Underlying rally message sent clear signal to Trump fans: Ex-GOP strategist

Former Republican strategist Mike Madrid came away shaken after watching former President Donald Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday.

Writing on his Substack page, Madrid argued that the event, in which Trump and his allies lobbed dehumanizing and racist rhetoric for hours, was more than a typical MAGA airing of grievances.

Rather, he said, it was "a call to violence" to the former president's supporters.

"The only reason you have this kind of vitriol at a campaign rally at this stage, (if ever) is to incite violence," he wrote. "Either because you know you’re going to lose the race, or because you need violence as a build-up to the election, including on election day.

"It’s time we started openly talking about what we all know. Violence and destruction is the objective, it always has been. That’s what lying about stolen elections, having the Proud Boys 'stand back and stand by,' and the insurrection on January 6th was all about. It’s what it has always been about."

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However, Madrid also believed that Trump and his allies had finally gone a step too far with their latest provocation and he believed that voters were primed to make the former president pay at the ballot box.

"It could have the greatest impact in Pennsylvania -- the one swing state that has a large Puerto Rican community," he speculated. "In fact, it’s the only swing state with a Puerto Rican plurality. Pennsylvania was set to have the biggest share of GOP defections and is Harris’ best-performing Latino numbers of any swing state. I believe this will lock that down."

Regardless, Madrid said that the United States was undergoing a period of severe turbulence and he warned of major potential danger in the coming weeks.

"Violence is likely to come in many small places not one big event," he concluded. "Polling places disrupted are prime justification for contesting the entire election of key states and throwing numerous states into chaos and contention. That’s the strategy."