Donald Trump Bronx Rally Sparks Fight Between Organizers

Organizers are clashing over who initiated and organized Donald Trump’s campaign rally and pre-rally in the South Bronx, a largely Democratic neighborhood.

Lattina Brown, a former candidate for New York City Council’s 17th District, claims she pitched the idea and spearheaded the pre-rally organization efforts, accusing Gavin Wax, president of the New York Young Republican Club, of depriving her and the other community leaders credit. On Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast Wednesday, Wax said he floated the idea for a South Bronx rally to Trump in December.

The former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee will appear at the evening rally at Crotona Park in the South Bronx. Crowds were gathering hours before the event.

The South Bronx is predominantly Hispanic, 64 percent, and Black, 31 percent, according to a 2023 report by the New York State Comptroller’s Office, and is a region of the Bronx borough that typically votes overwhelmingly for Democrats.

However, a May 13 Siena College poll of 1,191 registered voters showed President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, leading Trump in New York state, 47 percent to 38 percent, a sharp decline from his 2020 victory by 23 points in the state. The poll also showed Biden down 20 points in New York City, but still leading Trump.

Trump was born in the Queens borough of New York City and has conducted business in the city for decades. He is currently embroiled in his hush money trial in Manhattan Criminal Court, as closing arguments in the case are expected on Tuesday.

In a long post on X, formerly Twitter, early Thursday, Brown called Wax’s comments taking credit for organizing “a huge disrespect and an insult.” The post, which included a video segment of Wax on War Room, stated, “This is my community and for you to take credit for something you did not organize takes away from the Black and Brown community.”

“I met with the leaders. I set up the calls. I sent out emails,” Brown wrote. “I did something that nobody else had the guts to do,” she said, adding, “a Democrat put this entire pre-rally together with no money behind it and it gained national attention.” She called upon the Republican National Convention’s research arm to “make this right.”

On Bannon’s show, Wax said the idea for the rally originated at the New York Young Republican Club’s December gala, saying, “President Trump was there, we were talking.” Wax says he suggested the idea to Trump by saying, “‘Reagan tried it: failed; Carter tried it: he failed. You know what would be better than President Trump going to his hometown, New York City, and doing a successful visit to the South Bronx? I think that would set the stage for an electoral landslide.’ He loved it.”

Newsweek reached out via email to the New York Young Republican Club for comment on Thursday.

In Brown’s post, she tagged Derrick Gibson, a self-described MAGA Republican running for New York State governor in 2026 who was disqualified in 2022, saying she brought the idea to Gibson four months ago, then began organizing.

Gibson reposted the video of Wax speaking with Bannon on his X account, with several laughing emojis saying that “y’all late to the party. It was @LattinaBrown the South Bronx resident who put this together to encourage @realDonaldTrump to come there. Black Patriots 4 Trump. Amazing how everyone else wants to take credit from her.”

He also reposted Brown’s X post, saying: “Black Patriots 4 Trump can attest to this. Thank you @LattinaBrown for all your help putting the successful project together.”

The group Black Patriots for Trump on Saturday held a rally at Bill Rainey Park in the Bronx. In an X post, Brown called it the “pre-rally,” an organizing event in the lead-up to Trump’s expectedly large rally on Thursday. In previous X posts about the pre-rally, Brown wrote, “this is about uniting blacks, Latinos, whites, and Asians together.” Another post lists the pre-rally organizers as Gibson, the Reverend Ruben Diaz Sr., and Brown.