Trump’s Rally Was a Desecration of Madison Square Garden

Donald Trump desecrated what many believe to be a sacred space, Madison Square Garden, at a fascist New York City rally. This is not the first time that people have packed into the garden rafters for a Nazi rally. In 1939, during World War II, American Nazis filled the old gardens at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue, spewing white supremacist bile. The salacious incident was largely forgotten until director Marshall Curry turned unaired archive footage into an Oscar-nominated short film. 2017 night in the garden.

It would be naive not to think that the Trump campaign had 1939 in mind when they put together their rally plans. Trump’s brain trust, with some of his most belligerent billionaire backers, including Nazi memorabilia enthusiast Harlan Crowe, anti-democratic eugenicist Peter Thiel, and apartheid bastard Elon Musk, is arguably the most popular choice since 1939. I guess they wanted to end the campaign with MSG as their own sinister tribute to the year. Perfect: a wink at their hardcore base, but with enough deniability for J.D. Vance to whine about being called a fascist and say they were just there to “celebrate America.” (Trump calls the place a “trash”). To believe that MSG was not chosen with great intention is to still believe that Trump is somehow a “normal” politician.

Many at the rally were furious, saying the sordid history of 1939 was being brought back to life. After all, there’s a reason Madison Square Garden is revered as “the world’s most famous arena.” This is where the “Fight of the Century” took place in 1971 between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. It has been the setting for legendary concerts and pro wrestling cards. Of course, it’s also the home of the New York Knicks and Rangers. Despite the mediocrity of the two home teams over the past 50 years (albeit with the occasional bright spot), there’s nothing more to celebrate the garden’s mystique than the building’s resounding energy, unmatched by any other arena. There is nothing. Many performers and athletes attest to this unique topic. I like this quote from professional wrestling promoter Paul Heyman: who said“Madison Square Garden is the center of the universe for a New York kid. Just going there as a fan is like stepping up to bat at Yankee Stadium. You know you’re in a cathedral.”

This idea that this place creates a special feeling in “any New Yorker,” as it once did for me, is real. Located exactly at 33rd and 7th Street, this station is the first thing outsiders see when they arrive at Penn Station, and the first thing New Yorkers see when they return home. But Trump’s rallies are a reminder that this arena is not “ours,” even though we are the ones filling it with the passion that brought the steel, concrete, and bright lights to life. Let me.

Instead, MSG, the Knicks, and the Rangers were inherited by Nepo billionaire James Dolan. For those unfamiliar, at nearly 70 years old, Dolan is almost a child. A vainglorious rock band founder and misogynistic cocaine addict whose life of failure and ineptitude has been cushioned by indescribable wealth. As for SL price sports illustrated I wrote about it in a 2007 article. Nicknamed “Lord Jim”, “Jim’s story of his drug and booze-ridden past, violent temper, and mood swings is already the stuff of legend, and he was the spoiled boy who was handed the keys to perhaps his most valuable possession.” further inspired the image of “in all sports in the United States.” ”

Of course, he is also a Trump supporter and handed the keys to the garden to his campaign as if it were his own. And the truth is that it teeth That’s exactly what he does. We spoke to Frank Griddy, author of the new book Stadium: An American History of Politics, Protest, and Play. “The Trump MSG rally is a continuation of America’s political battles taking place in stadiums and arenas,” he said. Stadiums and arenas are political, and Trump’s rallies make that clear, even if stadiums are disguised as apolitical corporate spaces. A marquee outside the garden advertised the rally as if it were just a fancy garden event, and Trump and his slogans were posted outside the garden along with ads for Verizon and other companies. Please note. ”

This normalizes both Trump and his rallies, Griddy noted. It feels like another Billy Joel concert and is reminiscent of the 1939 sign outside the garden that simply read “Pro-American Rally!”

As Griddy noted, Dolan is also fighting to preserve subsidies that cost the state $1 billion in revenue. In President Trump’s world of blatantly corrupt and transactional politics, Mr. Dolan may be aiming to: protect his share of the valley of corporate benefits. Or maybe that’s overestimating him as an intelligent thinker. Rather, it’s far more likely that Meagher sees Trump’s life of failures as putting him on the path to a best-case scenario.

Dolan is happy to use MSG as a political prop to fulfill his right-wing fever dreams. His big advantage in the face of the ensuing outrage may be that for most New Yorkers, the closest thing to actually being in the Garden is the MSG network.

The average ticket price for the Knicks is the highest in the NBA at $186. If you take your family, pay the hefty ticket prices, and go to the concession stand, you’ve spent enough money on a two-hour basketball game to cover your rent (well, maybe not New York City rent) but). This arena is a world away from the days when working-class people spent their pennies to watch wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino in action. The sense of ownership that city workers have historically felt toward MSG is beginning to fray. Dolan’s act of loyalty to Trump made the arena seem even more remote and more like the residence of a future president. man in the high castle More so than the home of the NBA champions. It was a crime for Trump to stage a place where Jalen Brunson makes memories almost every night. But for Dolan, it’s just further degradation. This man is a bane to the city and proves it again, like in 1939, by often handing out magical MSG to people who just want to watch everything burn.