DULUTH, GA. — Not since 2015 has a scene dominated U.S. politics as much as Donald Trump’s hour-plus on stage in front of a chorus of red “Make America Great Again” hats.

His stream-of-consciousness routine, interrupting one of his thoughts with another, is not a polemic that Cicero or Lincoln would recognize. The former president and Republican candidate calls his speaking style, which ranges from dystopian warnings to lighthearted storytelling to policy statements, a “braid.”

“You give a speech, and my speeches take a long time because of knitting, so I weave stories into it,” Trump told popular podcaster Joe Rogan last week. “If you don’t – if you just read from a teleprompter, nobody’s going to be very excited. You’ve got to knit it. So you – but you always have to – you always have to get back to work, as you said. Otherwise it’s no good. But knitting is very, very important.” There are very few weavers around, but it’s a big burden for you, you know, it’s big, it’s a lot of work.”

In the closing weeks of his third presidential campaign, Trump’s presentation has become more disjointed and noticeably darker than ever. But the crowds keep coming, applauding his nationalist populism, laughing at insults, raising fists, promising to make America strong, proud, healthy, rich and, of course, great again.

Although Trump’s speeches are never the same, he uses consistent devices and themes. He uses humor, braggadocio, anecdotes, complaints, and big promises. There are extraordinary lies, fantastic lies, and devastating attacks on opponents. It sprinkles in crude expressions and exaggerations. There are even occasional cues read from teleprompters in which he mocks any politician using them, and later claims he doesn’t use teleprompters or need them.

Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic rival, is encouraging voters to see him in person, arguing that this only confirms that he is undecided and unfit for office. Other critics compare his extended showmanship to authoritarian leaders. Or they claim the “pattern” is a cover-up for the cognitive decline of a 78-year-old who would be the oldest newly sworn-in U.S. president in history.

Here’s a study of “knitting” that took place one night in suburban Atlanta last week.

Epic introduction and enough details (even lies) make the case

Perhaps the most important moment is Trump’s entrance. The picket music, a device that evokes his brief return as a professional wrestling promoter, is Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” The former president stands on stage, silent and solemn, as the crowd sings.

At a recent Turning Point USA rally in Duluth, Georgia, pyrotechnics and large video screens flanking him center stage further enhanced the effect as his on-screen likeness towered over the crowd. Trump looked at the thousands of cell phones recording the demonstration.

With the final notes of Greenwood’s opening hymn, Trump immediately relaxed, praising his audience for “thousands of proud, hard-working Americans and patriots, that’s what you are.”

He then appeared to turn to the prompters in a more formal tone: “I want to start by asking a very simple question. Are you in better shape now than you were four years ago?”

It’s the question Republican Ronald Reagan famously used to defeat Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980, and Trump is using it to tie Harris to President Joe Biden. But as soon as the crowd in Duluth chanted “no,” Trump turned to sweeping promises, hyperbole and superlatives that doubled as accusations against Biden and Harris.

“I will end inflation. I will stop criminals from entering our country,” he promised, claiming that all immigrants were criminals.

“We will fix our nation quickly,” he said. “America will be bigger, better, bolder, richer, safer and stronger than ever before. This election will be a choice between whether we will have another four years of incompetence, failure and disaster, or whether we will begin the four greatest years in our country’s history.” “It’s a choice.”

Biden and Harris are not just bad in Trump’s language. He called them the “worst president” and “worst vice president” ever. He warned that Harris would “devastate your family’s finances forever.” He accuses Harris of favoring an “open border,” taking liberties with immigration and crime statistics, and falsely suggesting that the vice president alone controls U.S. immigration policy.

He said Harris “didn’t get any votes”; This was a reference to Biden becoming the Democratic nominee after withdrawing from the party primaries. “Therefore,” Trump insisted, “he is a threat to democracy”; This is Trump’s main characteristic, reflecting his rivals’ most aggressive attacks on him.

When he was done in Duluth, he satirized Harris as a “low IQ individual” and “not a smart person.”

Thousands of people laughed on both sides.

Transitions and accuracy are never necessary

Trump does not speak in a linear pattern as he builds to a crescendo. From his first take on Harris, he moved on to expressions of compassion for the victims of Hurricane Helene, and then jarringly turned to one of his favorite topics: her standing in society.

“Our hearts are with you and despite everything, we pray for you for the ballot boxes. “Surveys,” he said. “You see what’s going on here? Here, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee? And Georgia. The polls. The polls are through the roof.”

Minutes later, during a lull in which the crowd could be heard, he chanted his signature “MAGA” chant to cheers.

“What a great crowd this is!” he replies with a chuckle. “What a great crowd.”

He returned to the numbers framing the effects of inflation on U.S. households. “Should I sue” CBS and “60 Minutes” for manipulating what she called “from the nuthouse” responses in Harris’ interview? he asked.

“This is election interference and corruption,” he said, citing charges that are part of the criminal cases against him.

Trump mocked Harris for saying he would raise taxes but misrepresented that her suggestions were universally valid. (It targets corporations and the wealthiest individual applicants.) Meanwhile, Trump’s 2017 tax cuts were “the largest tax cuts in history,” he said. (At best, a charitable interpretation that ignores inflation.)

But the details aren’t the point

Timothy and Amanda Browning came to different conclusions about Trump’s style after driving from the mountain town of Lula, Georgia, to attend the first Trump rally.

“I like that because it shows how original he is,” Timothy Browning said. “There are silences, but you have to stick with it because there is always excitement coming.”

Amanda Browning laughed as she recalled leaning over to her husband and whispering that Trump “could definitely use a speechwriter.”

Still, the co-owners of an event space and food and beverage business in Lula reaffirmed their loyalty to the former president.

Timothy wore a T-shirt containing a sexist slur against Harris, which some conservatives criticized after Biden chose him as his running mate in 2020. But Browning said he doesn’t see himself, Trump or the former president’s supporters as angry.

Instead, the Brownings focused on Trump’s first-term economy and his promises for a second term. While talking about their business, they described certain price increases they have seen since the pandemic-era inflation. They weren’t concerned about pandemic supply chain disruptions or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupting world oil markets. They said Trump presided over a better situation for them than Biden and therefore Harris.

Timothy Browning summarized his conclusion in Trumpian terms.

“I hear him,” Browning said, “he puts America first.”