The reactions to political rhetoric in today’s climate often seem baffling. Take former President Donald Trump, for example. When he unleashes insults—branding opponents and their supporters as ‘radical,’ ‘losers,’ ‘spoiled children’ or even ‘the enemy from within’—it’s almost anticipated. Many Americans see him as a fighter, a bulldog taking on the political establishment and these remarks are viewed as part of his tough persona. Supporters love his directness and his willingness to ‘drain the swamp.’

Now, contrast that with the fallout when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Trump supporters a ‘basket of deplorables’ or when President Joe Biden labeled them as ‘garbage’ the way he did on Tuesday night. 

The backlash has been swift and loud. 

Why? Because Biden and Harris have positioned themselves as the candidates of decency and civility. When they stray from that image, it feels hypocritical. They are held to a different standard.  One they have created themselves. So, any lapsed behavior tends to raise eyebrows and stoke outrage.

What I find fascinating is how Trump supporters embrace these insults, wearing them like badges of honor. They proudly call themselves ‘deplorables’ and even joke about it, saying things like, ‘I prefer rubbish to garbage; it’s classier.’ For these voters, it’s not about the insult itself; it’s about defiance against a political system they believe has long ignored them.

This dynamic starkly highlights the differences in reactions to political discourse. Trump’s supporters celebrate his unapologetic style because it resonates with their hard-fought battle against perceived elites. Meanwhile, when Biden and Harris deviate from their civil demeanor, the scrutiny they face is intensified, reinforcing the perception of hypocrisy.

The contrast in reactions highlights deeper divides in our political landscape. It’s about more than just words; it speaks to identity, loyalty, and the quest for recognition. 

Political rhetoric is more charged than ever, with some getting a pass while others face backlash. Language carries significant weight, and how we interpret that language fundamentally shapes our perceptions of candidates. One thing is certain: authenticity is essential to trust.

When you call half of America ‘garbage’ or refer to Trump supporters as ‘deplorables,’ you’re making a blanket statement that reflects contempt for an entire group. In contrast, labeling some Democrats as ‘enemies from within’ targets a select few individuals who are problematic. 

Don’t get me wrong, both are inappropriate, but the former implies a deep-seated disdain for millions of people, which creates an almost insurmountable barrier to understanding or supporting the opposing side.

You can’t have it both ways; you can’t claim to hate the hater while also calling for unity. You can’t stand for an end to division and then contribute to it. This contradiction is at the heart of the difference in responses.

As the country braces for Nov. 5, Americans are not the only ones keeping a close eye on election day. For many in war-torn regions throughout the world, the outcome of the U.S. election could mean the difference between life and death.

Amit Segal, chief political analyst for Israel’s Channel 12, told Fox News Digital that Israeli citizens are following the U.S. election ‘very closely’ and are fully aware of the ‘dramatic’ impact the election will have on the Middle East and their lives.

He said that though the spirits of Israeli citizens have improved since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks, ‘the fact that there is an ongoing war with dead soldiers almost on a daily basis’ is taking a toll on the people.

Over the weekend, Israeli air force jets bombed several Iranian military sites. Israel also launched an attack in northern Gaza in an effort to stop Hamas forces from regrouping. In response, Iran has vowed to ‘use all available tools to deliver a definite and effective response’ to the attacks.

Amid this time of difficulty, Segal said that most Israeli citizens believe former President Donald Trump would enable Israel to defeat its enemies.

Segal shared a recent Channel 12 poll that found Israelis favor Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris 66% to 17%.

‘There is a hope in Israel that Trump would bring with him a much more staunch approach, a much more tough approach against Iran, thus enabling Israel to act more freely against the arms of the octopus,’ Segal explained.

This election cycle, Trump has cast himself as Israel’s protector, contrasting himself with the Democrats who he said support the ‘total annihilation’ of Israel. During his first term, Trump was instrumental in brokering the ‘Abraham Accords’ which offered one of the most significant breakthroughs in improving Israeli-Arab relations in decades.

Segal said that Harris is more of an unknown regarding her policy toward Israel.

‘Harris is a mystery, but her party is not a mystery, and the party is rapidly turning to the left and that’s the reason why I say the vast majority of Israelis are worried,’ he said.

Harris has said, ‘we are prepared to defend Israel, as we have before, we will again.’ Yet, she has also insisted that ‘there must be a de-escalation in the region.’

Segal said that many Israelis, both inside and outside the government, are afraid that, as president, Harris would hinder Israel’s efforts in Gaza and beyond, resulting in reduced security for the country and its citizens.

In addition to allowing Israel to continue its defense efforts, Segal said he believes the most important question is whether the next administration will cooperate with Israeli hopes to disable Iran’s nuclear facilities.

‘The Democratic administrations, led by Obama and Biden, opposed it. There is a hope in Israel that Trump would support it passively or even actively,’ he said. 

According to strategic military intelligence analyst and Russia expert Rebekah Koffler, leaders in Russia and Ukraine hope for a Harris victory.

Koffler was born and raised in Russia and formerly worked for the CIA as a Russian doctrine and strategy specialist. 

She told Fox News Digital that Ukrainian leaders favor Harris because they believe she will continue the Biden administration’s policy of sending tens of billions of dollars in military aid. In the same vein, she said that Ukraine fears that Trump, who has criticized the Biden administration’s funding of Ukraine, will cut off aid and pressure them to make territorial concessions to end the war.

Koffler said that Russian intelligence services, meanwhile, have profiled Harris as ‘unintelligent, incompetent and vapid,’ which she said, ‘makes it easier for them to deceive and manipulate her.’

Though many have criticized Trump’s conciliatory language regarding Putin, Koffler said that in terms of policy, the former president’s first term was ‘the most anti-Russia policy’ in U.S. history.

She said, ‘there’s no one that Putin fears more than Trump.’

If Trump is given a second term, Koffler believes the war will be over within the first three months. On the other hand, a Harris victory would allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to continue the war as is and simply outlast Ukraine.

‘[Putin] is prepared for a very long war,’ she said. ‘So, if Harris continues, whatever she can squeeze out of the American people if she still can. Putin is ready for that. He’s ready to fight until the last Ukrainian.’

As the country braces for Nov. 5, Americans are not the only ones keeping a close eye on election day. For many in war-torn regions throughout the world, the outcome of the U.S. election could mean the difference between life and death.

Amit Segal, chief political analyst for Israel’s Channel 12, told Fox News Digital that Israeli citizens are following the U.S. election ‘very closely’ and are fully aware of the ‘dramatic’ impact the election will have on the Middle East and their lives.

He said that though the spirits of Israeli citizens have improved since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks, ‘the fact that there is an ongoing war with dead soldiers almost on a daily basis’ is taking a toll on the people.

Over the weekend, Israeli air force jets bombed several Iranian military sites. Israel also launched an attack in northern Gaza in an effort to stop Hamas forces from regrouping. In response, Iran has vowed to ‘use all available tools to deliver a definite and effective response’ to the attacks.

Amid this time of difficulty, Segal said that most Israeli citizens believe former President Donald Trump would enable Israel to defeat its enemies.

Segal shared a recent Channel 12 poll that found Israelis favor Trump over Vice-president Kamala Harris 66 to 17 percent.

‘There is a hope in Israel that Trump would bring with him a much more staunch approach, a much more tough approach against Iran, thus enabling Israel to act more freely against the arms of the octopus,’ Segal explained.

This election cycle, Trump has cast himself as Israel’s protector, contrasting himself with the Democrats who he said support the ‘total annihilation’ of Israel. During his first term, Trump was instrumental in brokering the ‘Abraham Accords’ which offered one of the most significant breakthroughs in improving Israeli-Arab relations in decades.

Segal said that Harris is more of an unknown regarding her policy toward Israel.

‘Harris is a mystery, but her party is not a mystery, and the party is rapidly turning to the left and that’s the reason why I say the vast majority of Israelis are worried,’ he said.

Harris has said, ‘we are prepared to defend Israel, as we have before, we will again.’ Yet, she has also insisted that ‘there must be a de-escalation in the region.’

Segal said that many Israelis, both inside and outside the government, are afraid that, as president, Harris would hinder Israel’s efforts in Gaza and beyond, resulting in reduced security for the country and its citizens.

In addition to allowing Israel to continue its defense efforts, Segal said he believes the most important question is whether the next administration will cooperate with Israeli hopes to disable Iran’s nuclear facilities.

‘The Democratic administrations, led by Obama and Biden, opposed it. There is a hope in Israel that Trump would support it passively or even actively,’ he said. 

According to strategic military intelligence analyst and Russia expert Rebekah Koffler, leaders in Russia and Ukraine hope for a Harris victory.

Koffler was born and raised in Russia and formerly worked for the CIA as a Russian doctrine and strategy specialist. 

She told Fox News Digital that Ukrainian leaders favor Harris because they believe she will continue the Biden administration’s policy of sending tens of billions of dollars in military aid. In the same vein, she said that Ukraine fears that Trump, who has criticized the Biden administration’s funding of Ukraine, will cut off aid and pressure them to make territorial concessions to end the war.

Koffler said that Russian intelligence services, meanwhile, have profiled Harris as ‘unintelligent, incompetent and vapid,’ which she said, ‘makes it easier for them to deceive and manipulate her.’

Though many have criticized Trump’s conciliatory language regarding Putin, Koffler said that in terms of policy, the former president’s first term was ‘the most anti-Russia policy’ in U.S. history.

She said, ‘there’s no one that Putin fears more than Trump.’

If Trump is given a second term, Koffler believes the war will be over within the first three months. On the other hand, a Harris victory would allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to continue the war as is and simply outlast Ukraine.

‘[Putin] is prepared for a very long war,’ she said. ‘So, if Harris continues, whatever she can squeeze out of the American people if she still can. Putin is ready for that. He’s ready to fight until the last Ukrainian.’

‘Breaking News,’ an MSNBC banner insisted on Sunday night. ‘Trump’s MSG rally comes 85 years after pro-Nazi rally at the famed arena.’ The far-left network’s breathless report featured chilling black-and-white footage of the German American Bund’s notorious National Socialist gathering, complete with swastika armbands and stiff-armed salutes.  

Referring to Trump’s packed-to-the rafters event at Madison Square Garden, MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart said: ‘But that jamboree happening right now, you see it there on your screen in that place, is particularly chilling because in 1939, more than 20,000 supporters of a different fascist leader, Adolf Hitler, packed the Garden for a so-called pro-America rally – a rally where speakers voiced antisemitic rhetoric from a stage draped with Nazi banners.’ When a Jewish protester rushed the stage, Capehart explained, American storm troopers yanked his clothes off and beat him as he cradled his head in his arms. 

Scary! But much more than that, this is disgusting, vile rubbish. And – as luck would have it – this also is spectacularly inaccurate.  

The Nazi rally happened at the old Madison Square Garden at 8th Avenue and West 49th Street, home of today’s Worldwide Plaza office and retail complex. Trump and his supporters were not ‘in that place,’ as MSNBC’s misinformation claimed.  

In fact, Trump’s extravaganza was a mile south, at 8th Avenue and West 33rd Street, in a venue that began hosting events in 1968 – the same year that the old MSG was demolished and turned into a parking lot. Not only was the MAGA nation not on the same defiled ground as that pre-World War II Hitlerfest. The facility in question has not even existed for 56 years.  

The entire premise of MSNBC’s hyperventilation – and that of Hillary Clinton and other Trump haters – has collapsed like an arena pummeled by a wrecking ball. Too bad these Trumpophobes didn’t spend five minutes on the Google machine to learn about MSG’s three incarnations, the first two of which were razed. Perhaps drowning Trump in archival footage of swastika flags is just too important to engage in high-school-paper level fact-checking.  

The left’s entire Nuremberg-Rally-on-the-Hudson Big Lie suffers from more than just a fatally flawed timeline. 

Trump’s event, which I was pleased and proud to attend, bore no resemblance whatsoever to the 1939 occasion that has the left soiling themselves in fear. 

Rather than ferocious U.S. storm troopers, I saw thousands of calm, cheerful men, women and children lined up from the middle of West 33rd Street and wrapped north and then east around 1 Penn Plaza – all the way to the middle of West 34th Street. They peacefully and patriotically waited in a cool autumn breeze to enter MSG.

Once inside – as far as I could tell – no Jews were yanked from the stage and pounded into submission. Au contraire, Trump advisor Stephen Miller, Trump’s friend and golf partner Steve Witkoff, and Cantor Fitzgerald chief Howard Lutnick were welcomed to the stage. These Jewish gentlemen offered warm and passionate words of support for Trump.  

The crowd – which filled every row, all the way to the top aisle behind the podium –cheered and applauded these speakers with abundant enthusiasm. Miller, Witkoff and Lutnick were permitted to leave the stage. All three were fully dressed, and none exhibited signs of physical assault or trauma.  

In an even more dramatic departure from Nazism, Congressman Byron Donalds, R-Fla., and Death Row Records Co-Founder Michael ‘Harry O’ Harris addressed the red-capped masses. These two Black men also endorsed Trump, to the enormous satisfaction of the mega-MAGA faithful. 

The occasion also featured the characteristically fiery-yet-eloquent words of former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy – a Hindu distinctly lacking in blond hair and blue eyes. Ramaswamy (much like Miller) electrified the audience with his stirring advocacy of Trump and his policies. 

The youngest major presidential contender in memory also said that gay Americans were welcome in the MAGA tent, so long as they agreed with Trump and his followers that men and boys have no place in women’s and girls’ sports, and gender transition should be limited to adults. ‘Gay marriage is fine, but hands off the kids!’ is a MAGA tenet that enjoys widespread appeal across the ideological spectrum.   

The event felt like a one-day Republican National Convention. The excitement, energy and camaraderie recalled one of those quadrennial nominating affairs. The speakers were also of that caliber. They included, among others, former congresswoman and recent GOP convert Tulsi Gabbard, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Hulk Hogan and Eric and Lara Trump.  

The GOP nominee’s other son was aghast at what inflation did to his family’s recent fast-food tab. ‘ If Donald Trump Jr. has sticker shock at McDonald’s, we have a serious problem in our country.’

This occasion had its surreal qualities, political commentator Tucker Carlson noted. ‘Just another day following Bobby Kennedy, Jr., at a Donald Trump rally in Madison Square Garden … Yeah, that’s totally normal!’ 

Among the speeches and snippets of classic rock tunes such as ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and ‘Sweet Child of Mine,’ the campaign presented multiple new slogans on screens and in videos and hallway displays. Many are four words long, like Make America Great Again. They are caveman-simple, but direct, powerful, compelling and manly: 

‘Better Off with Trump’
‘Dream Big Again’
‘No Tax on Overtime’
‘Make America Strong Again’

And my favorite: 

‘Trump Will Fix It.’

Melania Trump made a surprise appearance, to introduce her husband. As Donald J. Trump finally took the stage to a deafening ovation, Lee Greenwood serenaded the once and perhaps future First Couple with a live rendition of ‘I’m Proud to Be an American.’ 

Trump himself spoke positively and optimistically about November 5 as ‘Liberation Day’ and promised a fascinating combination of major tax cuts, deregulation, energy liberation, Elon Musk and Howard Lutnick to lead a massive federal budget-slashing effort, tariffs, and Golden Rule trade policy (regarding international commerce, do unto other nations as they do onto us). I call this supply-side protectionism. I like the first part better than the second. If anyone can fuse these two seemingly contradictory approaches, it would have to be Donald J. Trump. 

Rather than a Thousand Year Reich, which Hitler promised Germany, Trump spoke warmly of ‘a new golden age.’

This occasion had its surreal qualities, political commentator Tucker Carlson noted. ‘Just another day following Bobby Kennedy, Jr., at a Donald Trump rally in Madison Square Garden … Yeah, that’s totally normal!’ 

The event’s one sour note was comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s crack about an island made of garbage floating in the middle of the ocean: Puerto Rico. He was the day’s first speaker and appeared when MSG was about half full. While the rest of his set was amusing, that line drew appropriately few laughs and, instead, something between silence and groans. Trump and his campaign have disassociated themselves from those remarks. 

It’s a damn shame that Hinchcliffe is a noxious distraction from an otherwise upbeat and extraordinary event in modern politics. And Adolf Hitler would have hated the whole thing.