Trump gears up for unique South Bronx rally

What we're watching: Trump is expected to talk about the economy, crime and immigration in front of a crowd of several thousand at Crotona Park in South Bronx, New York.

• It will be his first large-scale campaign rally in New York since 2016.

The details: The New York Young Republican Club has been a key partner to the Trump campaign in setting up the rally and trying to get the word out.

• It has been working with the predominantly Hispanic members of the Bodega Association and the National Supermarket Association, made up of independent supermarket owners.
• The two associations' members have been putting up some 5,000 double-sided bilingual flyers up on storefronts along their usual restocking routes and on street corners.
• The New York Young Republican Club has also been advertising the event on electronic billboards in the Bronx in both English and Spanish.

The other side: New York Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have not been pleased with Trump's expected visit.

• "He's hosting a rally to try to con people ... and by the way, he's doing it in the South Bronx ... because he's got the legal version of an ankle bracelet. You can't leave the five boroughs because you always have to be in court. And so it is truly an embarrassment to him," Ocasio-Cortez said.
• Bronx Democrats are counterprogramming Trump's rally with a demonstration of their own at the other end of Crotona Park, the New York Post reported.
• Jasmine Harris, the Biden campaign's Black media outreach director, called Trump's rally "a halfhearted attempt ... to pander for Black and Latino votes," adding he "stepped into public life by falsely accusing the Central Park 5 [and] taking the racist birther movement mainstream."

By the numbers: 10,000 people had signed up to attend the rally, a person involved in organizing the event said this week.

• The Trump campaign has filed a permit for 3,500 people.

How it happened: The Trump campaign and New York Young Republican Club started planning for an event in New York this year after Trump attended the Club's Gala last December.

• Other outdoor venues that were considered included St Mary's Park and Claremont Park, both in the Bronx.
• New York City Council's Republican minority leader Joseph Borelli helped the Trump campaign with some of the planning, including getting the paperwork for the venue.

What they're saying: "I certainly think it's novel and it's historic," New York Young Republican Club President Gavin Wax told Axios in an interview.

• "I think there's a lot of people [planning to attend] who may not be described as Trump supporters by any means," he said.

The bottom line: President Biden won the Bronx in 2020 with 83.3% of the vote.