Racist remarks at rally hurt Trump's message, but he scores on Joe Rogan's podcast

It was a telling moment for Donald Trump.

“When I say 'the enemy within,' the other side goes crazy,” he said on Sunday.

He's right about that. I brought up the subject during our interview at Trump Tower last weekend, saying that phrase sounded ominous, and his response – that Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff are indeed enemies, not just opponents – was echoed in the media world.

But making the other side mad is a Trump specialty. When he declared at the rally at Madison Square Garden that the media was “the real enemy, the enemy of the people,” there were loud cheers from a party that already despises and distrusts the press.

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A slight digression: the argument that Trump should not have been at the Garden because the Nazis held a rally there in 1939 is ridiculous. FDR held an event there two years later, and Democrats held nominating conventions there. This is the place where I watched many Knicks games and a George Harrison concert. And Billy Joel has been selling out the arena for years.)

Trump knows how to rile up the media, reigniting debate over whether they should cover up his most exaggerated rhetoric or simply normalize it.

In our interview at Mar-a-Lago a few months ago, the former president admitted to me that he sometimes deliberately used inflammatory language to fuel media coverage. Remember, even negative coverage helps it make headlines.

Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump, bids farewell after a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on October 27, 2024 in New York. Trump closed out his campaign weekend in New York with a guest speaker list that included his Republican vice presidential running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), Tesla CEO Elon Musk, UFC CEO Dana White and House. President Mike Johnson, among others, nine days before Election Day. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

And if you think media companies aren't intimidated by him, look at the disingenuous decisions of Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and Los Angeles Times owner Patrrick Soon-Shiong to remove Kamala Harris' endorsements in favoring a non-approval stance which obviously helps Trump. . Two columnists, including Michelle Norris, resigned from the Post, three Times editors left the Times and thousands of subscriptions were canceled at both newspapers.

Trump's speech at the Garden was almost completely overshadowed by what preceded it. A comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, called Puerto Rico a “floating pile of garbage.” He joked that Jews were cheap, and that he and a black buddy were “carving watermelons.”

“These Latinos love making babies too. Just know they do it,” Hinchcliffe said. “There's no opting out. They're not doing that. They're going inside, just like they did to our country.”

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To the point where Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said yesterday morning on Fox: “Look, this was a comedian who made a joke in poor taste. Obviously, this joke does not reflect the views of the president Trump or our campaign.”

The Trump camp quickly made it known that it had not verified what Hinchcliffe was going to say. If it was true, it was a big mistake.

But it wasn't just the actor. Conservative New York radio host Sid Rosenberg spoke at the rally about “fucking illegals,” and also called Hillary Clinton a “sick son of a bitch” and a “Jew-hater.” A Trump friend called Kamala Harris the “Antichrist.”

Former President Donald Trump, Republican presidential candidate, salutes during a campaign rally at the Greensboro Coliseum Tuesday, Oct. 22, in Greensboro, North Carolina. (AP/Alex Brandon)

Now Trump said none of this, but he did not try to distance himself by saying, for example, that he did not agree with everything that had been said.

A New York Times article was titled “Trump in the Garden: A Closing Carnival of Grievances, Misogyny and Racism.”

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And that gave Kamala Harris an opening. She said the rally “highlighted a point that I've been making…He's focused and really obsessed with his grievances, with himself and with the division of our country.”

Meanwhile, Trump pulled off an absolute coup by speaking for three hours with Joe Rogan.

Of course, he rambled sometimes, talking about whales and aliens. But the podcast has racked up 33 million views, with a predominantly male audience, and mostly young men. That's far more than a candidate could achieve by appearing on several top-rated cable news shows.

Podcast host Joe Rogan told former President Trump that he became so popular with Americans because of the “wild shit” he says. (Screenshots/The Joe Rogan Experience)

Many believe the meeting helped humanize Trump, with Rogan telling him he was getting endless publicity because he said “weird shit.” It was a clearly sympathetic conversation, and Rogan said the media was “the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party.”

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Harris was also in talks to do Rogan's Spotify podcast, and he said she was welcome there, but if he wanted her, she would record the show today. To save face, she then announced that she was having scheduling problems. Instead, Harris directed the Brene Brown prodcast, which obviously appeals to women. The vice president must improve the gender gap among men.

One week before the elections, every message and every misstep counts. And every day you play defense is a wasted opportunity.