New York Post, Monday, August 19, 2019nypost.com11Between the jet-setting eco-
hypocrisy of Prince Harry and
Meghan Markle and the mounting
outrage over Prince Andrew’s
relationship with pedophile Jeffrey
Epstein, the royal family hasn’t had a
p.r. week quite so bad since the
Queen’s annus horribilis.
A week after the queen made a
show of support for Andrew by
having him sit beside her on the way
to church, fresh video has emerged
showing the 59-year-old playboy
prince seeing out a young woman
from the doorway of Epstein’s
Upper East Side mansion in 2010.
The Epstein connection is a
disgrace and Andrew’s statement
issued Sunday night that he is
“appalled by [reports of the] alleged
crimes” is too little too late.
Then, to cement the air of a royal
family out of touch with social
norms, we have news of the very
woke Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s
second European junket on a
private jet in eight days. No sooner
had they flown home from Ibiza
than they were off again to France , a
flight that the helpful British press
points out created seven times more
carbon emissions per person than a
commercial flight.
For a royal who so recently was
delivering barefoot lectures on
climate change to Google Campers
in Sicily, it’s not a good look.Royal pains
in the...
Thanks for all the feedback on
my ode to masculinity last week.
Bill, the father of five sons 20 to
31, wrote to say he didn’t mind
the “feminist bra burnings in the
’80s pushing to be equal to men.
[But] it’s just going too far to try
to change our DNA!
“It will always be in our instinct
to protect, provide, and support
our family and for a real woman
to desire all this in a man.”
Mary, the proud mother of six
fine sons, writes that they were
“raised to respect women.”
She despairs at “rabid feminists
who are gleefully writing about
aborting baby boys,” and draws
my attention to a story on
Townhall.com about women
allegedly having sex-selection
abortions. If it’s true, we’re in
more trouble than I thought.‘Male’ call
from readers
L
ISTEN up, Trumpophobes.
It’s not so hard to understand
the president’s appeal. Try go-
ing to one of his rallies and, in-
stead of turning up your nose
at the Walmart people, listen and
learn.
The abuse of President Trump and
his supporters that passes for analy-
sis from his opponents is a strategic
error.
The more abuse, the more Trump’s
base is energized to turn out on Elec-
tion Day.
At his Thursday-night rally to
launch his 2020 New Hampshire
campaign, he broke Elton John’s all-
time attendance record with a crowd
of 11,500 inside the Southern New
Hampshire University Arena. It
wasn’t just a Trumpian boast but a
number confirmed to reporters by
the Manchester deputy fire marshal.
An overflow crowd of 8,000 people
watched outside on a giant screen.
The audience this night are patri-
ots, veterans, moms and dads wear-
ing “Trump 2020 F--k Your Feelings”
and “Proud to be a Deplorable”
T-shirts, American-flag boots and
MAGA hats, as baby-boomer an-
thems from AC/DC and the Rolling
Stones whip them into a lather of ex-
citement not seen since the last
WWE World Heavyweight Champi-
onship.
“Good people,” Trump calls them.
Within 10 seconds of taking the
stage to Lee Greenwood’s anthem
“God Bless the USA,” he’s telling
them, “I will never, ever let you
down.”
This is a president who connects
with people in an intensely personal
way.
“I love you”, he says, again and
again. And they yell, “We love you,
Trump” right back.
He tells them he’s back to win the
state he missed out on by fewer than
3,000 votes in 2016. Back where it all
began, because the New Hampshire
primary delivered him the thumping
outsider victory that sent the Repub-
lican establishment into a spin.
“Where it all started, right? The
greatest political movement in the
history of our country,” he says.
Then he launches into a pitch-per-
fect stream of consciousness schtick
that entertains for an hour, with
jokes and insults and the obligatory
pause for a collapsed fan over-
whelmed with excitement or the or-
deal of camping out for 24 hours.
“Is there a doctor in the house?
Take your time,” he says, prowling
the stage. “These are great people
that love our country, just remember
that.”
The intense audience interplay
makes it a peculiarly participatory
form of theater, more like a Christ-
mas play than a political rally, with
Trump the conductor orchestratingthe crowd’s emotions.
“America is winning again and
America is respected again, re-
spected like never before.”
The crowd roars, “USA! USA!
USA!”
“More than 7 million Americans
lifted off of food stamps.”
A huge cheer.
An even bigger cheer greets his
new off-Broadway motto:
“I know you like me,” he tells them,
“and this room is a love fest. But you
have no choice but to vote for me be-
cause your 401(k)s are going to be
down the tubes. Everything’s going
to be down the tubes. So whether
you love me or hate me, you got to
vote for me.”
A crowd favorite is Democrat
bashing, but he doesn’t give them too
much.
“Is there anything better than a
Trump rally? What about a sleepy
Joe Biden rally?... I sort of hope it’s
him. I don’t mind any of them. You
got Pocahontas rising. We got Ka-
mala. Kamala is falling. You got Beto.
Beto is like gone.”
The audience loves the Clinton
barbs more: “33,000 e-mails!”
“Booooooo.”For a 73-year-old whose only exer-
cise is golf, his energy is extraordi-
nary.
Another crowd favorite is defend-
ing cops.
The Democrats “slander our law-
enforcement heroes. You see what
they’re doing with our police that we
love... Has anyone ever seen any-
thing like the water being thrown on
New York’s Finest?”
“Boooooo.”
Half an hour in, he reaches his cre-
scendo, wrapping the economy, pa-
triotism and fear of the enemy in one
soaring riff.
“Wages are rising, and you know
who’s the biggest beneficiary? Blue-
collar workers. My administration is
fighting to expand opportunity for
citizens of every background and ev-
ery race, religion, color, and creed...
“Because we are all Americans. We
all share the same home. We all share
the same heart. We all share the
same dreams. We are all children of
the same almighty God.”
God elicits the biggest cheer of the
night.
“But at the very moment when our
country should be coming together
to enjoy these wonderful blessings,the radical Democrats are trying to
tear America apart.”
“Booooooo”.
Having started on trust, he ends on
love.
“Our movement is built on love,
and it is, and we love our family. We
love our faith. We love our flag, and
we love our freedom, and that’s what
it’s about.”
The crowd knows what’s coming
and they roar for it.
“We are making America safe
again.”
They chant along with him: “And
we are making America great again”.
Suddenly, he’s off the stage. “You
Can’t Always Get What You Want”
plays over the loudspeakers as the
crowd hurries out with a parting
thumbs-down to the media penned
in the center of the stadium.
“You really feel he’s talking to you,”
says Nick Isgro, 38, who drove al-
most three hours from Waterville,
Maine, with his 14-year-old son.
“He’s the most powerful man in
the world, yet he doesn’t feel out of
reach. He feels like he’s one of us.”
This is Trump’s secret sauce,
which his antagonists can’t feel be-
cause they hate him so.Pacific Press / Barcroft MediaMiranda Devine