EDISON, N.J. — With Donald Trump scrambling to regain his footing and the election 24 days away, the Republican nominee spent his Saturday evening at a Bollywood-themed charity concert in New Jersey.

Trump’s surreal appearance, in which he praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and criticized China’s theft of American intellectual property to some 10,000 Hindus in between song-and-dance numbers, pulled him away from battleground states and debate prep in the closing days of the campaign. But the event’s host, Republican Hindu Coalition founder Shalabh Kumar, gave Trump’s joint victory fund $900,000 in July.


Trump spoke of his admiration for the Indian people and their most-practiced faith. "I'm a big fan of Hindu and I'm a big fan of India," Trump told the crowd, which had been given signs that read “Trump for Hindu Americans,” at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center.

"Mumbai is a place that I love. It is a place that I understand," he said, after initially referring to the Indian mega-city by its old colonial name, “Bombay.”

“I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi, who has been very energetic in trimming India’s bureaucracy,” said Trump, praising India’s nationalist leader. Trump pledged “to do some serious bureaucratic trimming right here in the United States.”

Trump pledged that India and the United States would be “best friends” under a Trump administration and called out China for an estimated $360 billion in annual intellectual property theft from the U.S., an issue that also continues to weigh heavily on U.S.-India relations. He also plugged his real estate projects in the country.

At the event, which was called “Humanity United Against Terror,” a Hindu nationalist group handed out cards that depicted Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton as the devil, with horns photo-shopped onto her head, shouting “Get Modi!” and pointing at a terrified-looking prime minister. Shaun McCutcheon, the plaintiff in a landmark 2014 Supreme Court case that paved the way for massive contributions to joint victory funds, and anti-establishment campaign finance attorney Dan Backer sat near the front of the hall.

Donald Trump attends the Republican Hindu Coalition's Humanity United Against Terror Charity event on October 15 at the New Jersey Convention & Expo Center in Edison. | Getty

Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, now a CNN commentator, emerged from Trump’s plane when it landed in New Jersey wearing a jacket with the hood pulled down. Lewandowski traveled with Trump’s motorcade at stops in New Hampshire and Maine earlier in the day. Spokeswoman Hope Hicks, adviser Stephen Miller and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also accompanied Trump on the trail.

Before Trump spoke at the Hindu event, Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker and current honorary chairman of the Republican Hindu Coalition, introduced as “Senator Newt Gingrich,” delivered remarks via prerecorded video. A top ally of Trump, who in recent days has accused the FBI and Justice Department of criminal corruption and called the presidential election “rigged,” Gingrich touted the importance of the rule of law.

After Trump’s speech, the Republican nominee was followed on stage by men in glittering blue-and-gold costumes, who held green light sabers and danced to techno music.