Donald Trump held a rally in Madison Square Garden last night.
Taking a Sunday night in your final two weeks as a presidential candidate and spending it in Manhattan (where you will get blown out by double digits) and not Madison, Marquette, Mckeesport, Mesa or Macon? That is a statement.
If you squint, it could make sense as a play for the House majority. A case I made on Blaze News Tonight last week. But that really only makes sense if you believe Donald Trump has a loyalty to party politics. Which I’m skeptical of.
Trump ‘24 held the rally because they are very confident and believe they will win.
They believe the path to that victory will be paved with unique moments, even by Trump rally standards. Last week, this included inviting former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown to speak on an open mic. If you are unaware of Brown’s colorful history as an athlete (the phrase ‘hot air balloon’ autocompletes when you type his name in Google) just know that he currently spends his days on social media bestowing the honor of “Cracker of the Day.”
As it turned out, AB84 was an afterthought at that rally. Overshadowed by Arnold Palmer’s penis.
But confidence can border on overconfidence.
Sunday in Manhattan, comedian and podcast host Tony Hinchcliffe opened the rally with a stand-up set. For context, only a few months ago Hinchcliffe was lauded for his scalding set during Netflix’s Roast of Tom Brady. Last night he quickly found out a Trump Rally is not a Roast.
“There’s a lot going on. There’s a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
To those who are aware of Hinchcliffe this isn’t particularly spicy. But context is everything and the internet is forever.
Republicans like Florida Senator Rick Scott took to Twitter to denounce the joke even as they celebrated MAGA taking Manhattan.
Even the Trump campaign backpedaled.
If you’ve never been, a Trump Rally is a more solemn vibe than you might think. Sure people are there to have fun, but attendees are mostly very happy to be there. There is a sense of importance. Like a baseball fan visiting Cooperstown.
So the exact opposite of a comedy club where you are willingly putting your guard down to laugh.
I have no idea if Hinchcliffe knew that, but I sure as hell know that the organizers who put him on the lineup did.
And yet, they did it anyway.
Because they believe they are swinging a hot bat and they should keep swinging.
Does that mean they WILL win? No one can say. If they don’t, rallies in blue states like Coachella, Aurora and MSG will be questioned endlessly.
We discuss the very 2024 reaction to Hinchcliffe by Tim Walz and AOC as they streamed themselves playing video games as well as the following:
The latest polls and gender gap breakdown
Surrogate Crunch Time! JD Vance, Liz Cheney and Bernie Sanders
Dan Osborn’s “independent” run in Nebraska
Listen to this episode with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Politics Politics Politics to listen to this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.
