It was a revealing infinitesimal for Donald Trump.
"When I opportunity ‘the force from within,’ nan different broadside goes crazy," he said Sunday.
He’s correct astir that. I raised nan taxable successful our Trump Tower question and reply past weekend, saying that building seemed ominous, and his consequence – that Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff are so enemies, not conscionable opponents, was picked up crossed nan media universe.
But driving nan different broadside nuts is simply a Trump specialty. When he told nan rally astatine Madison Square Garden that nan media are "the existent enemy, nan force of nan people," location were large cheers from a statement that already despises and distrusts nan press.
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A flimsy digression: The statement that Trump shouldn’t person been at nan Garden because nan Nazis held a rally location successful 1939 is ludicrous. FDR held an arena location 2 years later, and nan Democrats person held nominating conventions there. It’s nan spot wherever I’ve watched galore Knicks games and a George Harrison concert. And Billy Joel has been trading retired nan arena for years.)
Trump knows really to rile up nan media, rekindling nan statement complete whether they must screen his much over-the-top rhetoric aliases are conscionable normalizing him.
In our Mar-a-Lago question and reply a fewer months ago, nan erstwhile president acknowledged to maine that astatine times he deliberately uses incendiary connection to thrust news coverage. Remember, moreover antagonistic sum helps him predominate nan headlines.
Republican statesmanlike nominee, erstwhile U.S. President Donald Trump waves goodbye aft a run rally astatine Madison Square Garden connected October 27, 2024 successful New York City. Trump closed retired his play of campaigning successful New York City pinch a impermanent database of speakers that includes his moving mate Republican Vice Presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Tesla CEO Elon Musk, UFC CEO Dana White, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, among others, 9 days earlier Election Day. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
And if you deliberation media companies aren’t intimidated by him, look astatine nan disingenuous decisions by Washington Post proprietor Jeff Bezos and Los Angeles Times proprietor Patrrick Soon-Shiong to termination Kamala Harris endorsements successful favour of a no-endorsement stance that evidently helps Trump. Two columnists, including Michelle Norris, person resigned from nan Post, 3 apical editors person discontinue nan Times, and thousands of subscriptions person been canceled astatine some papers.
Trump’s reside astatine nan Garden was almost wholly overshadowed by what came earlier it. A comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, called Puerto Rico "a floating heap of garbage." He joked astir Jewish group being cheap, and he and a Black buddy folks "carving watermelons."
"These Latinos, they emotion making babies, too. Just cognize that they do," Hinchcliffe said. "There’s nary pulling out. They don’t do that. They travel inside, conscionable for illustration they did to our country."
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It reached nan constituent that Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said connected Fox yesterday morning: "Look, it was a comedian who made a joke successful mediocre taste. Obviously, that joke does not bespeak nan views of President Trump aliases our campaign."
The Trump campy soon put retired connection that it hadn’t vetted what Hinchcliffe was going to say. That, if true, was a large mistake.
But it wasn’t conscionable nan comedian. Conservative New York power big Sid Rosenberg told nan rally astir "f****** illegals, and besides called Hillary Clinton a "sick boy of a bitch" and a "Jew hater." A friend of Trump called Kamala Harris "the anti-Christ."
Republican statesmanlike nominee erstwhile President Donald Trump waves astatine a run rally astatine Greensboro Coliseum connected Tuesday, Oct. 22, successful Greensboro, N.C. (AP/Alex Brandon)
Now Trump didn’t opportunity immoderate of this, but made nary effort to region himself by saying, for instance, that he didn’t work together pinch everything that had been said.
A New York Times news story was headlined "Trump astatine nan Garden: A Closing Carnival of Grievances, Misogyny and Racism."
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And that gave Kamala Harris an opening. She said nan rally "highlighted a constituent I’ve been making…He is focused and really fixated connected his grievances, and himself and connected dividing our country."
Meanwhile, Trump scored an absolute coup pinch a three-hour sitdown pinch Joe Rogan.
Sure, he rambled astatine times, talking astir whales and extraterrestrial aliens. But nan podcast racked up 33 cardinal views, pinch an assemblage of mostly men, and chiefly young men. That’s acold much than a campaigner would scope going connected respective top-rated cablegram news shows.
Podcast big Joe Rogan told erstwhile President Trump he has gotten truthful celebrated pinch Americans owed to nan "wild s---" he says. (Screenshots/The Joe Rogan Experience)
Many judge nan sitdown helped humanize Trump, and Rogan told him he gets endless publicity because he says "weird s***." It was a intelligibly sympathetic conversation, and Rogan said nan media are "the propaganda limb of nan Democratic Party."
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Harris was besides successful talks to do Rogan’s Spotify podcast, and he said she was invited there, but if he wanted her, she’d beryllium taping nan show today. To prevention face, she past announced that she had scheduling issues. Instead, Harris did Brene Brown’s prodcast, who evidently appeals to women. The vice president needs to amended her gender gap among men.
With 1 week till nan election, each connection and misstep counts. And each time you’re playing defense is simply a mislaid opportunity.
Howard Kurtz is nan big of FOX News Channel's MediaBuzz (Sundays 11 a.m.-12 p.m. ET). Based successful Washington, D.C., he joined nan web successful July 2013 and regularly appears connected Special Report pinch Bret Baier and different programs.