NEW YORK—Former President Donald Trump delivered a campaign speech at New York City’s Madison Square Garden for the first time in his political career on Sunday.
Speaking before tens of thousands of supporters, Trump covered a range of topics, promising to end inflation, secure the southern border, and end the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East, among other issues.
Tax Credit for Family Caregivers
Trump proposed a tax credit for family members who take care of their loved ones at home.“I’m announcing a new policy today that I will support a tax credit for family caregivers who take care of a parent or a loved one. It’s about time that they were recognized, right? They add so much to our country and are never spoken of, ever, ever, ever, but they’re going to be spoken of now,” Trump said.
The former president did not describe specifics of the proposal. The GOP party platform released this summer includes a paragraph which appears to describe a similar policy.
The ‘Little Secret’
In an aside comment which Trump appeared to make to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Trump referred to a “little secret” which will help Republicans win continued control of the U.S. House of Representatives.“You know, with me, we got to get the Congressman elected, and we got to get the senators elected, because we can take the Senate pretty easily,” Trump said.
“And I think with our little secret, we’re going to do really well with the house, right? Our little secret is having a big impact. He and I have a secret. We'll tell you what it is when the race is over.”
The Call From Google’s CEO
Trump repeated a story he recently told about getting a call from the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai. He said Pichai told him that the traffic generated by the stories about a campaign event at a McDonald’s restaurant.“I got a call from Sundar, very smart guy at Google,” Trump said. “He called and he said, we’ve had more hits on McDonald’s and … I think he said anything we’ve ever had, but let’s say it’s close.”
Google did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump had previously related the same story during his interview with Joe Rogan.
The former president’s visit to a McDonald’s restaurant in Pennsylvania included a brief shift at the french fry station and several customer interactions at the drive-thru window. The visit was in part a response to Harris, who has said she has worked in a McDonald’s.
Trump earlier this month said that he called the head of Google to complain about the search engine’s treatment of stories about his campaign.
“And I called the head of Google the other day and I said, ‘I’m getting a lot of good stories lately, but you don’t find them in Google.’ I think it’s a whole rigged deal.”
Praise for Musk
The former president spent roughly five minutes praising SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has campaigned for Trump in Pennsylvania.“And I call him, I said, Elon, was that you? This is like, about four minutes after, was that you? Yeah, that was me. I say, ‘Elon, you’re a genius. You are a genius.’
“I said, Elon, let me ask you a question, can Russia do that? ‘No.’ Can China do that? ‘No.’ Can anybody do that, other than you? ‘Nobody else can do it,’” Trump continued. “And he said, ‘and they won’t be able to for 10 years.’”
Eric Adams
Trump suggested that New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted as punishment for speaking out against the Biden administration’s border policies.“When he said that this whole thing with the migrants coming into New York, this is just not sustainable. … It’s not feasible. It’s not not good. He said it very nicely. I said, well, he’s going to be indicted by these lunatics. A year later, he got indicted,” Trump said.
The former president previously made the same claim in passing during his speech at the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner.
The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
