Trump wore red and blue at the Madison Square Garden rally, not ‘black and gold’

Former President Donald Trump’s recent campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City drew attention for racist jokes and anti-immigration rhetoric, and claims he wore the trademark colors of a far-right extremist group.

"Every neo Nazi knows the significance of Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally Sunday, channeling the famous 1939 Nazi rally held there," an Oct. 27 Facebook post said, referencing an infamous pro-Nazi gathering more than 80 years ago. "As a signal, last night Trump set aside his traditional blue suit & red tie in lieu of Proud Boys black and gold. He’s getting the band back together."

The post included two images: one of Trump in a black suit with a golden yellow-colored tie and gold "Make America Great Again" lettering on his black hat, and the back of someone’s black shirt that says "Spokane Proud Boys" in yellow.

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The post’s image of Trump is authentic, but it’s not from the Oct. 27 Madison Square Garden rally, where he donned a blue suit and red tie — no hat. 

He wore the black suit, golden-yellow tie and black hat with gold lettering a week later at an Oct. 25 campaign rally in Traverse City, Michigan.

The image of the Proud Boy is also authentic. A Shutterstock caption says it’s from a September 2020 rally in Portland, Oregon. The Southern Poverty Law Center has declared the Proud Boys a hate group, and notes its members are "identifiable by their yellow-trimmed, black knockoff Fred Perry polos."

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stated on October 27, 2024 in an X post

Image shows an anti-Trump billboard outside Madison Square Garden.

The group’s members are often photographed wearing black and yellow, including in a polo shirt from the British company Fred Perry, which in 2019 announced it was pulling the shirt from the U.S. market until it was "satisfied that its association with the Proud Boys has ended."

Trump, meanwhile, told the Proud Boys during a 2020 presidential debate to "stand back and stand by" following a question from moderator Chris Wallace, who asked if he was willing to "condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down."

Trump later walked back the comment, saying he didn’t know who the Proud Boys were.

We rate claims he wore black and gold to the Madison Square Garden rally False.