NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden may have been the zenith of his roles as entertainer-in-chief for the MAGA faithful but those in attendance were sure it wouldn’t be his last act.

Attending Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden proved to be a feat of endurance. Arriving around four hours ahead of the event’s official start at 2:30 pm, rallygoers were whisked from the exit of Penn Station into a packed crowd with little to no direction from staffers or volunteers. Many looking for the general admission line ended up waiting in the VIP line and many others wandered back and forth looking for someone to ask.

At the entrance on West 32nd Street and 6th Ave., peddlers hocked knock-off Trump merchandise, some of it apparently on an end-of-election season fire sale, with classic MAGA hats going for as low as $10 with newer Dark MAGA merch climbing from there.

Related

While much of the crowd poured directly out of Penn Station, the sea of MAGA hats engulfed multiple city blocks as early as 11 am. Though most rallygoers wouldn’t have seen the crowd after getting in one of the lines for the stadium, latecomers reported that the crowd stretched for blocks, with some claiming that the crowd of MAGA adherents stretched all the way to Columbus Circle, 25 blocks uptown of the entrance to Madison Square Garden. It was clear from overheard conversations that Trump’s acolytes were gleeful at the prospect of inconveniencing the Democratic residents of New York.

When someone did find their way into one of the street-wide corrals serving as a line, they were, for all intents and purposes, on their own in a sea of people.

There were no facilities provided for the tens of thousands of people standing in the street, no bathrooms and no place to get water except for a few restaurants on that block of 32nd street and stepping inside any of them would require you to forfeit your place in line. This created an ad hoc business for industrious bystanders who would take orders from the crowd and who acted as a courier between the MAGA crowd and the Sbarro on 33rd and 7th.

So the crowd waited. Some had arrived the previous day to secure their entry, others filtered in throughout the morning. Advice online suggested arriving four to five hours before the rally began to make sure you could get in, though this would later prove to be insufficient. People passed the time watching right-wing news broadcasts or chatting. One man watched cartoonist Scott Adams’s podcast out loud on his phone and another woman filmed different people in the crowd while yelling “Trump, Trump, Trump.”

There was an overwhelming sense of confidence among fans that Trump would not only........

© Salon