On the Way to Madison Square Garden

 

Before and after a delightful afternoon of conversations with the Trumpers. 

On the Way to Madison Square Garden

All week, we talked about the best approach. Do you go inside or stay outside, to easily escape the hate and bile at a Trump rally? We decided to try to go inside Madison Square Garden, where Trump was supposed to take part in a rally. Be an anthropologist, with a little heckling. Take in the dark antipathy enveloping the country. Ask questions. Has it always been there or is this worse?  I would wear a brown shirt. That was the plan.  

All week,, my mind trailed back to the Feb 20 1939, when according to the Times,  "22,000 NAZIS H[e]LD [a] RALLY IN GARDEN;...Protected by more than 1,700 policemen, who made  Madison Square Garden a fortress almost impregnable to anti-Nazis, [on] George Washington's Birthday...».

 We've been here before, I thought.  Dad used to tell us about seeing cross burnings growing up in the Jim Crow South. We’ve never been close to becoming communist, Dad lamented. But we’ve always been on the verge of becoming fascist. We walked up from Washington Square Park to 32nd and 6th Ave where the Veterans against  Trump were holding a rally as people poured into Madison Square Garden. In the bathroom line a man holding a Trump sign said, "I'm not that into it," to us, assuming we were  fellow travelers. "Can't miss a good fascist rally," replied Ray. Our friend’s face turned red.  And he scurried off. Vendors were selling MAGA and "elect a convicted felon" hats. The Vets Against Trump were holding a presser. More and more people  were holding court for cameras, whether they supported or opposed this, carrying their signs and puppets. This is a cult of personality, said Will, my brother. We started to enter the line on 32nd street. Trump flags everywhere, it was like leaving NYC and joining an alternate reality. One man wearing leopard skin pants started singing in a Trump accent. We couldn’t tell what side he was on until he started singing about Jeffrey Epstein. Another man with a Japanese flag started screaming USA!!! USA!!!USA!!! Eventually, the police told us the event was at capacity. We walked  out. 

"You didn't blend in. I saw you two in the drag march," said my friend Sarah.

My friend Laurie passed us a Trump is a Fascist sign. Why is he a fascist, several asked. Make America Great Again is a reference to the Nazi Make Germany Great Again phrase, I replied. It's a great slogan right, one replied. Even Reagan was against walls. ‘Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!’ said Ronald Reagan, at the Brandenburg Gate, June 12, 1987. Now your candidate wants to put up walls and tariffs.

We had a dozen or so conversations with the know-nothings about the wall and tariffs. They denied anyone died on January 6th or that Trump had anything to do with the end of Roe vs Wade. But one insisted women needed to shut their legs.  Their education source seems to be Fox news and tiktok, with lots of conviction, and not much information.  On we walked with our  Trump is a Fascist signs, receiving waves of support and ridicule. And walked to 8th Ave, happy to see Jay and the Rise and Resist crew. Lots of cops, who stepped in front of the row of activists standing on the post office steps. We still have the first amendment, says Jamie to the cops. It's chilling to think the Trumpers have this much support. My mind turned back to the old Mark Twain adage, “All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure."

The NY Times would later report that, "Mr. Trump’s rally featured a series of speakers whose remarks were far outside of longstanding political boundaries. One, Sid Rosenberg, a conservative radio host, referred to Hillary Clinton with profanity and a sexist epithet. And Grant Cardone, a businessman who spoke early in the program, referred to Ms. Harris as if she were a prostitute. Later in the program, Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, mocked Ms. Harris’s racial identity and intelligence as he jeered the idea that she could win in November." 

And we hoped the backlash from the rallies could somehow tilt things. Biden blunderred and on the last week of the campaign stumbled toward a nail biting conclusion. 

It's been nine years of Trump outrage. Rarely has a day gone by that we have not worried about something from him. 

The idea of a real estate developer running the country is amazingly depressing. 

The day after the rally a few of us met at City Hall to talk about saving the Community Gardens, under threat from developers in New York. I still say #SaveElizabethGarden public space for the people.

Save the gardens, says Christopher Marte. This is a climate crisis. Don't pit gardens against housing.

No more 43! We need strong and green!

Save the gardens. Save the city!!

#SaveElizabethGarden!!!

Fave protest sign ever. RIP Brad. I know you are always with us.

October rolls into November and the last days of the campaign. 

We planned on canvassing and texting voters in the swing states. 

I’ve spent the last three decades plus, hoping things tilt left.  But it's been split even between Clintons and Bushes, Obamas, Trumps and Bidens. 

Hope runs eternal that the women will turn the tide. And vote in huge numbers. 

Still, the racism and sexism feels daunting. 

Thinking about this, Rebecca Solnit wrote “Why-are-so-many-women-hiding-teir-voting-plans-from-their-husbands?” “And since I wrote it, Fox personality Jesse Watter said on air, "If I found out my wife secretly voted for harris, that's the same thing as having an affair... that violates the sanctity of our marriage... that would be D Day. Anyway I wrote: “Lots of memes and tweets and posts and videos are popping up, assuring women that they can keep their votes secret from their husbands and boyfriends. The unspoken assumption is that lots of women are bullied, intimidated or controlled by their partners, specifically in straight couples when she wants to vote for Harris and he supports Trump. The messages assure these intimidated voters that they can vote in peace and privacy at a polling place. But a lot of Americans now vote by mail, which generally means they fill out their ballots at home, where that privacy may not be available. On the one hand, I’m glad there’s outreach to those voters. On the other, the way these messages are framed seem to regard the grim reality that a lot of women live in fear of their spouses as a given hardly worth stating outright, let alone decrying. I get that right now we’re fighting for the future of democracy in America, the public version in which rights and norms and the rule of law are preserved – as the Washington Post humor columnist Alexandra Petri put it: “I am endorsing Kamala Harris for president, because I like elections and want to keep having them.”

But a lot of households are not democracies; they’re dictatorships. This may impact public life…”

So here we are, democracy dangling, like the hanging chads in Florida in 2000, depending on a few votes in Pennsylvania, Michigan and a handful of swing states, the electoral college is still distorting our politics. 

It shouldn’t be this close. 

But it is. 

As David Gerrold says, 

“It is no longer about his character.

It is about ours.”