It used to be that if Republicans wanted to communicate with racists, they used “dog whistles.” Ronald Reagan helped to popularize the idea of the “welfare mom” having 10 kids and buying steak on public assistance.

This was a tactic that mostly worked. Enough plausible deniability for say white moderates to haughtily declare it about government waste and therefore not racist, but with plenty of symbols so Reagan’s supporters knew exactly what he was saying – something racist. This was the technique used by the right for decades.

As you may have noticed, in the Trump era, there are not any dog whistles. Just pure, unfiltered hate aimed at whoever Trump decides to target on that particular day.

Yesterday, Donald Trump held a huge rally in Madison Square Garden and it was every bit as bad as expected. In 1939, there was a similar rally. Yes, this was similar to what happened on Sunday. A statement like this is no longer an exaggeration.

There was a warmup act for Trump, a guy who calls himself a comedian, who said that Puerto Rico is a floating island of garbage. This level of racism would have been unthinkable at a presidential rally 10 years ago.

Needless to say, this did not go over well with Puerto Ricans, who are American citizens, whether they are famous celebrities or my friends from my hometown of York, Pa., which has a large population of Puerto Ricans. Pennsylvania is home to 450,000 Puerto Ricans, New York has around a million, Florida has just over a million. These are our fellow Americans.

The hate just wasn’t limited to Puerto Ricans. There was plenty aimed at immigrants. In addition, there was Stephen Miller, the guy who if it came out he had a torture chamber in his basement, no one would be surprised. Miller, as you probably know, is a top-level Trump advisor. He said, on stage yesterday to loud cheers, “America is for Americans and Americans only.” Laurence Tribe is a legal expert who is not apt to make outrageous statements. This is what he heard.

Stephen Miller’s chant at Sunday’s MSG 1939-like rally that “America is for Americans and Americans only” deliberately echoed Adolf Hitler’s boast that "Germany is for Germans and Germans only.”

— Laurence Tribe 🇺🇦 ⚖️ (@tribelaw) October 28, 2024

Miller knows his Nazi history. This is not just something he said. He knows what it means.

Tucker Carlson, never one to miss a chance to be a racist, described Kamala Harris as a “Samoan Malaysian low I.Q. former California prosecutor.” But what about Trump? He was the racist, rambling monster who is getting worse and worse with each rally, pretty much as expected and that in and of itself is terrifying.

He did drop a few unnerving statements, like this one:

Trump: I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the house, our little secret is having a big impact, he and I have a little secret, we will tell you what it is when the race is over pic.twitter.com/sKXCLblyLO

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 28, 2024

I hate to ask what he is talking about there.

One thing that was not new was people bailing on his rally early. I guess they got their fill of hate.

This was so bad that not even the majority of the DC media could sanewash it. This was billed as the Trump campaign’s “closing argument.” Generally, closing arguments are about appealing to as many voters as possible. Not this one.

No, it was clear that this one was not about that. For starters, if you are trying to appeal to Hispanic votes, you don’t have a comedian with a reputation for making racist anti-Hispanic jokes (that wasn’t his only one). Even if you offer some sort of lame walkback like the Trump campaign did yesterday. People are not stupid, and those jokes were on the teleprompter. Plus, others said things just as horrible.

What this event was about was simple: This was a rally to fire up Trump supporters for violence. The warning signs are everywhere, and it will be a miracle if there is no violence, especially if Harris wins. Despite there being very, very mixed signals about how the election will play out, if you think your Democratic friends who are freaking out are convinced Trump is winning, Trump supporters are spiking the football at the 20-yard line.

If indeed Harris wins, and there are good indicators she will, these people are not going to react well. In the case of an electoral victory, all Trump has are legal dirty tricks and violence. I hope people who are in charge of our safety are paying attention, unlike in early January 2021, when they most certainly were not paying enough attention to MAGA threats of violence. That rally yesterday was a shot over our bow.

The last word goes to an antidote for yesterday, from Funkadelic.