Former president Donald J. Trump speaks at his rally at Madison Square Garden. Angelina Katsanis/AP Images.

NEW YORK — About ten minutes into his speech at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night, the former President Donald Trump As usual, he pointed to the press gathered in the back center of the venue and labeled them the “fake news media.” The wide brim was as predictable as his red tie. The response was familiar to every reporter who has attended a Trump rally: The crowd turned toward us, their faces contorted in anger, boos erupting from their mouths, and thumbs pointed mockingly at the ground. A little boy I saw from where I was sitting in the press box gave us a strong pair of middle fingers.

The strange but symbiotic relationship between Trump and the press hasn’t changed much since 2016. He still trashes Fox News on social media and an hour later calls out one of his favorite Fox News shows. He still swarms his rallies with press (whose cameras broadcast Trump’s show to millions across the country) and then whips them around to applause.

Most of the news in the media is unscripted; This reflects how comfortable Trump has been with the materials he’s used for nearly a decade. At one point in his Sunday night speech, during a rant about the “enemy within” as he now refers to the Democratic Party, Trump paused mid-thought to casually improvise about the media being the “enemy within.” real enemy, enemy of the people.” The crowd turned and booed again.

The night also served as a reminder of how much the media, or at least this caustic disdain for the media, dominates the Republican Party. A long list of speakers took to the stage Sunday night, galvanizing red-hatted supporters who gathered in New York City, where Trump made his name, made his fortune, and eventually transformed himself from tabloid curiosity to Manhattan’s most despicable man. .

“In New York, we call MSG the Mecca,” Brooklyn-born congressman said Byron Donalds. At least on Sunday night, Donald Trump and his family were God in this city that has long looked down on them.

The press was the enemy of the light because of its alleged injustice. A speaker dreamed of watching CNN Wolf Raid Declare Trump the next president on election night. Vivek Ramaswamy He accused the media of trying to cover up the fact that “Trump will unite the country.” Others supported Trump’s “fake news media” rhetoric, which reliably drew applause and cheers.

One journalist escaped the anger that intensified the atmosphere in Mecca. Doug Mills, New York Times The photographer who took the iconic photo of Trump, who was shot in the ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, earlier this year, was met with scattered applause when he was mentioned by Trump’s advisor. Dan Scavino. According to Scavino’s account, Trump asked how Mills was doing after being shown the photo in the hours after the shooting; this was touted as proof of Trump’s dedication.

Some of the speakers Sunday night did not deliver performances that would help the Trump campaign in its final run until Election Day. Tony HinchcliffeThe comedian, known to many as Kill Tony, called Puerto Rico a “floating pile of garbage” and joked about Black people “carving watermelons” and Jews being cheap. Shortly after the rally ended, the Trump campaign ran smartly. he distanced himself From a Puerto Rican joke. New York radio host Sid Rosenberg “Fucking illegals” they shouted Hillary Clinton He said he was an “anti-Semite” and a “sick son of a bitch” and that the Democratic Party was “a bunch of corrupt, despicable, anti-Semitic, low-lifes.” David RamA man whose campaign no one knows who he is defined As Trump’s childhood friend, he waved a cross and called the Vice President Kamala Harris “Antichrist.”

Trump rally spokesman David Rem gets the crowd excited by attacking the sacred media. Angelina Katsanis/AP Images.

These moments, which would set off a five-alarm fire in any campaign in modern American history except Trump’s, will fuel the never-ending dance between the former president and the media. They will produce thousands of headlines, which will be used by Trump and his supporters as proof that the media is truly the enemy. Open Fox and Friends On Monday morning, Trump’s campaign spokesman said it was “sad that the media picks up on a single joke by a comedian rather than the shared facts…”

There was something reserved about the Trump rally Sunday night. The rhetoric was extreme, as it had been throughout his campaign, but the setting of an arena at the center of elite cosmopolitanism lent a certain sterility to the affair. This was New York; Whatever the antithesis of Trump country is, this is Madison Square Garden, home of the Knicks. billy joel concerts and $20 Miller Lights. Even the rally speakers who dutifully declared that the Big Apple was turning red this November didn’t seem to really believe it.

What they believe is that it is not possible for Trump to lose to Harris in eight days. In what you may see as a sign of inevitable inevitability, tucker carlson He told the raucous crowd that Harris had no chance of getting “85 million votes.” The point of her comments was clear: If Harris beats Trump, it would only be possible through a rigged election. Carlson, perhaps enjoying complete freedom from the literal constraints of the newsroom since his firing from Fox News, paused and grinned. “It’s going to be pretty hard to look at us and say, you know? Kamala Harris got 85 million votes because she was as impressive as the first Samoan, Malaysian, low-IQ, former California prosecutor ever elected president, just because her public support was skyrocketing. I don’t think so. To me, this is salvation.”

In this age of a decentralized information ecosystem and partisan attacks on the traditional press, who better to promote Trump? Elon MuskThe man who declared war on the media from his position of power as the owner of X (formerly known as Twitter). Like Carlson, Musk winked at the election deniers in the building. Calling on Trump supporters to vote, Musk said: “Make the margin of victory so big that Do you know I can’t be.”

No matter what happens on election night, the media will once again have to referee a race that Trump will surely challenge if things don’t go his way. This will lead to many more of the types of attacks we saw on Sunday night; The attacks are so commonplace that they almost sound ordinary now. Trump has signaled that if he wins, his second term will be much more unfettered than his first. collapse in the media. In an ominous sign last week, billionaire owners Washington Post And Los Angeles Times scrapped his newspapers’ Harris endorsements. Speculation abounds that they fear retribution under a second Trump administration.

These editorial pages may no longer comment on what they see, but they’re certainly watching. And so is everyone else. As the Trump campaign boast11 different TV channels broadcast his speech Sunday night.

But for those of us who have been watching from the beginning and have never ignored Donald Trump, the takeaway from what should have been a truly shocking event was absolutely nothing. The Trump show is the same as ever, and the media’s heel role has never changed. The only question now is whether his stop at the World’s Most Famous Arena will be a farewell tour or the beginning of the second coming.

Do you have a tip for us? [email protected]