Trump fans unfurl 'Never Surrender' banner with his mug shot during national anthem at Yankee Stadium



Fans of former President Donald Trump unfurled a "Never Surrender" banner with his famous mug shot on it during the national anthem Wednesday at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx; Trump is scheduled to hold a rally Thursday evening in the New York City borough.

The "Never Surrender" banner appears to have been inspired by Trump's post on X from last August, which features his mug shot taken after he surrendered at a Georgia jail on charges he tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

'I'm going to make a play for New Yorkers.'

Trump's message underneath his mug shot reads, "ELECTION INTERFERENCE" and "NEVER SURRENDER!" along with his web address. It was Trump's first X post since the social media platform, then known as Twitter, banned him on Jan. 6, 2021, in the wake of the Capitol riots.

An X video shows the banner unfurling during the national anthem — and those holding the banner quickly pulled it up when security arrived. The text on the post from the America First Warehouse reads, "Another successful drop @dioncini."

Dion Cini is a Trump supporter and self-proclaimed "professional provocateur" who has attracted controversy in the past while visually supporting Trump. Walt Disney World banned Cini from the park in 2018 for flying pro-Trump signs. A few months later in 2019, a New York City bartender was caught on video kicking out Cini for wearing a red visor displaying the phrase "Make America Great Again" — and the bartender earned a two-week suspension over his "political" actions. Later in 2019 a transgender actor was caught on video fighting Cini over a Trump sign he was holding in New York City.

'Legal version of an ankle bracelet'

Trump’s campaign said Thursday’s rally will take place at 6 p.m. in Crotona Park, which Fox News said is just blocks from the boundary line of far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s district.

Ocasio-Cortez said Trump's rally is happening because of his “legal version of an ankle bracelet," The Hill noted, a reference to the headline-grabbing Stormy Daniels' trial in Manhattan he's required to attend.

“Donald Trump is broke. He needs money. He’s hosting a rally to try to con people and try to fleece them out of every dollar that they have to fund his own legal fees,” Ocasio-Cortez added, according to the outlet. “And by the way, he’s doing it in the South Bronx, not to make a point, but because he’s got court, and the man practically has the legal version of an ankle bracelet around him, and he can’t leave the five boroughs because he always has to be in court. And so it is truly an embarrassment to him.”

WABC-TV reported that labor and civil rights groups are planning to hold a counterrally in the park at the same time; a poster for that events reads, "Trump isn't welcome in the Bronx."

Some residents of the borough beg to differ, telling Fox News they're squarely behind the former president.

'They all want us to run, and we're going to run very hard in New York.'

"Senior citizens cannot walk down the street. Our children are being killed. When you go to a grocery store, you can't even buy anything anymore," Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr., president of New York's Hispanic Clergy Association, told the cable news network. "I’m a Democrat. All my life I've been a Democrat, but Democrats have used us and abused us; they think that they own us. Donald Trump is giving us an opportunity."

Last month, Trump visited the Harlem deli where a worker fatally stabbed an attacker in self-defense in 2022 — and the crowd that greeted Trump turned in a pretty loud "four more years!" A week after that, Trump shook hands and posed for photos with construction workers outside the JP Morgan Chase Building at East 48th Street and Park Avenue, WCBS reported.

"I'm going to make a play for New Yorkers. They said, I just heard, there was a very good poll that came out. Normally, a Democrat will win New York," Trump said at the time, according to the station. "Biden is the worst president in history, we have some very bad people here, but we have the greatest people and they're right behind me. They all want us to run, and we're going to run very hard in New York."

Trump on May 11 held a massive campaign rally on a Wildwood, New Jersey, beach that drew an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people.

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Trump supports new Pence effort to fuse conservatism with MAGA agenda



Former Vice President Mike Pence has launched a new political advocacy group that seeks to fuse traditional conservative thought with the Make America Great Again agenda of former President Donald Trump's administration.

And Donald Trump approves.

The Washington Examiner reports the group will be a 501(c)(4) nonprofit called "Advancing American Freedom" and will defend the Trump-Pence record while attempting to build upon the political movement that put Trump into office, turning it into a winning coalition for the future. It will be headquartered in Washington, D.C., and will build a platform on the "three pillars" of American strength and security, American prosperity, and American liberty.

"Advancing American Freedom plans to build on the success of the last four years by promoting traditional conservative values and promoting the successful policies of the Trump administration," Pence told the Examiner in a statement.

"Conservatives will not stand idly by as the radical left and the new administration attempt to threaten America's standing as the greatest nation in the world with their destructive policies," he said.

The advisory board of Advancing American Freedom reportedly features prominent alumni of the Trump administration, including former senior counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway and former director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow, as well as influential figures among the grassroots conservative movement like Club for Growth president David McIntosh.

"Other members of the advisory board include Trump's director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought, former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and former Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. Chip Saltsman, Marc Short, and Marty Obst will be co-chairs," the Examiner reports.

Paul Teller, formerly the director of strategic initiatives for Vice President Pence, will serve as the group's executive director.

Advancing American Freedom is also supported by Trump, who said his term in office was "the most successful first term in American history."

"Nice to see Mike highlighting some of our many achievements," he told the Examiner in a statement.

Since leaving office, Vice President Pence has worked to strengthen his ties with conservative grassroots organizations, joining the Heritage Foundation as a distinguished fellow and Young America's Foundation as the Ronald Reagan Presidential Scholar. On April 29, Pence will give his first public address since leaving office at a fundraiser for Palmetto Family Council, the leading Christian social conservative nonprofit organization in the early primary state of South Carolina.

Aides to the former vice president say Pence is uniquely positioned to be a bridge between the old conservative movement and MAGA voters who may not think of themselves as conservatives but supported President Trump's policies.

"There's no doubt when the vice president joined the ticket in 2016, there was a whole new voter that Donald Trump brought in with his focus on China and trade, and he won over a lot of blue-collar votes in the Midwest," one aide told the Examiner.

"This organization will focus on those winning policies that were at the center of that fusion between traditional conservativism and Trumpism," the aide said.

The three pillars of Advancing American Freedom's platform will reportedly defend and expand upon various aspects of the Trump administration's policies. American strength and security will cover immigration, Israel and Middle East peace, and "standing firm against adversaries"; American prosperity will focus on the economy, energy independence, the Trump tax cuts, and deregulation; and American liberty will center on religious liberty, the pro-life movement, and school choice.

While speculation is running rampant about Pence's potential 2024 ambitions, aides to the former vice president said Advancing American Freedom's mission is to develop an agenda to counter the Biden administration's dismantling of Trump's policies, not to launch a presidential campaign.