It was quite a weekend for Donald Trump. He was on with the top podcaster in the country, Joe Rogan, in an episode that dropped on Friday. It has over 30 million views already on YouTube, which is amazing. For reference, the Call Her Daddy podcast numbers with Kamala Harris got about 600,000 to the 30 million Trump has on Rogan. Think about that.
And then there was the massive New York City rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night. I watched all of Trump’s remarks from start to finish, and he did a great job. He made great points. He started with exactly the right question: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” And he went on from there.
He was on message, he was entertaining, and he nailed it. But Trump was not well served by those around him last night. It wasn’t a Nazi rally like the corporate media wants you to believe. But even as someone who voted for Donald Trump last week, it was too brotastic.
The Woman Problem
You are trying to win an election in which you are hemorrhaging female voters. So maybe when you present in front of thousands at Madison Square Garden and however many more watching at home, you clean up the bro talk just a little so you don’t alienate women in the middle of America who are already on the fence about Republicans?
Do they have no women advising their campaign? Is there no woman sitting behind the scenes coming up with a guest lineup and saying: ‘Let’s just have a word with the guys who are going to be speaking about how this isn’t the bar. This isn’t their living room. This is a campaign. This is politics. We are trying to get him elected. Even if we do want to rally the base or guys, to go full off-color insults to different racial groups is not it’?
Trust me, nothing that was said offended me. I am almost un-offendable, but I understand how this plays – especially with women – and it was an effed up choice. They took what was an amazing celebration of Trump that was well-attended and hugely enthusiastic and gave themselves a big black eye.
This isn’t about the insane media which did, of course, what the insane media is going to do. This is about them giving the insane media all these headlines that undermined the main man, Donald Trump, who did exactly what it should have last night.
The ‘Brotastic’ Lineup
Here is what bothered me about it. I have nothing against comedian Tony Hinchcliffe. Comedy is meant to be irreverent. It is meant to kind of cause you to recoil at times. I get all that. But it is about the time, place, and manner.
This was a political event. It was not the Comedy Cellar where you should let her rip and it is fun to offend people. In this context, you want to try to keep it classy because, if you don’t, you are giving the other side a beautiful, big Christmas gift with a big red bow on it.
But it was not just the multiple off-color jokes from the comedian, some of which are being taken out of context. It was the very heavily brotastic lineup. We heard from a lot of guys who are on Team MAGA and were like, ‘Yeah, Kamala sucks.’
Listen, I say that. I insult Kamala Harris’ intelligence not to be mean but because it is how I really feel about her. But this was person after person after person – guy after after guy after guy (some of whom are friends of mine) – and very few women.
There were a couple, but I was left feeling like this is their club. This is the club that wants me and others to put them in the White House. Is there room for women in the club? Is there room for moderate voters in the club? What you are telegraphing with this lineup and this messaging is a little exclusionary. That is how it felt.
Unforced Error
A week before Election Day when Trump has been on a great roll, who in politics thinks it is a good idea to have the warm-up comic who is on four hours before the main event, drive the news cycle? It is not worth it. That is not the forum in which you should take any risks like that.
I know others disagree with me. I saw women all over the audience loving it. But I think it was an unforced error, and I hope they will do better in the closing week of the campaign.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 928 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.