Trump’s Fascist Rally at Madison Square Garden

“Fascism on Full Display” says one headline about Donald Trump’s MAGA rally at Madison Square Garden Sunday night.  And this after the warnings from his head of the Joint Chief of Staff last week that Trump is a “fascist to the core” and from his longest serving chief of staff, another four-star general who called Trump a fascist and authoritarian.

Heather Cox Richardson, ever-wise and thorough in her research, let off today’s column—which I highly recommend reading —this way: I stand corrected. I thought this year’s October surprise was the reality that Trump’s mental state had slipped so badly he could not campaign in any coherent way. 

It turns out that the 2024 October surprise was the Trump campaign’s fascist rally at Madison Square Garden, a rally so extreme that Republicans running for office have been denouncing it all over social media tonight. 

The idea of a rally at Madison Square Garden echoed a Nazis rally there on February 20, 1939, where a giant portrait of George Washington in his Continental Army uniform flanked by swastikas” hung on stage.  And, “like that earlier event, Trump’s rally was supposed to demonstrate power and inspire his base to violence.” 

One of the lead ups to Trump’s talk was comedian Tony Hinchcliffe who highlighted racism calling Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.”  Another speaker called Kamala Harris “the antichrist”—though without any proof such as I offer in my book on “Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.”

Headlines in the press included these: “MAGA speakers unleash ugly rhetoric at Trump’s MSG rally,” (Axios)  “Trump’s New York homecoming sparks backlash over racist and vulgar remarks.” (Politico)  “Racist Remarks and Insults Mark Trump’s Madison Square Garden Rally,” (New York Times)  “Speakers at Trump rally make racist comments, hurl insults,” (CNN).

“No dog whistles, no plausible deniability,” wrote an historian of white supremacist movements in the US.  “It’s a show of power and another attempt to make this look and feel normal.”  And “This is a Five-Alarm Fire….The most overtly fascist mass rally in New York since 1939.”  (cited in common dreams). 

At the event Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, said, “I’m not just MAGA.  I’m dark, gothic, MAGA.”  In my book on Trump & MAGA as antichrist, I suggest that MAGA stands for: “Make America Grotesque Again.”

“The biggest sign of the damage the rally did was the frantic backpedaling from Republicans in tight elections” observes Richardson.  Millions of Puerto Ricans living in battleground states will be voting in this election.

Some press, however, sane washed and covered up the event.  A  headline from Zac Andersen of USA TODAY read: “Trump sticks to economy and immigration in closing pitch at Madison Square Garden.”  And, as we learned recently, the billionaire owners of the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post refused to endorse anyone for president. 

Have you voted yet?  Are you assisting others to vote?

See Matthew Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.

And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society.

And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.

Banner Image: MAGA faithful at an Arizona rally for the First Felon. Photo by Gage Skidmore on Flickr.

Queries for Contemplation

One reader of Richardson’s article said she felt sick reading it.  Is the return of fascism to America a cause for feeling sick?  Can getting out the vote and praying/acting for a non-fascist alternative constitute important medicine?

Recommended Reading

Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election

Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE. 
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE. 
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society

Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them. 
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science.  A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics

Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth

Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
“I am reading Liberating Gifts for the People of the Earth by Matt Fox.  He is one that fills my heart and mind for new life in spite of so much that is violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang.