If you can’t beat em, smear em — and anyone who is voting for them.
That’s the prevailing motto of the panicked Dems, who are projecting Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally through some evil Nazi funhouse mirror.
During its coverage of the event, MSNBC grautitiously spliced in disgusting footage of the 1939 Nazi rally that took place in MSG. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez called it a “mini January 6 rally” and Tim Walz said there’s “a direct parallel” to the 1939 rally.
These were deluded dispatches from their couches. I know because I covered the event from both outside and inside the World’s Most Famous Arena.
This Hitler fever dream was no surprise. When the rally was announced, New York State senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal shamelessly tweeted the gathering was a “disastrous decision by Madison Square Garden that will endanger the public safety of New Yorkers and has the potential to incite widespread violence.” He “demanded” the Garden cancel to “keep our city safe.”
Safe from whom, he didn’t say but the implication was clear: Republicans and Trump voters were violent thugs.
I had never been to a political rally, and while I lean right, I don’t consider myself MAGA.
But when something of consequence happens at MSG, whether it’s a concert, college hoops, the Rangers or UFC, I want to be there – even if Hoylman-Sigal said it would be bad news.
Hey, I lived through the summer of 2020 riots and all the continuing chaos here since the October 7 attacks in Israel. I wanted to see what kind of punch those fascist MAGA meanies have.
Well people, I have news: the supposed ‘Nazis’ and ‘fascists’ have gone soft.
The crowd was as ethnically diverse as a Bennetton ad, if a Bennetton ad featured loads of religious Jews (again, not skilled at doing Nazi stuff).
All of these so-called deplorables, some from as far away as Florida and others recent Democrat defectors, waited patiently in line for more than four hours. In tight quarters. Everyone was polite, considerate and patient. No one complained. I’ve been on rowdier lines at Chipotle.
It was Magapalooza, a red washed anti war festival – minus the drugs and booze.
Where was the violence Hoylman-Sigal promised? On Monday, there were no reports of unrest or violent altercations.
During our long wait to enter the building, Elmwood Park, New Jersey resident Robert Purvey and his wife Beverly, welcomed me.
“This is the heartbeat [of the movement],” he told me, motioning to the crowd around us. I had mistakenly assumed he also was with the two women next to him. But they had just met. “That’s the vibe at Trump rallies. Everyone becomes instant friends,” he said.
I made that error a lot. It became difficult to discern who came with who. Everyone seemed to be with each other. They were bonded by their frustration with our current administration, their desire for safety, security and a lower cost of living. Most said that Trump, with his common sense and tell-it-like-it-is, approach, was the one who could deliver.
I met sisters Chickie Piazza and Susan Santangelo, who grew up on Thompson Street in Soho, a few doors from where I lived for 15 years. They were around my mother’s age and we had people in common. They immediately took me under their wing like I was their own.
Piazza, who lives in Greenwich Village, said she’d be okay if she didn’t make it into the arena. “It was just wonderful to see all these red hats in Midtown Manhattan.”
But we got in — albeit about two hours late.
The place was filled with raw energy, excitement and high camp.
Until yesterday, I had assumed that I’d never see Hulk Hogan – past his prime and retired – walk onto the floor at MSG to “Real American.” By a MAGA miracle, there he was, clad in a feather boa, flexing and riling up the crowd. It was ridiculous. It was also, awesome.
If the left claims joy, the right has fun. Lots of it.
The speakers I heard ranged from bizarre to smart to blockbuster. Support for Israel was met with thunderous applause.
Vivek Ramaswamy was a force. Byron Donalds showed his star power and JD Vance charmed the 20,000 plus with his folksy wit. Elon had the audience on their feet.
And Trump blew the roof off as he walked out to Lee Greenwood singing, “Proud to be an American.”
The crowd was amped up like it was fight night at MSG – and for them, it was. That was the unoffical rally theme: invoking Trump’s famous call to “fight” after he was shot in the ear back in July.
But to quote the Hulkster: “I don’t see no stinkin’ Nazis here.”
Just passionate, peaceful, mostly middle class people hoping for a better life for themselves – and their families.
People the Democrats used to welcome with open arms.
