Prison Now.” She had made it for a visit to New York in July, when Mr. Trump was initially scheduled to be sentenced after his felony convictions.
“This is New York City; there’s no way these people should outnumber us,” said Ms. Seiler, looking at the MAGA crowd.
The people in the pro-Trump crowd came from far and wide, arriving from Long Island and Queens and Staten Island and from as far away as Orlando, Fla.; Charleston, S.C.; and Arlington, Va. There was a large New Jersey contingent and some from Connecticut.
One supporter from New York City, Randy Ireland, 50, said he was often met with negative comments when he wore his MAGA hat in his neighborhood, Long Island City in Queens.
Mr. Ireland, an Air Force veteran, worries about the possibility of crime committed by recent migrants, some of whom stay in shelters near where he lives.
He mentioned the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which has made inroads in New York City and is one of Mr. Trump’s frequent talking points on illegal immigration. The police say gang members have been snatching cellphones and robbing high-end department stores.
Mr. Ireland expressed sympathy for migrants who come for a better life but said that regarding illegal immigration, “There needs to be some accountability in Washington for how it affects the rest of us.”
On a New Jersey Transit train rumbling up the Jersey Shore toward New York, Danielle Roman, 26, a nursing student headed to the rally, said that she believed Mr. Trump was a better advocate for women than Vice President Kamala Harris, including on abortion.
“He wants to leave it up to the states, which I agree with,” she said.
Some New Yorkers who had not heard about the event seemed mystified.
Adam Jackson, a bartender from the Bronx, stepped out of the subway and froze when he saw the throng of Trump fans filling the corner.
“It’s jarring,” said Mr. Jackson, 24. “Why? Why?”
Shortly after 3:30 p.m., big screens outside the Garden flashed bad news to those still waiting: The venue, which has an advertised capacity of 19,500 minus the space taken up by a production, was full.
For Dan and Richele Skarda of Woodbridge, N.J., who had been in line for an hour, the trip was still worth it.
“I got to see it, I got to feel it, I got to experience it,” said Mr. Skarda, 57.
Ms. Skarda added, “I’ve had more fun here now than I’ve had in forever.”
The couple planned to have dinner in the city, and Mr. Skarda suggested they find a motel in New Jersey. This would tide them over until their next date in two weeks: Iron Maiden at the Prudential Center in Newark.
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