Recap of This Weekend in Politics
October 27-28, 2024
… Donald Trump held his much-hyped rally at Madison Square Garden today, going head-to-head with the NFL as both he and his warmup speakers were on in the middle of today’s slate of games. Not the best idea if you want to get TV viewership and coverage from non-cultists.
… But it appears, aside from fulfilling Trump’s childhood dream of being worshipped at NY’s most famous venue, that the main purpose of this event was not votes but money, as the campaign sold off a variety of ‘VIP’ experiences and packages to fat cats for big bucks.
… It’s a good thing, because he lost a lot of votes today.
… The speakers’ lineup for the rally today was a Who’s Who of MAGA: JD Vance, Elon Musk, RFK Jr., Mike Johnson, Elise Stefanik, Rudy Giuliani, Stephen Miller and Tucker Carlson.
… An obviously drunk Rudy Giuliani showed up for his speech and slurred his way through a story about how he went to the site of the “subway derailment” in “New Paleston.” He was referring to the train derailment in East Palestine, OH.
… Before giving his speech, Rudy was wheeled around MSG in a wheelchair. I saw him once before in a wheelchair at an airport but he usually uses that as a scam to cut the lines.
… Meanwhile, the speaker before Rudy spotted a black guy in the crowd and told a watermelon joke right after calling Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.”
… There are 6 million Americans of Puerto Rican descent.
… 450,000 in Pennsylvannia.
… At the exact moment they were trashing Puerto Rico at the Trump rally, Kamala Harris was campaigning at a famous Puerto Rican-American restaurant in Philly.
… The same guy then complained that Latinos have too many kids, saying that they never “pull out” during sex. Really working hard to win over the Latino swing vote.
… These comments led to a huge backlash on Puerto Rican Twitter. Bad Bunny, J Lo, and Ricky Martin blasted it out to their combined 315 million followers. Not sure if this is what the Trump campaign was going for tonight.
… Rick Scott went into full panic mode, assuring Latino voters that he in no way agrees with what was being said at the Trump rally and that Puerto Ricans are “amazing people!” Republican politicians everywhere are reportedly freaking out.
… FL GOP Rep Maria Elvira Salazar said she was “disgusted” by the comments and called them “racist.”
… It got better though, the speaker after Rudy called Kamala Harris “the devil” and the “antichrist.”
… Stephen Miller then took the stage and did he best Joseph Goebbels impression, with the theme of “America is for Americans!”
… Elise Stefanik said that “New York is Trump Country!” (Trump lost NY in 2020 by 23 points).
… JD Vance said that Democrats tried to kill Trump in his speech.
… In Nevada, Tim Walz reacted to what was going on at the Trump rally in NY, saying, “Trump has descended into madness. There’s a direct parallel to a big rally that happened in the mid-1930s at Madison Square Garden.”
… In his speech, Trump said he was ready to invoke some old statutes from the 1790s that “are going to be tough,” then he turned to Mike Johnson and said, “get ready.”
… He then doubled-down and said although he gets criticized for calling Democrats “the enemy within” America, he stands by it because they are the enemy from within.
… Fired Project Veritas Founder James O’Keefe is soliciting “poll workers, election judges and election clerks” to wear hidden cameras to secretly record people while they are working and said he is sending out the recording equipment to volunteers all around the country. This is a crime in almost every jurisdiction.
… The FBI raided O’Keefe’s offices (when he still had offices) when he bought Ashley Biden’s stolen diary, and did nothing. Maybe DOJ will get involved in his active solicitation to election workers to commit crimes. Then again, the AG is still Merrick Garland so nothing will happen.
… Joe Rogan provided addition corroboration to those who believe that Trump wears a diaper, summing up his podcast with Trump the following day by noting he was