Comment on Swing States of Anxiety

NEW YORK — Republican Donald Trump’s rally on Sunday at Madison Square Garden follows a long line of political events at the storied New York City arena. The Garden has hosted both Democratic and Republican National Conventions since the 1800s, and in 1939, thousands joined back-to-back pro-Nazi and Communist Party rallies in the lead-up to World War II.

After Joe Biden’s debate debacle and Donald Trump’s near-assassination, the 2024 election looked like it could be a GOP blowout. Then Biden dropped out, Kamala Harris stepped up, the Democrats raised $1 billion-plus, the Republicans went full fascist … And here we are, a week before what feels like (another) Most Momentous Election of Our Lifetimes, and—if you believe the polls—no one has a clue who will win.

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Helene and Milton, the two massive hurricanes that just swept into the country—killing hundreds of people, and leaving both devastation and rumblings of political upheaval in seven states—amounted to their own October surprise.

Elon Musk, far and away the richest man on the planet, is pouring tens of millions of dollars into efforts to get Donald Trump elected. In addition to his massively valuable promotion of Trump’s messaging on X—an in-kind donation if ever there was one—he reportedly gave $50 million to a group linked to immigrant-hater Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s morally abominable family separation policy.

When President Trump branded these propaganda outfits the enemy of the people, he was right.

There are too many to count, so here is just a sample.