'He's obsessed': Why Donald Trump is willing to spend a fortune hosting a rally at MSG

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Donald Trump is reportedly fixated on hosting a rally at New York's famed Madison Square Garden arena, even though most political experts believe the Empire State and even Trump's hometown of New York City are firmly in the blue column for 2024.

“I will fill the garden,” he is said to have boasted in recent days to a confidant with whom he spoke anonymously The bulwark.

The Trump ally added that the Republican “has been obsessed with this for at least a year.” This is his campaign. So it happens.”

“As President Trump has said, he will be a president for all Americans, including those in traditionally blue states that Kamala Harris and the Democrats left behind,” RNC spokeswoman Anna Kelly said The Independent by email. “Kamala Harris’ dangerously liberal policies have failed Americans across the country – from the Bronx to Coachella to Aurora – which is why President Trump is bringing his America First message and vision for hardworking families right to their doorsteps.”

The campaign plans to hold a rally in the Garden on Oct. 27, less than two weeks before Election Day, even though Trump has lost New York by more than 20 points in the last two presidential elections and recent polls show he is likely to there will be another knock.

So why bother making it big in a state that hasn't gone Republican since Reagan? There are some plausible reasons.

One could simply be out of hometown pride.

Although Trump moved his legal residence to Florida in 2020, he was born in New York City and still owes his political appeal to part of his (often exaggerated) career as a New York real estate developer.

Another reason could be a combination of that pride and the former president's penchant for doing things people say he can't do.

“We just rented Madison Square Garden,” Trump said with obvious glee at a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, last week. “We’re going to play for New York.”

“When I told some people in Washington, 'I'm going to New York, we're giving a campaign speech,' they said, 'What do you mean New York?' You can never do that – no one can win. “Republicans can’t win,” Trump added at a rally in Long Island, New York, last month. “I said, 'I can win New York, and we can win New York.' We will win.”

A triumphant MSG spectacle could also replace another memory Trump has in the arena. During an appearance at an Ultimate Fighting Championship bout in 2019, the then-president was reportedly showered with boos and negative signs, and Trump has been known to hold on to past insults.

Showing up in a state can have other benefits beyond winning.

Trump's presence in New York could help Republicans in voting rounds or draw attention to signature issues, such as the former president's recent use of a rally in sapphire California to attack his Golden State campaign rival, Kamala Harris.

And finally: From the man whose campaign brought you $399 gold “Never Surrender” high-top sneakers and a $100,000 jeweled “Victory” watch, the rally could be in New York may be just one way to raise much-needed campaign cash, which is the case with the Harris campaign raising more than $1 billion in donations faster than any other in U.S. history.

The Trump campaign is selling an “Ultra MAGA Experience” for rally attendees that costs nearly $1 million, although it is revealing virtually no details about what the experience will entail.

Whatever it means to go Ultra MAGA, the campaign is certainly hoping to pack the arena for Trump's big statement, despite online pranksters' efforts to reserve tickets that then don't show up.