What do Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk, Dr. Phil, Hulk Hogan, and Lee Greenwood all have in common?
They were all in Madison Square Garden (MSG) on Sunday night to rally for President Donald Trump (R-FL).
It’s a picture we never thought we’d be able to paint, especially when Trump started his foray into politics in 2015, but it is perhaps the most unexpected bookend to one of the most unprecedented campaigns in recent memory, or perhaps in U.S. history.
The July assassination attempt on former President Trump was perhaps the most shocking and upsetting display of the 2024 presidential campaign. However, the incident allowed the president to capitalize on the moment and give a display of strength and resilience that likely resonated with enemies of the U.S.
After his near-death experience in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump recently returned to the site of the attempt, standing in the exact spot in which he was almost killed to finish what he had started.
Trump’s MSG rally on Sunday offered a similar overtone in a much more symbolic way. First, not only is MSG the cornerstone of entertainment in New York City – second, perhaps, to Broadway – but it is easily the most prestigious and recognizable venue in the world. Trump’s rally there, which attracted nearly 250,000 in total RSVPs, was a display to voters of places not often reached by the GOP, as well as a message to the Democratic machine in New York that their machine appears to be on borrowed time.
But what’s more is that Trump sent a message to his beloved New York, the city that built him, and, in a way, he built; the city that once revered the chance to have his name on a building or project; the city that investigated him, rejected him, and ran him out of town on a rail when he became a Republican. He took to the Big Apple to stand, once again, in a place where he was within more crosshairs than he was in Pennsylvania.
To boot, he was joined by decades-long friends in the various industries he’s frequented for years, with a packed house of a diverse and energized crowd, all to send one unified message: the country is broken.
The event wasn’t a vanity fair or exhibition match like many in the mainstream media were quick to denounce. It’s more than just a massive, record-setting rally in one of the nation’s bluest enclaves. It’s a massive statement and a display of symbolism that many are unable to grasp.
