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Ocasio-Cortez Warns Trump NYC Rally Was Primer for Taking Power 'by Force'
"That's what they're doing when they're inciting violence and hatred against Latinos, against Black Americans, against Americans who don't have children."
Oct 28, 2024
U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned Monday that the hate-filled campaign rally held by former Republican President Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York City was meant to further prime supporters for another January 6-style attempt to seize power by force if Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris wins next month's election.
Sunday's event—which drew comparisons to a 1939 Nazi rally that packed the iconic Midtown Manhattan arena—featured speakers including billionaire Elon Musk, conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage."
Although the Trump campaign has attempted to distance the GOP presidential candidate from Hinchcliffe's bigoted remarks, Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said during a Monday interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that Sunday's event was "not just a presidential rally," it was "a hate rally."
"I think it's important for people to understand that these are mini January 6 rallies. These are mini 'Stop the Steal' rallies," Ocasio-Cortez said, referring to the 2021 Capitol insurrection and movement born from the conspiracy theory that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential contest from Trump.
"These are rallies to prime an electorate into rejecting the results of an election if it doesn't go the way that they want, because Donald Trump and that entire cadre of people up on that stage... do not respect the law of the United States of America, and they either want to win this election or they are using rhetoric of taking it by force," she continued.
"That is what they mean, and that's what they're doing when they're inciting violence and hatred against Latinos, against Black Americans, against Americans who don't have children."
Ocasio-Cortez singled out the Republican vice presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), for "talking about watering down peoples' right to vote depending on if they can viably carry a child or not."
"We have to understand how unhinged this campaign has gotten and the only reason that the rhetoric has gotten this far is precisely because they are trying to prime the kind of froth that led to the January 6 attack on the Capitol," she said.
"And so it's very important that we connect those dots, and right now the [Trump] campaign is scrambling and they're trying to blame this rhetoric on a so-called comedian?" Ocasio-Cortez added. "This is not a comedian. This is the Trump campaign. They invited this rhetoric on their stage for a reason."
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Electing Our Future: NYC Needs a Climate-Conscious Mayor
Let us use Eric Adams’ indictment as a moment to not only address the city’s corruption but to turn the page from a local government complacent with climate inaction to one that is invested in climate justice.
Oct 23, 2024
Hurricanes Helene and Milton have once again brought climate change to the attention of many voters. With so much dialogue regarding hurricane response directed toward the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the president, it is important to remember that local governments play a vital role in climate change initiatives.
Local governments are significant actors in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts through city policy, zoning decisions, funding distributions, and the enforcement of emissions laws. As New York City grapples with the indictment of Mayor Eric Adams and a fast-approaching mayoral election, residents should look south for motivation.
NYC needs a mayor that is a champion for the climate justice movement to curb emissions, increase local resilience, and build adaptive capacity to help avoid the catastrophic scenarios witnessed this month from Florida to North Carolina.
Reign of Error
Following the “reign,” as he recently put it, of Mayor Eric Adams, the city’s emissions projections remain bleak. In 2022, according to the emissions inventories provided by the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice, New York City released 53.7 million tons of carbon-dioxide equivalent into the atmosphere, a 17% decrease from the city’s 2005 benchmark. This is markedly short of the city’s goal to reduce emissions by 40% (from the benchmark) by 2030 and clearly not on track for the goal to achieve an 80% reduction by 2050.
According to the “One City, Built to Last” report released in 2014 under Mayor Bill de Blassio, two-thirds of these emissions reductions will need to come from building efficiency. A goal of 35% building emissions reduction by 2025 was set under this plan. Now, just two months from 2025, the reduction of buildings emissions is just 22%. Law 97, an attempt to decrease building emissions by 40% by 2030, has proven to be largely ineffective. The penalty set in place by the law is much too low for the world’s top financial and real estate companies at just $268 dollars per ton of carbon over the limit. Also, with only 30 staff members dedicated to enforcing the law, the estimated 3,700 buildings that are not complying with the law may never be held accountable. Additionally, Mayor Adams has created another loophole for these non-compliers, Renewable Energy Credits that will allow the owners of these buildings to buy credits to offset their emissions while maintaining their dangerous emissions levels.
Transportation, the second largest emitting sector in the city, has decreased only 3% from the 2005 benchmark. The vast majority of transportation emissions comes from on-road vehicles, 58% of which are privately owned according to a recent New York Times report. A policy passed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to decrease the number of vehicles in the city, Congestion Pricing, was shot down by Gov. Kathy Hochul before it even took effect. The response from Mayor Adams? He undermined the policy by agreeing with the governor’s decision. NYC was set to be the first city in the country to introduce congestion pricing, which may have served as a model and had a lasting impact on the future of green cities in the U.S..
A City in Peril
As Eric Adams continues to pander to the financiers of the fossil fuel industry, (who helped fund his campaign) and ultra-wealthy real estate owners, climate change projections for the city are becoming increasingly frightening. The New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC) 2022 report on climate risks states that sea level rise (SLR), flooding, and heatwaves will be among the most threatening climate change impacts for the city.
SLR estimates are dependent on global trends in emissions and associated warming so are difficult to predict on a local level. At the low end of the NPCC estimates, SLR is expected to reach 12 inches by 2050 and, at the high end, 23 inches. By the end of the century, SLR will be between 25 and 65inches, making many low-lying areas like Brighton Beach, Rockaway Beach, and Midland Beach uninhabitable, and leaving areas across NYC extremely vulnerable to flooding. Increasingly intense and unpredictable tropical storms and cyclones will make Superstorm Sandy level events more frequent, consequently threatening lives and depleting disaster recovery funding.
Heatwaves are expected to increase in frequency and intensity, which could be detrimental for New Yorkers living and working in an already deadly heat island that claims 350 lives per year. Extreme heat events are increasing at a rate of 0.47 days per decade in Central Park and about one day per decade at LaGuardia. Heatwaves and increasing temperatures will affect low-income communities disproportionately where the heat island effect is greatest due to a lack of tree coverage and green spaces.
The Case for a Climate Justice Mayor
Let us use Eric Adams’ indictment as a moment to not only address the city’s corruption but to turn the page from a local government complacent with climate inaction to one that is invested in climate justice. We need a mayor that does not have deep ties with the funders of global warming but one that has deep ties in community organizing. We need a mayor that understands the dire consequences climate change will have on the city, from the economy to people’s livelihoods. We need a mayor that can help transform the city into a living example of a sustainable and equitable city. We need a mayor that cares about the future.
Of course, a mayor alone cannot not fix the plethora of climate change related issues the city is facing. But here is what a climate and community focused mayor could do for the city.
- Use New York City’s political and economic power to challenge Gov. Hochul when she makes irresponsible decisions, like shooting down Congestion Pricing and refusing to sign the Climate Change Superfund Act.
- Enforce existing buildings emissions caps and propose stricter emissions laws.
- Advocate for zoning laws that will promote renewable energy production.
- Create building codes that require greater energy efficiency while simultaneously ensuring infrastructural resilience to climate change impacts.
- Increase the pace of electrifying the city’s fleets and adding solar to all public buildings.
- Work directly with low-income communities to increase their climate resilience while protecting the areas from climate gentrification.
- Work directly with young activists and students who will be affected by climate change for their entire lives.
- Stop cop city, as it is part of a carceral system that disproportionately affects Black and brown communities, leading to inequity and increased vulnerability.
- Divert funding from the police system to climate change initiatives, homelessness services, and community organizations.
- Fix the city’s corruption.
As we saw this month in the South, entire cities’ futures rest on our ability to mitigate climate change and adapt to its powerful impacts. A climate justice mayor will lower the city’s emissions and increase the city’s resilience and adaptive capacity by focusing on improving social services; ending the city’s corruption; and working directly with civic groups, young people, and low-income communities. New Yorkers and the media must make climate justice the forefront of campaign issues as the mayoral election heats up.
Sunrise Movement NYC is a youth movement pushing to replace Eric Adams with a mayor who takes bold action to make environmental, economic, and racial justice the NYC standard. Follow the Sunrise Movement NYC Hub or @sunrisemvmtnyc on instagram to get involved and learn more about the future we are fighting for.
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Central Park 5 Sue Trump for Defamatory Debate Comments
The suit states that the incident "was part of a continuing pattern of extreme and outrageous conduct toward plaintiffs stretching back decades."
Oct 21, 2024
Men wrongfully convicted of assaulting Central Park joggers in 1989 sued former U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday for recent remarks he made during a debate as the Republican nominee for the November election.
While debating Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia last month, Trump "made several statements concerning the 'Central Park Five'... now also known as the Exonerated Five," states the defamation lawsuit.
The men—Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown, and Korey Wise—were ages 14 to 16 at the time of the case. After all serving time behind bars, they were finally exonerated in 2002.
During the only Trump-Harris debate of this cycle, the Democrat cited various examples of Trump's troubling history of racism. She said: "Let's remember, this is the same individual who took out a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for the execution of five young Black and Latino boys who were innocent, the Central Park Five. Took out a full-page ad calling for their execution."
Trump said in September that "a lot of people... agreed with me on the Central Park Five," adding: "They admitted—they said, they pled guilty. And I said, well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately. And if they pled guilty—then they pled, we're not guilty."
The new suit says that "these statements are demonstrably false. Plaintiffs never pled guilty to any crime and were subsequently cleared of all wrongdoing. Further, the victims of the Central Park assaults were not killed."
"While in police custody, plaintiffs were each separately subjected to hours of coercive interrogation, under duress, with no attorney present and often without a parent or guardian present," the filing explains. "Plaintiffs all initially denied having any knowledge of the Central Park assaults. However, after hours of interrogation, four of the Plaintiffs agreed to provide written and videotaped statements in which they falsely admitted to having been present during the assaults."
Salaam, a Democrat on the New York City Council, "attended the September 10 debate in person and was in the room when defendant Trump made his false and defamatory statements," the suit notes. In the post-debate "spin room," Salaam tried to "politely dialogue" with the ex-president, who "refused to engage."
The document emphasizes that "defendant Trump's conduct at the September 10 debate was part of a continuing pattern of extreme and outrageous conduct toward plaintiffs stretching back decades."
As CNNreported Monday:
Trump has continued to be critical of the case as he's moved into politics in recent years. In October 2016, then-candidate Trump stood by his actions during the time of the case, telling CNN, "They admitted they were guilty."
And in 2014, Trump wrote in an op-ed in the New York Daily News that New York City's $41 million settlement with the five men was "a disgrace."
According to the suit, filed in federal court in Pennsylvania, the men are asking for "compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial, along with pre- and post-judgment interest, costs, and such other relief as the court deems just and proper."
Trump was previously found to have defamed journalist E. Jean Carroll regarding rape allegations she made against him and convicted of 34 felony charges related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 presidential election. The former president also faces ongoing state and federal cases for his attempt to overturn his 2020 loss.
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