Donald Trump campaigned before thousands of fans in one of the most heavily Democratic and non-white areas of the US on Thursday in a push to do what his critics believe is unthinkable: Win New York in 2024. 

The rally crowd in the South Bronx's Crotona Park extended far beyond the 3,500  slated to appear, and thousands were forced to wait outside the fenced in area hoping to catch a glimpse of the 45th president. 

Worryingly for the Democrats, the rally was packed with black and Hispanic people - two groups who Joe Biden has been accused of taking for granted - and who make up most of the population of the surrounding area.

As Trump fights to win minority voters, the real estate mogul delivered an hour-and-a-half speech about the decline of a city he loves - vowing to 'make New York City great again' and be the first Republican to win the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

'Everyone wanted to be here,' he told the crowd who waited for six hours to hear Trump. 'But sadly this is now a city in decline.' 

'But if a New Yorker can't save this country, no-one can' 

He also brought on stage rappers Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow. Trump admired the dazzling diamond 'grills' on their teeth, with the bling-loving Republican joking he wanted to get one for himself.

At one point during Trump claimed that immigrants from Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere were 'building an army' to attack Americans 'from within.'

Former President Donald Trump drew an estimated crowd of 25,000 people to his rally in the Bronx on Thursday afternoon. This snap helps show the size of the crowd

An enthusiastic support of presidential candidate Donald Trump shows her patriotic support at his Bronx rally on Thursday afternoon

At his Thursday afternoon rally in the Bronx, Donald Trump brought on stage rappers Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow (pictured center and right) so that they might offer him their endorsement before a cheering crowd 

As the two musicians mounted the stage to address Trump and the crowd, the former president couldn't help but compliment Sheff G's incredibly shiny grill.

'Oh I like that, I want to get that done,' Trump said as he shook hands with Sheff G, reacting immediately to the musician's glistening mouth.

Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow hopped on stage to a cheering crowd and briefly addressed the massive group.

Sheff G said into the microphone: 'One thing I want to say, they're always going to whisper your wins and shout your failures.

'Trump's gonna shout the wins for all of us,' he added.

Sleepy Hallow simply said: 'Make America Great Again,' which was met with uproarious applause.

As Trump thanked the gentlemen for their endorsements, he once again focused on on Sheff G's grill.

'Thank you very much,' he said to the rappers. 'I like those teeth. I want to find out where you did that.'

'I got to get my teeth like that. I want that to happen to me,' he added, as the pair made their way off the stage.

Sheff G was recently released from prison, where he spent fourteen months for charges related to gang activity - Sleepy Hallow was indicted along with 30 others for the same charges.

Sheff G previously spent two years in prison after pleading guilty to criminal possession of a weapon in 2021.

Crowds pack into lines in between the barriers waiting to get in - including one person holding a sign saying 'Trump hates you' 

The Republican nominee delivered a speech about the Big Apple for more than ninety minutes, in which he reminisced fondly about his time as a real estate mogul before his foray into politics.  'Together we are going to make New York City great again,' he said

One Trump supporter brought his two young daughters out on the Thursday ahead of the long weekend, to show familial support for the former POTUS

Classic MAGA outfits were seen in the crowd, including the famous/infamous merch of Trump's mugshot orchestrated by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office

Some of the MAGA support came in totally original forms, like this aggressive MAGA neck tattoo spotted in the crowd

A group of pro-Palestinian staged a protest during the rally at the entrance as NYPD police took measures

Trump became the first Republican presidential nominee to campaign in the Bronx since Ronald Reagan showed up more than 40 years ago.

The Republican nominee delivered a speech about the Big Apple for more than ninety minutes, in which he reminisced fondly about his time as a real estate mogul before his foray into politics.

'Together we are going to make New York City great again,' Trump said.

'If a New Yorker can't save this country, no one can.'

The former New Yorker and current resident of Florida said: 'Who said we're not going to win New York? We're going to win New York!'

The former Apprentice host railed against Biden on immigration, an issue Trump has made central to his campaign. 

He insisted 'the biggest negative impact' of the influx of migrants in New York is 'against our Black population and our Hispanic population who are losing their jobs, losing their housing, losing everything they can lose.' 

Some in the crowd responded by chanting, 'Build the wall,' a reference to Trump's push while in the White House to build a U.S.-Mexico border barrier.

'The strategy is to demonstrate to the voters of the Bronx and New York that this isn't your typical presidential election, that Donald Trump is here to represent everybody and get our country back on track,' said Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, a potential Trump running mate who grew up in Brooklyn and spoke at the rally. 

The former president attracted a crowd in the tens of thousands to the Bronx park on a slightly humid afternoon ahead of Memorial Day Weekend

The diverse crowd that showed up to support the Republican nominee suggest that perhaps he has made some inroads with the black and Hispanic voting blocks that Democrats have long relied upon

Police officers keep watch at a campaign rally by former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate

Trump spoke to crowds of supporters at Crotona Park Thursday afternoon. The Republican nominee is looking to woo black and Hispanic voters away from President Joe Biden ahead of this November

Lines formed early to get into the rally. Even after the event began, thousands and thousands of people were seen lining up outside the fenced-in event just for a shot to get inside

A supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump wears a pair of Trump sneakers outside of the campaign rally

Trump, himself a former Democrat, faces an uphill battle to win New York, with recent polls showing the president about nine points ahead of his challenger in the Empire State. 

But supporters of Trump point to his surprise 2016 election victory as evidence that anything is possible. 

In 1984, incumbent President Ronald Reagan became the last Republican to win New York in the last half-century. He had also achieved victory in the state in the 1980 presidential election, and prior to that, Richard Nixon won the state in 1972.

The vibe for those in the crowd, and those waiting in line, was celebratory despite the humidity and threat of rain. Music blared, flags waved and plenty of pro-Trump signage could be seen.

The former-president stumped in the city's outer borough as he looks to woo black and Hispanic voters away from Biden ahead of this November. 

Trump told the crowd he would work with the city's Democratic mayor, local officials and governor, if reelected.

The former president opened his rally with an ode to his hometown, talking about its humble beginnings as a small Dutch trading post before becoming a glamorous capital of culture that 'inspired the entire world.' 

While Trump established residency in Florida in 2019, he reminisced on Thursday about his efforts to revitalize Central Park's Wollman Rink and people he knew in the real estate business.

Throughout his campaign, Trump has repeatedly used incendiary language to accuse immigrants in the U.S. illegally of fueling violent crime, calling them 'animals' responsible for 'poisoning the blood' of the country

A Trump supporter waits in line to catch glimpse of the 45th president 

A Trump supporter seen at Crotona Park in the South Bronx on Thursday evening 

 'Everyone wanted to be here,' he told the enthusiastic audience. 'But sadly this is now a city in decline.' 

'If a New Yorker can't save this country,' he went on to say, 'no one can.'

Hours before Trump's rally was set to begin, a long line of supporters decked out in red 'Make America Great Again' hats and other Trump gear snaked around the park, waiting for security screening to begin. 

People were still entering the park well into Trump's speech, with some eager supporters sprinting up a hill toward the rally site after getting through security. 

The Bronx Democratic Party protested Trump's appearance with its own event at the park.

Members of multiple unions were present, holding signs that said 'The Bronx says no to Trump' in both English and Spanish. 

'We are used to elected officials, to government officials, to opportunists of all kinds who come to our community and use our painful history,' said Democratic State Rep. Amanda Septimo, who represents the South Bronx. 

'They talk about the Bronx and everything that's wrong with it, but they never get to the part that talks about what they're going to do for the Bronx and we know that Trump is never going to get to that part in his speech.'

Roughly 55% of Bronx County residents are Hispanic and about one-third are Black, and the crowd on Thursday was more racially mixed than his usual rallies, which are predominantly white

Recent polls suggest the Trump is gaining ground with Blacks and Hispanics, who were critical to Biden's win in 2020

Trump strategists see a chance to grab enough of their votes to make the difference in swing states in November

Biden has had a flurry of actions and events focused on bolstering support among African American voters

In a New York Times/Siena College poll in March, Trump was selected by 23% of Black and 46% of Hispanic respondents in a one-on-one matchup with Biden

Political analysts have attributed weakening support for Biden among voters of color in part to the outsized impact of inflation on people living paycheck to paycheck

 But some locals in the crowd Thursday disagreed. 

Margarita Rosario, a 69-year-old who has lived in the borough for more than 60 years, said she saw Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York on television the night before suggesting that the Bronx wouldn't support Trump. 

It spurred her to show up, holding a Trump flag and a poster that said, 'Make America Great Again.'

'I got so annoyed with that. I said, 'How dare she speak for the whole Bronx?' Rosario said.

Muhammad Ali, a 50-year-old who lives in the Bronx and said he planned to vote for Trump in November, said he once used to think the former president was a racist but his views have changed.

'We need a patriotic president at the moment and I find Donald Trump more patriotic for the moment than Joe Biden,' said Ali, an immigrant from Bangladesh and worker for New York's transportation agency. 

At least one New Yorker in the crowd said he knew Trump from his days as a local billionaire real estate developer.

Alfredo Rosado, 62, said he'd been a Trump supporter since 1998 when he worked for several months as a fill-in summer doorman at Trump's Trump Tower building.

Rosado recounted how Trump had asked his name and stopped to chat. 'He's the same person you see,' he said of the former president.

Trump's decision to speak in the Bronx was in part a matter of convenience. His campaign schedule has been crimped by his trial in New York on charges he falsified business records to hide a hush money payment to a porn star

In April, he made a campaign appearance at a convenience store in Harlem, New York

'We are not going to let these people come in and take our city away from us and take our country away,' Trump said, vowing to carry out 'the largest criminal deportation operation in our country's history' if re-elected to the White House

Trump also sought to tie record levels of migrants caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally with the economic plight of Black and Hispanic voters, arguing, without evidence, that migrants were taking their jobs

Reuters interviewed nine Hispanic and Black rally attendees who said they will vote for Trump in 2024. Of the seven who were voting age in 2020, six voted for Trump

 Trump's campaign believes he can chip away at Biden's support among Black and Hispanic voters, particularly younger men who may not follow politics closely, but are frustrated by their economic situations and drawn to Trump's tough-guy persona. 

Biden's campaign on Thursday released two ads aimed at undercutting Trump's attempts to make inroads with Black voters

They highlighted his propagation of the 'birther' conspiracy against former President Barack Obama and his calls for the death penalty for five men wrongly convicted of rape in the 1989 Central Park Five case. 

A radio ad fictionalizing a conversation between a Trump campaign volunteer and a black voter will air on national black radio stations while a shorter television spot will air in major cities, in swing states and on digital platforms, aiming to reach voters in the Bronx near Trump's rally.

The Bronx happens to be the bluest county in the US. Biden won it with more than 83 percent of the vote in 2020. Trump earned less than 16 percent. In 2016, Trump fared even worse, earning less than 10 percent of the borough's support.

But the ex-president is campaigning hard across the Big Apple, while he's stuck in town for his Manhattan hush money trial.

In recent weeks, he's made stops at a firehouse, a construction site, and a bodega.

But the Bronx rally was his first event open to the general public as he insists he is making a play to win an overwhelmingly Democratic state.

Besides creating a spectacle of rallygoers and protesters, the rally also gave Trump an opportunity to highlight what he argues are advantages on economic and immigration issues that could cut into key Democratic voting blocs. 

A wide range of Trump supporters were visible from far and wide as enthusiasm bubbled over

Cheers periodically erupted throughout Trump's 90-minute speech, which began to bleed into sunset

Some of the outfits were exciting - others bordered on insane, but most were whimsical 

Celebrity guests included a handful of entertainers, and, apparently, ex-congressman and ardent Trump supporter George Santos (right)

Trump is currently facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records over the payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. 

Closing arguments are slated to begin when court resumes on Tuesday.

Trump supporters at the rally told Dailymail.com that they don't especially care abut the criminal trial and haven't been paying attention to the testimony on either side of the case. 

Thursday was also Trump's first rally since former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said last Friday that she would vote for Trump. Her tacit endorsement came months after dropping out of the primary during which she attacked her former boss mercilessly. But Trump made no mention of his one-time rival. 

As he wrapped up his speech, Trump said he woke up Thursday uncertain of the reception he'd get in the Bronx.

'I said, 'I wonder, will it be hostile or will it be friendly?' he said. 'It was beyond friendly. It was a lovefest.'