To all the Republicans who have had their feelings hurt so much that people call Donald Trump a fascist and have cried crocodile tears, please stop.
To all the MAGA defenders who said it was a stretch to compare President Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally to previous Madison Square Garden rallies by German-American bands, shut up.
To all those who were once again fooled by the paid-for theory that President Trump is somehow carrying momentum into the final weeks of the 2024 campaign: That’s not the case.
On Sunday’s MSG, Donald Trump engineered what would be seen by political analysts and later historians as a coup d’état that would forever destroy his chances of becoming president. It may have set him on a course after the election. took responsibility for his actions.
The drawn-out rally, capped off by an endlessly disjointed, incoherent, yet clearly despicable speech by the former president, was described by President Trump’s son Don Jr., one of the former president’s warm-up campaigners, as “The King of New York.” It may have been advertised as “is back.” To get his crown back. ”But Trump was never the king of New York. (Sorry, Lara, your stepfather didn’t “build” New York. Immigrants did. But we’ll get to that in a moment.)
Mr. Trump has always been disliked in New York City, and the vote against him is certain to exceed 80% in Manhattan, his past home borough. But if he was hated before, rest assured, he will be even more despised after tonight.
That’s when Tony Hinchcliffe, invited by President Trump to give one of his introductory speeches, claimed, in true MAGA fashion, that he was a comedian, without providing any evidence, and delivered a KKK buffet of nauseating slurs. It was clear early on from what they offered. He called Puerto Rico an “island of floating trash.”
“There’s a lot going on. I don’t know if you know this, but right now there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean. Apparently it’s called Puerto Rico.” pic.twitter.com/IXbXqDijyU
— Asyn (@Acyn) October 27, 2024
The “joke” was both stupid and offensive, since there are approximately 600,000 Puerto Ricans in New York City, and many more scattered across areas that will be crucial in the upcoming election. It also happened to be the day that Vice President Kamala Harris announced a detailed and thoughtful plan for Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is an island that President Trump wanted to trade with Denmark in exchange for Greenland.
But this loser didn’t stop there. He made unfunny comments about his view that Latinos “love to make babies” and about how his black friend loved carving watermelons.
You might think that a few hyper-racist comments by one speaker wouldn’t justify comments like those comparing Trump rallies to Nazi rallies 85 years ago. But his comments weren’t the worst. And the incitement to racism, hatred, violence, and the promise of an increasingly authoritarian state continued from beginning to end of the incident.
One speaker said Harris was being controlled by “pimps” and said of Democrats: “We need to slaughter these people.” Disgraced and destitute former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, like several others, said Democrats were behind the plot to kill Donald Trump. Another speaker called Harris the “devil” and “antichrist.”
As usual, former President Trump aide Stephen Miller directly criticized the Nazi strategy, saying, “America belongs to Americans and Americans alone.” Tucker Carlson came out to make more racist slurs about Harris. Hulk Hogan tore his shirt while proclaiming that he didn’t see any Nazis in the audience (proving that steroid abuse is not only debilitating, it’s also bad for your eyesight).
Elon Musk was doing some strange things there, promising to reduce the size of government (except perhaps for the part that subsidizes his businesses).
As a side note, it’s worth noting the irony that Musk attended a rally denouncing illegal immigration, even though recent revelations seem to confirm that he himself was an illegal immigrant. It’s not just hypocrisy. If you lied about any aspect of your citizenship status or itinerary while filling out the necessary paperwork to obtain a top-secret permit to be President Vladimir Putin’s phone buddy, that would be a felony and the permit would simply be revoked. It could be worse. News for his business and frankly his ability to remain in the United States. No wonder he aspires to be the only “politician” in America who can instantly forgive his crimes.
Donald Trump speaks at Madison Square Garden in New York City on October 27, 2024. Michael M. Santiago/Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Trump attacked the media and incited the crowd to boo reporters. He said Times Square (located uptown, nine blocks from where the rally was held) had been taken over by immigrants. He called the US an occupied country, which is bad, but maybe better than calling the US a trash can the other day. He called Harris “a person with a low IQ.” He lied so much that the cable network took him off the air because it was impossible to keep up with fact-checking. He returned to old themes, such as Harris’ bizarre idea of reinstating the draft and starting World War III.
Most importantly, in view of confirming his own fascism, he repeated at length the claim that his opponents were “enemies of the people.” (You know the people he promised to unleash on the US military.) He called them “the most evil and corrupt force on earth.”
In other words, despite its marathon length and hodgepodge of Z-list speakers, the entire event conveyed a very focused message over and over again. The Trump campaign is all about retaliation and revenge. It’s about the desire of white supremacists to rid America of all its neighbors of different skin colors and beliefs. It’s about President Trump’s desire to seek out and punish his enemies. And over the course of its Wagnerian length (and resonance) it singles out group after group who would be deported or punished.
From a political point of view, this strategy is completely suicidal. The rally is almost certain to turn away more voters who would have voted for Trump, and it is unlikely that it won Trump any new votes. (Unless there’s a Franz Liebkind somewhere who hasn’t been paying attention to the campaign so far because he was too busy writing “Hitler’s Spring.”) This is the biggest problem Trump has this election. It was a groundless play when the goal was to break through their own claims. A rock-solid ceiling of about 47 percent of voters.
Donald (left) and Melania Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York City on October 27, 2024. Michael M. Santiago/Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
But to make matters worse, unlike the Bund rally, Trump’s rally was not a fringe affair. It was led by a former American president representing almost half of the American people.
The threat of authoritarianism was borne out by the efforts of the first President Trump to circumvent the rule of law and by crimes such as the attempted coup d’état that we all saw with our own eyes. Future plans for internment camps, mass deportations, and the use of military against American citizens in the United States have been carefully developed, and there are plans to implement them.
That’s why President Trump’s Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden ended up being far more creepy than previous rallies. Americans should be chilled to the bone. But I’m hoping for more. I believe more voters will take action on November 5th to stop Trump and MAGA’s 21st century fascism.
President Trump may think this rally will help mobilize thugs to violence as he contests his loss, but we should be wary of that. But on the eve of the election, he offered the best reason for defeat ever offered. After all, what unfolded was so vile, so offensive, and so threatening to so many of us, that it was Trump’s last political act, in every sense of the word. , which I believe is why we will someday conclude that it took place on the biggest stage in America’s biggest city. It’s located a few blocks from Broadway.
