MAGA rally, Murphysboro, Illinois

First, before getting into the rally, my phone rang while I was speaking to someone. I ignored the incoming call. Then, off the first call, I looked at the message.

"Hi [legal name]! This is Joan with the Colorado Dems! Our records show your ballot hasn't been counted yet.

[How offensive, Dems. You should not have access to that information, you hyped up freaks.]

Can we count on you to support all of Colorado's Democrats up and down the ticket including blah blah blippity blah ... ?"

Return message: "MAGA"

This is the second time I did that.

For the record, I'm not a complete asshole on the phone. Only to people who use my phone to abuse me. Later this night I called in an order across the street for a salad and sandwich. Honestly, these people, Taste of Philly, make the best salads ever. So I called back after I ate it and before I ate the sandwich. *bring bring* "Pick up or take out?"

That's how they answer the phone.

"No order. This is Chip, I just now picked up a salad and sandwich from you guys."

"Yeah?"

He was expecting a complaint. "I want you guys to know that you make the best salads around this part of town."

See? It's possible to use the phone to simply be nice.

This rally is different from the previous rallies. It started out somber due to the murders today on Squirrel Hill. Trump invited a rabbi for opening prayer and Trump addressed the shooting first thing. Trump was oddly more subdued, more quiet, less bombastic yet more powerful than usual. The audience more riotously immediately engaged. It is more intimate than usual and Trump controlled the energy masterfully switching between day-to-day anecdotes and issues of national importance. He draws his audience in like children at story time and gives space for them to yell at the top of their lungs.

I must say this and I don't want it to be taken the wrong way, because there are more differences than there are similarities, but when Trump's opponents compare Trump's speeches with Hitler's speeches, I must admit there are the similarities of crowd size, of enthusiastic acceptance, of uniformity of thought in the crowd, and harmony of electric energy that's palpable, of nationalistic fervor, and of the fear that the sight of this remarkable development strikes in the hearts of his opponents. The major differences are, Trump is actually sweet. He's tender. He's funny. He's fair. He is down to earth and nothing but common sense. His speeches and aims are not expansionist.

People stand in the cold and the wet for hours, they walk literally for miles, that's no exaggeration, they tolerate traffic not moving then crawling for hours just to be part of these rallies perceived as historic events. And they do this repeatedly, some do it in series. And they're cheerful and uplifted, and kind hearted through it all.

I've never seen anything like it. Nobody has. Not ever. Never in history. I could be wrong, but I do believe, this is a brand new thing under the sun.

This is the first rally Trump did not single out media, actually point to them arrayed with their cameras, and call them "fake news." He knows he will be criticized for even holding this rally on the day of a massacre so he took the first shot. "We cannot allow these sick and demented people (the shooter) to stop or interfere with what we are doing." The crowd roared their approval.

And not just a regular roar. They ROARED their approval. Because they are the thing that is not being interfered. Each individual made the same decision.

Trump continued, "I cannot allow the actions of one sick individual to disrupt thousands of other people like you. I cannot have them disappoint you." Obviously the crowd is pleased that Trump did not cancel the rally due to national mourning. They roared their approval again. And he had his rabbi as cover.

These are the points where Trump's opponents see similarities with Hitler as they must because no other single person can gather  this much sustained enthusiasm and genuine love. And it must scare the living piss out of them in the same way. Their fear and loathing is the same fear and loathing they have when viewing scenes of Hitler's speeches. In their minds and hearts the two men are equal. But they are not equal. Not by a long shot.

Each rally is fundamentally the same speech. Delivered this often it is now well practiced delivered in natural style and so is the call and response such as you see in Rocky Horror Picture Show. Undeniably, Trump does have a cult following and they're having a blast. Old as he is, Trump himself is energized by these rallies. He's like the Energizer Bunny being recharged. Instead of draining Trump's energy, these rallies recharge him.

So the basic structure is the same through rallies, the basic speech is the same, the schtick is the same across rallies, but each with specific differences written and ad-libbed; Pocahontas, the bomber, the shooter, for example, support for various politicians, variations in story-telling across rallies, interaction with the crowd differs each rally. In some ways Trump is like a stand up comedian politician hypnotist executive with power flowing out of his fingertips and cash flowing out of his ears.

I had a dream that clarified.

I'm standing in a bar with a dream companion at the edge. There are not many people in there. I'm conversing and observing the few people inside. Another long-time friend enters the door in the corner with someone who I don't know. The unknown man is bigger, burlier, bearded, Viking lumberjack looking and he walks somewhat like a gorilla. Now there are more people in the room and their attention is on the two entering.

They cross the room. My friend scans the room chooses a table and the two of them walk directly to it and quietly sit down. My friend walks normally. He doesn't scan the people in the room, just the tables. He is wholly self-contained. There is absolutely nothing distinctive about him. Although the lumberjack guy fairly sticks out by his size.

Immediately, the young men in the room and the females with them drift toward my friend and gather around him. They engage him in conversation and they ignore the burly lumberjack. My friend introduces the lumberjack as his brother-in-law.

From the edge of the room, I think, "Oh, that explains it."

The lumberjack speaks but the others are not interested in knowing him. They want to talk to my friend. They want my friend to acknowledge them. The want my friend to speak to them. To advise them. They want to get him to laugh. They want to buy him a drink. They want a piece of him. They want some of my friend to rub off onto them.

I observe this without astonishment. I've seen it before. I stand there watching and think, "They don't know it, but they are responding to his aura. His spiritual magnetism is a natural physical field that literally pulls them in. I saw it! He would deny this, even as he lives it, and here it is being displayed so obviously. He doesn't even know what is happening himself. His innate confidence attracts others. His success is attractive. Literally attractive. His physical stature, his clothing, his style and his speech are all ordinary while there is something in posture and gaze and engagement and invisible aura and invisible success and confidence and invisible magnetism that pulls people into him. Bang. I wake up.

"Holy shit." I think, now awake. That's actually true in real life. I really have seen this. This is a similarity he shares with Trump. And with a few other people I know. And when I tell these people the traits that they share with Trump, to a person they disagree with me. Emphatically. Because they do not like that comparison. (But I think that they secretly do like it.)

The Murphysboro rally. Recommended. Even if you are bored with these rallies, there is always something to learn from them. In fact, there are things to be studied. I believe these rallies will be studied. And if not, then they should be.


A few comments from the Last Refuge.

tuskyou says:

We’re in the car but not moving. This parking lot is jammed. We haven’t moved in at least 25 minutes….

Rally was off the charts. We were in front of the podium leaning on the metal gate. When POTUS talked about not changing his schedule because of sick and demented people I couldn’t scream loud enough. I couldn’t clap hard enough. His message of defiance resonates with me—I flew 2 weeks after 9/11 in a similar act of defiance. By God we are not going to cower and change our way of life every time the left dispatchs one of their goons.

Met the greatest people in line (as I always do). Esp meeting up with Trish in Southern Illinois. We were jumping around and talking a mile a minute. Thank you SD for this refuge–we would have never met without this wonderful place.

BlackKnightRides says:

Then there’s the brilliance of how he acts the event out.
• “I looked down at President Xi and saw his face …” [“DOWN”]
• “And he looked up at me confused …” [“LOOKED UP” … “CONFUSED”] (OWTTE)

Memorable. Unforgettable “positioning”.