The polls are all over the place and it seems the only thing we know for sure is we don’t know what the hell the outcome will be. That makes each day in these final few weeks of the 2024 campaign precious. The most valuable commodity of all is the time of the actual candidates. They can only physically be in one place/state at any given time. Yes, their VP candidates and other surrogates can pitch in but nothing is the same as the actual candidate showing up. In person. Every Presidential year there are a half-dozen states (give or take) that will decide the election – the Electoral College. Kamala Harris is spending plenty of time in them and will spend more. Trump however is heading to solid blue states like New York, California and Colorado. Why? Even Trump probably asked his team why he should bother but there are a few people that might have an actual ‘method to the madness’ so let’s take a look at what they are thinking.
There’s a good article by Politico which delves into some solid reasons both as to why it makes sense for Trump to head to places I mentioned, and although it doesn’t say how Trump was convinced to do it. The first issue is money and Trump is literally begging for it. Hell, Obama made fun of his antics yesterday on this point. Leaving aside the question of why a self-professed ‘multi-billionaire’ needs to beg for donations (we all know he’s not as rich as he claims!) both New York and California are home to lot’s of people with VERY fat bank accounts:
But while New York and California might be odd spots for a Republican candidate to hold a political event at this stage in the election and with many battleground states so competitive, they are hot spots for big-dollar fundraisers. Trump has traveled to both states (Trump has a home in Manhattan) for fundraising events with wealthy donors.
As Politico notes Trump isn’t going anywhere near southern California. Up north closer to Silicon Valley and Peter Theil’s ‘tech bros’ is the idea. As for Manhattan and New York losing both, especially the margin in Manhattan is a massive wound to Trump’s ego. He STILL has dreams of carrying his home state and FINALLY being accepted by the elites of New York City itself. It’s a pipe dream of course. I have a better chance of someday getting to lead my fellow Cubs fans in Take Me Out To the Ballgame at Wrigley Field than Trump has of winning New York. But he will be able to raise serious money there. He will also get to speak at a place that will feed his ego – the iconic Madison Square Garden. AND be the featured “star.”
You might think Trump won’t be able to fill the Garden but he will. The hard part will be keeping people there for the entirety of 90 minutes (plus) of grievance filled word salad. However, for a time the place will be packed and speaks to another point Politico raised:
An official said the large venues were chosen because of crowd size growth. While Trump has continued to hold messaging events at smaller venues, the campaign claims they have seen an uptick in public interest. Madison Square Garden has a capacity for more than 19,500 people.
While not explored in the article what’s occurred to me is that for this set of events, and even some others there’s an actual plan. It doesn’t matter that you and I see people walking out in droves after a half-hour or so. It’s the images of big venues packed with people that will be hyped by the Trump campaign and on Fox News – as well as other RWNJ outlets. A big venue packed with screaming MAGAs. THAT is the point. Marketing. Hype. A whole ‘Look at how much ENERGY/ENTHUSIAM Trump is generating!’ Out there in MAGA world that’s likely to work better than you think. It will generate more donations (after some ‘how could I have let myself start doubting?’ feelings) and also get some people to vote who maybe weren’t going to bother.
It’s all about IMAGE. Being an old fart I recall a Canon camera advertising campaign from back in the 1970s. The slogan was “Image Is Everything.” With Trump that’s always been the case. He’s been nothing but image all along. It’s gotten him an awful long ways however. Will it get him over the finish line on Nov. 5? We’ll have to wait and see but in the meantime don’t laugh off his “wasting time in BLUE states.’ There truly is a method to the seeming madness.
Yes “… It’s all about IMAGE …” and his image is a paste-up of lies and deceit. His current image is of declining staleness. He desperately needs reframing, using new venues, with him in a new trending coat of orange ugliness, so as to counter the increasing negativity wafting out of his toxic brand of body politic. The gap between the rearward looking darkness from him and the forward looking light from Harris, possibly might be thin, for him to do this. Or he’s simply got desperate.
An image with no depth, all surface, no substance, like a billboard. It’s something he hides behind, like the little man in ‘The Wizard of Oz’.
Going to a state where he has no chance of winning won’t hurt him. His deranged speeches cause him to lose votes when he visits swing states.
That’s my point. He at least thinks he can more than make up for it by turning out his own voters. Also, for whatever reason Team Trump is convinced there’s a significant group of MAGAs or MAGA-Lite people who haven’t bothered to vote in the past but will do so this time IF they are mobilized. I believe the thinking is that by carefully targeting these goobers with a “Look how we OWNED THE LIBS on their own turf” messaging it will translate into donations (Lucre, filthy lucre) and votes. Team Trump might well be full of shit on that but as I said that’s likely what they are thinking. Plus it gives them an easy way to hold private fundraising meetings with big money doners. That personal touch can make all the difference.
We’ll have to wait and see if this strategy works, or like Mitt Romney’s “ORCA” thing in 2012 turns out to have been an expensive boondoggle. These venues aren’t cheap and neither are the public works costs of holding them and you can be damned sure the Trump campaign will have to pay up and the money in hand by the venues and jurisdictions days, if not a week or more in advance!
Trump will be in Southern, not Northern, California tomorrow, Saturday, for his Coachella Rally, not that far from Palm Springs.
Didn’t Melon Felon say he’d pay for his own campaign back in 2016/ Howzzat goin’, donOld?
Of course, after his event at Madison Square Garden, Trump will claim that the crowd size was over a million (despite the venue having a capacity of only about 20,000).
For what it’s worth, depending on the event, MSG can hold more than its “official” capacity. Boxing and MMA events have had the capacity for nearly 21,000 people while ice hockey matches are usually “sold-out” at around 18,000. I would imagine that Trump’s rally will require him to lose a fair amount of potential space since it would be damned near impossible to provide security if Trump is in the middle of the arena (as would be expected for a boxing/MMA match).
New Yorkers either hate him or laugh at him. Even in his heyday before he seemed to.be auditioning for Jabba the Hut,we recognized him for the social climbing jerk with no.social skills, respect for women,and a laughable @$$hole.
I know because I worked in !Manhattan and had to walk.past that disgusting monument to greed. He wasn’t selling those apartments to members of the rich old guard. Nope He was selling to.nouveaux riches like himself,or rich Russian oligarchs or Saudi sheiks.
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