President Donald Trump’s red-state rallies have become a chance for some supporters to see him “play the hits" one more time, according to The Good Liars’ Jason Selvig.
“In a weird way, this feels like a farewell tour,” Selvig told Molly Jong-Fast on her “Fast Politics” podcast, describing conversations with attendees in South Carolina and Georgia.
“Some people are going there, treating it like a farewell tour,” he said Friday. “People have said, like, ‘I just never saw him before, and I want to go. I’m gonna go to a rally and see him and hear him play the hits.’”
Selvig said the crowds were large and enthusiastic, with supporters eager to hear Trump deliver his familiar one-liners. One woman attending her fifth rally told him she enjoyed watching newcomers experience the president's dancing and riffing with the crowd.
Jong-Fast compared the MAGA spectacle to a Grateful Dead concert.
“It’s an experience that you get to have in like a community there,” Selvig said.
But that enthusiasm did not always translate into interest in the election. Selvig recalled encountering people in Nebraska who seemed unaware that the midterms were happening.
“I don't think a lot of them care about the midterms,” he told the podcast host Friday. “It’s more about Trump’s star power, and they still love Trump.”
He stressed that other attendees were committed Republicans supporting local candidates, and that the rallies could motivate turnout.
Still, some supporters described the events primarily as entertainment.
“We heard that like three times in South Carolina — not a political rally — it's a show,” Selvig said.