The Trump rally in Madison Square Garden puts him in the beloved spotlight

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will use one of the biggest stages in the country’s largest city on Sunday to make one of his final swings in the razor-sharp race of 2024 for the White House.

It’s a classic Trump move to throw down a spectacular campaign event at a venue that bills itself as “The Most Famous Arena in the World”: Madison Square Garden. Also in classic Trump fashion, it’s a strategic decision that baffles seasoned political types who wonder why the former president would commit his limited time and resources as the clock ticks toward Election Day on Nov. 5 for a seemingly safe Democratic state like New York.

Trump and his aides say there are good reasons to hold the rally during the penultimate weekend of the presidential campaign. Are Control of the media and ability to attract attention have always been crucial to his success – and a hallmark of his fame, starting in New York in the 1980s. That is an essential ingredient that he wants to continue to conquer in his race against Kamala Harriswho brought new energy and her own wave of positive press since she catapulted to the top of the Democratic ticket this summer President Joe Biden’s decision to serve only one term.

“It’s MSG, it’s Madison Square Garden,” Trump recently told FOX News Radio’s “The Brian Kilmeade Show,” adding, “That means a lot, those words, Madison Square Garden, right? Don’t you think so?”

Sunday’s rally comes after a steady series of events in which Trump has taken back the spotlight, from working on the deep fryer and handing out meals last Saturday at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania to questioning Harris’ racial identityspread debunked claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets and making serious threats about them the “enemy within” and talk about it Arnold Palmer’s genitals during a visit to the late golf legend’s hometown, about an hour outside of Pittsburgh.

These steps and many more may have helped keep the election in the presidential campaign neck and neck entered the final stretch, even while frustrating for some in the GOP Take away Trump of his main talking points on the economy and immigration. Now the Republican nominee is heading into one of his few remaining campaign days away from swing states, which has stunned some political observers even as his team says it’s a smart strategy to attract media attention that will are distributed.

“It makes no strategic sense,” said Trump biographer Tim O’Brien, who wrote:Trump Nation: The Art of Being the Donald.’ He added: “This is just King Kong climbing the Empire State Building again.”

A historic location for historic elections

Madison Square Garden – since 1879 there have been four arenas of the same name in three different locations in Manhattan – has long been a historic venue of choice for entertainers and politicians. Trump will join former presidents such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in the Garden playlist.

The current MSG, opened in 1968, has hosted events since 1971 “Fight of the Century” between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier to political conventions that nominated Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush on their way to victories in the White House. It is home to New York Knicks basketball and New York Rangers hockey.

The previous Garden also hosted an infamous event that Trump critics highlighted in the run-up to Sunday. The German-American Bund, a pro-Nazi group, held a rally at the Garden in 1939, two years before the U.S. entered World War II. That moment occurred in recent days after Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly said in a speech Interview with the New York Times that the former president “said more than once, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things too,'” allegations that the former president immediately rejected.

Ahead of the rally at Madison Square Garden, Trump insists he is making a serious bid for New York state, whose 28 Electoral College votes make it the fourth biggest prize of 2024, after California (54), Texas (40 ) and Florida (30 votes). ).

Harris himself organizes major media events, including Friday’s rally in Houston with cultural icons Beyoncé and Willie Nelson, who Democrats hope can boost their support Candidate for the Senate Collin Allred toward upsetting two-term Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. The Democratic presidential candidate is also making plans an event on Tuesday at The Ellipse near the White House in Washington DC – site of the Trump rally that preceded the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

But Trump’s aides also acknowledge that an upset in the Empire State is a gamble, just as California is Harris country and Texas and Florida are in the Republican camp. Instead, they describe Sunday’s event as part of Trump’s ongoing efforts to host media events that will capture national attention while paving the way to the theaters of war.

Trump has always looked for creative ways to attract attention, from his escalator ride in the lobby of his eponymous Trump Tower before announcing his 2015 presidential campaign to last Sunday’s photo at McDonald’s. This cycle he has also generated buzz with a triumphant return to the Pennsylvania location where he was shot in the ear by an attempted murderer two months earlier.

“It’s all about the media,” said one employee, and in this case, “New York is the media capital of the world.”

Additionally, his aides said Trump is a native New Yorker and always wanted to be the headline act at the Garden. A regular at the 19,500-seat arena over the years, he said in a recent interview that he saw Ali and Frazier fight there more than half a century ago, calling it “arguably the biggest event.”

Not that all memories of Trump are fond. In 2019, then-President Trump heard boos as he walked into the Garden for a UFC fight. Gwenda Blair, a longtime Trump biographer, noted that the Garden is associated with rock stars, celebrities and fighters — playing into the larger-than-life image Trump cultivates.

“Those images surround it – the whole kind of combination of rock star and heavyweight champion,” says Blair, author of ‘The Trumps: three generations who built an empire.’ She added: “Those things are so palpable in there, and referenced so much when you say Madison Square Garden. That in itself will be an apparent crowning of him as a champion.”

A Republican candidate in New York, California

Trump allies reject the idea that there is little or no strategic benefit to his meeting in New York.

In addition to attracting national media attention, they note that this could help increase voter turnout for Republican candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives. Trump will do that Congressional majorities needed to help him implement the second-term agenda he promised on the campaign stump, which is three House races in New York that are considered tossups, two with Republican incumbents and one with a Democrat, according to nonpartisan handicapper The Cook Political Report.

The Republican presidential candidate is also holding a fundraiser around the New York event to raise much-needed campaign cash. Harris raised $222 million through her main campaign account in September, compared to Trump’s $63 million. These figures do not include other political committees that raise large amounts of money to support each candidate.

Former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich said Madison Square Garden will be “the highlight” for Trump, “because he is very much a New Yorker, he is very excited.”

“People keep saying, ‘Well, shouldn’t he be in Wisconsin? Shouldn’t he be… no. Every day he is everywhere because the television is watching him,” Gingrich added. “He’s going to get huge attention at Madison Square Garden and he’s going to be happy and excited and the crowd is going to be crazy.”

Trump held a rally earlier this month at Coachella in California, another blue state where he has little chance of winning.

“This tactic of entering an uncompetitive media market or state in the final week of the election is not a typical strategy, but he is not a typical candidate,” said Steve Caplan, who teaches political advertising and reporting at the University of Southern California and has worked in Democratic politics and media for decades.

Caplan added that a rally at Madison Square Garden is “a great opportunity to gain attention” but could also potentially turn off swing voters if it goes “off the rails.”

Harris’ campaign also has events planned outside swing states. Her event in Texas on Friday with pop superstar Beyoncé highlighted the state’s restrictive abortion law as she makes abortion rights a centerpiece of her campaign. Trump hosted a counter-programming event in Texas on the same day, focusing on immigration.

The rally in New York and California in the final month of the election is not the only unorthodox part of Trump’s campaign strategy in the final stretch. He has also dodged traditional events, such as additional debates after running against Harris in Philadelphia on September 10, and interviews in the mainstream media that would likely be more confrontational, particularly with the CBS program ’60 Minutes’.

Trump has complained to major television networks about his treatment threatened to withdraw their broadcasting permits. He has spent more time on conservative and alternative media to strengthen his base and reach ordinary voters.

As Trump has put himself more in the spotlight in recent weeks with provocative comments, Caplan said he wonders if that’s why the polls have gotten tougher.

“It’s a good place for him in his mind to be the center of attention for the last two weeks and he’s very good at that. But does this specifically affect the race?” Caplan said, but he instead pointed to a change in the paid media strategy employed by Trump’s campaign.

Trump’s campaign has focused on ads that heavily target transgender people and gender-affirming healthcare. That may have contributed to negative opinions of Harris rising this summer, when her approval rating skyrocketed, Caplan said.

At the same time, the campaign is trying to increase turnout among Trump’s supporters, and the rally at Madison Square Garden could help with that.

“That’s the game,” Caplan said. “It’s about mobilizing and motivating your voters.”

While New York may offer Trump the biggest stage in the country, it’s also another stop in the final push to the Nov. 5 finish line. The Republican, who hopes to join Grover Cleveland as the second president to win non-consecutive terms in the White House, returns to swing states with rallies planned for Tuesday evening in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Wednesday evening in Green Bay, Wisconsin . .