It was a revealing second for Donald Trump.
“When I say ‘the enemy from within,’ the other side goes crazy,” he mentioned Sunday.
He’s proper about that. I raised the topic in our Trump Tower interview final weekend, saying that phrase appeared ominous, and his response – that Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff are certainly enemies, not simply opponents, was picked up throughout the media universe.
However driving the opposite aspect nuts is a Trump specialty. When he informed the rally at Madison Sq. Backyard that the media are “the real enemy, the enemy of the people,” there have been loud cheers from a celebration that already despises and distrusts the press.
A slight digression: The argument that Trump shouldn’t have been on the Backyard as a result of the Nazis held a rally there in 1939 is ludicrous. FDR held an occasion there two years later, and the Democrats have held nominating conventions there. It’s the place the place I’ve watched many Knicks video games and a George Harrison live performance. And Billy Joel has been promoting out the world for years.)
Trump is aware of learn how to rile up the media, rekindling the talk over whether or not they should cowl his extra over-the-top rhetoric or are simply normalizing him.
In our Mar-a-Lago interview a couple of months in the past, the previous president acknowledged to me that at instances he intentionally makes use of incendiary language to drive information protection. Bear in mind, even unfavorable protection helps him dominate the headlines.
Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump waves goodbye after a marketing campaign rally at Madison Sq. Backyard on October 27, 2024 in New York Metropolis. Trump closed out his weekend of campaigning in New York Metropolis with a visitor checklist of audio system that features his operating mate Republican Vice Presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Tesla CEO Elon Musk, UFC CEO Dana White, and Home Speaker Mike Johnson, amongst others, 9 days earlier than Election Day. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photos)
And should you assume media firms aren’t intimidated by him, have a look at the disingenuous choices by Washington Publish proprietor Jeff Bezos and Los Angeles Occasions proprietor Patrrick Quickly-Shiong to kill Kamala Harris endorsements in favor of a no-endorsement stance that clearly helps Trump. Two columnists, together with Michelle Norris, have resigned from the Publish, three high editors have stop the Occasions, and hundreds of subscriptions have been canceled at each papers.
Trump’s speech on the Backyard was nearly utterly overshadowed by what got here earlier than it. A comic, Tony Hinchcliffe, known as Puerto Rico “a floating pile of garbage.” He joked about Jewish individuals being low cost, and he and a Black buddy of us “carving watermelons.”
“These Latinos, they love making babies, too. Just know that they do,” Hinchcliffe mentioned. “There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country.”
CNN PUNDITS ADMIT THEY WEREN’T IMPRESSED WITH KAMALA HARRIS’ TOWN HALL: ‘WORD SALAD CITY’
It reached the purpose that Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt mentioned on Fox yesterday morning: “Look, it was a comedian who made a joke in poor taste. Obviously, that joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or our campaign.”
The Trump camp quickly put out phrase that it hadn’t vetted what Hinchcliffe was going to say. That, if true, was a giant mistake.
Nevertheless it wasn’t simply the comic. Conservative New York radio host Sid Rosenberg informed the rally about “f****** illegals, and in addition known as Hillary Clinton a “sick son of a bitch” and a “Jew hater.” A friend of Trump called Kamala Harris “the anti-Christ.”
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump waves at a campaign rally at Greensboro Coliseum on Tuesday, Oct. 22, in Greensboro, N.C. (AP/Alex Brandon)
Now Trump didn’t say any of this, but made no attempt to distance himself by saying, for instance, that he didn’t agree with everything that had been said.
A New York Times news story was headlined “Trump on the Backyard: A Closing Carnival of Grievances, Misogyny and Racism.”
PLAYING THE HITLER CARD: WILL TRUMP BACKERS DISMISS JOHN KELLY’S ATTACK?
And that gave Kamala Harris an opening. She said the rally “highlighted a degree I’ve been making…He’s centered and truly fixated on his grievances, and himself and on dividing our nation.”
Meanwhile, Trump scored an absolute coup with a three-hour sitdown with Joe Rogan.
Sure, he rambled at times, talking about whales and extraterrestrial aliens. But the podcast racked up 33 million views, with an audience of mostly men, and mainly young men. That’s far more than a candidate would reach going on several top-rated cable news shows.
Podcast host Joe Rogan told former President Trump he has gotten so popular with Americans due to the “wild s—” he says. (Screenshots/The Joe Rogan Experience)
Many believe the sitdown helped humanize Trump, and Rogan told him he gets endless publicity because he says “bizarre s***.” It was a clearly sympathetic conversation, and Rogan said the media are “the propaganda arm of the Democratic Get together.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Harris was also in talks to do Rogan’s Spotify podcast, and he said she was welcome there, but if he wanted her, she’d be taping the show today. To save face, she then announced that she had scheduling issues. Instead, Harris did Brene Brown’s prodcast, who obviously appeals to women. The vice president needs to improve her gender gap among men.
With one week till the election, every message and misstep counts. And every day you’re playing defense is a lost opportunity.
