Inside 'the weave': How Donald Trump's rhetoric has grown darker and windier

DULUTH, Ga. (AP) — No scene has dominated U.S. politics since 2015 quite like Donald Trump on stage, waxing on for an hour-plus in front of a chorus of red “Make America Great Again” hats.

The stream-of-consciousness routine, the interrupting one of his thoughts with the next, is not a polemic Cicero or Lincoln would recognize. The former president and Republican nominee calls his style of speech “the weave,” whipsawing from dystopian warnings to light-hearted storytelling to policy pronouncements.

“You make a speech, and my speeches last a long time because of the weave, you know, I mean, I weave stories into it,” Trump explained last week to popular podcaster Joe Rogan. “If you don’t — if you just read a teleprompter, nobody’s going to be very excited. You’ve got to weave it out. So you — but you always have to — as you say, you always have to get right back to work. Otherwise, it’s no good. But the weave is very, very important. Very few weavers around. But it’s a big strain on your — you know, it’s a big — it’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of work.”

Over the closing weeks of his third presidential campaign, Trump’s presentation has grown as disjointed as ever and notably darker. But the crowds keep coming, cheering his nationalistic populism, laughing at the insults and chanting along, fists raised, with his benedictory pledges to make America strong, proud, healthy, wealthy and, of course, great again.

Trump’s speeches, while never the same, all employ consistent devices and themes. He wields humor, braggadocio, anecdotes, grievances and grand promises. There are non sequiturs, fantastical falsehoods and withering attacks on opponents. He sprinkles in vulgarities and superlatives. There are even the occasional stints read from the teleprompters he mocks when any other politician uses them — and then claims that he doesn’t use teleprompters or doesn’t need them.

Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic opponent, encourages voters to see him in person, suggesting doing so only affirms that he is erratic and unfit for office. Other critics compare his extended showmanship to authoritarian leaders. Or they argue “the weave” is simply cover for the cognitive decline of a 78-year-old who would be the oldest newly sworn U.S. president in history.

Here is a study of “the weave,” deployed on one night last week in suburban Atlanta.

Perhaps the most important moment is Trump’s entrance. His walkout music, a device that evokes his brief turn as a professional wrestling promoter, is Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless The U.S.A.” The former president stands on stage, silent and serious, as the crowd sings along.

At a recent Turning Point USA rally in Duluth, Georgia, pyrotechnics and large video screens flanking him at center stage added to the effect, as his on-screen likeness towered over the crowd. Trump looked out over thousands of cellphones recording the spectacle.

With the last notes of Greenwood’s opening hymn, Trump immediately relaxed and praised his audience as “thousands of proud, hardworking Americans and patriots, which is what you are.”

Then, in a more formal tone he seemed to shift to the prompters: “I’d like to begin by asking a very simple question. Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

It’s the famous question Republican Ronald Reagan used to defeat Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980, and Trump uses it as a way to tie Harris to President Joe Biden. But as soon as the crowd in Duluth yelled “no,” Trump moved to sweeping promises, hyperbole and superlatives that doubled as indictments of Biden and Harris.

“I will end inflation. I will stop the invasion of criminals into our country,” he pledged, suggesting all migrants are criminals.

“We’re going to fix our nation fast,” he said. “America will be bigger, better, bolder, richer, safer and stronger than ever before. This election is a choice between whether we will have four more years of incompetence, failure and disaster, or whether we will begin the four greatest years in the history of our country.”

Biden and Harris aren’t just bad, in Trump’s language. He called them “the worst president” and “the worst vice president” ever. Harris, he warned, would “destroy your family’s finances forever.” He blames Harris alone for “an open border,” taking liberties with immigration and crime statistics and suggesting, falsely, that the vice president singlehandedly controls U.S. immigration policy.

He slipped in that Harris “got no votes” — a reference to her becoming the Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out following party primaries. “Therefore,” Trump insisted, “she is a threat to democracy” — a Trumpian staple projecting onto his opponents their most aggressive attacks against him.

By the time he was done in Duluth, he had lampooned Harris as a “low-IQ individual” and “not a smart person.”

Thousands laughed at each broadside.

Trump does not speak in a linear pattern as he builds to a crescendo. From his first Harris takedowns, he moved to expressions of compassion for Hurricane Helene victims and then jarringly to one of his favorite subjects: his public standing.

“Our hearts are with you and we are praying for you — the polls, despite everything. The polls,” he said. “Do you see what’s happening here? Here, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee? And Georgia. The polls. The polls are through the roof.”

Minutes later, during an audible crowd lull, he dropped in his signature “MAGA” slogan to elicit cheers.

“What a nice crowd this is!” he answers with a chuckle. “What a nice crowd.”

He bounced back to the prompter for numbers framing inflation’s effects on U.S. households. He asked, “should I sue” CBS and “60 Minutes” for, in his words, manipulating Harris interview answers that were “from the loony bin.”

“It’s election interference and fraud,” he said, projecting charges that are part of felony criminal cases against him.

Trump mocked Harris for saying she will raise taxes, but misrepresented her proposals as applying universally. (She targets corporations and the wealthiest individual filers.) Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, meanwhile, were “the largest tax cuts in history,” he said. (A charitable interpretation, at best, that ignores inflation.)

Timothy and Amanda Browning reached different conclusions about Trump's style after driving from their Georgia mountain town of Lula to attend their first Trump rally.

“I liked it, because it shows how authentic he is,” said Timothy Browning. “There are lulls — but you’ve got to stick with him because there’s always a zinger coming.”

Amanda Browning laughed as she recalled leaning over to her husband to whisper that Trump “sure could use a speechwriter.”

Still, the co-owners of an event space and catering business in Lula reaffirmed their loyalties to the former president.

Timothy sported a T-shirt that had a sexist insult of Harris coined by some conservatives after Biden named her his running mate in 2020. Browning said, though, that he does not consider himself, Trump or the former president’s supporters angry.

Instead, the Brownings keyed on Trump's first-term economy and his pledges for an encore term. Talking about their business, they recounted specific price increases they’ve seen since pandemic-era inflation. They were not interested in pandemic supply chain interruptions or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine roiling world oil markets. Trump, they said, presided over a better situation for them than Biden and, by extension, Harris.

Timothy Browning summed up his takeaway in Trumpian terms.

“I hear him," Browning said, “putting America first.”

Brittany and Jason Aldean listen as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a Turning Point Action campaign rally, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Duluth, Ga. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a Turning Point Action campaign rally, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Duluth, Ga. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Supporters listen during a campaign rally with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Duluth, Ga. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump watches at a campaign rally Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Duluth, Ga. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard hugs Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump as Tucker Carlson yells during a campaign rally Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Duluth, Ga. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at a Turning Point Action campaign rally, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Duluth, Ga. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

NEW YORK (AP) — Fifteen years after little Anthony Volpe watched the Yankees parade with the World Series trophy, he saved their season and kept alive hopes for an improbable title.

New York had moved closer to getting swept in the World Series when Freddie Freeman hit another first-inning home run.

Volpe, a New York native whose family idolizes the pinstripes going back generations, turned on a knee-high slider and perhaps reshaped the Series, too. His third-inning grand slam sparked the Yankees to an 11-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night that forced a Game 5.

“The place was shaking. I felt the ground literally shaking,” Yankees catcher Austin Wells said.

Wells and Gleyber Torres added homers for the Yankees, who broke open the game with a five-run eighth.

New York, which had scored just seven runs in the first three games, had some of its swagger back. Wells spoke after the game wearing a “Fully Operational Death Star” Yankees T-shirt, referring to general manager Brian Cashman's 2018 quip.

Fans in the sellout crowd of 49,354 chanted Volpe's name during the ninth inning.

“It’s like you finally got to see the top blow off Yankee Stadium in a World Series game,” Aaron Boone said after his first World Series win as New York's manager. “When Anthony hits that ball, it was like fun to see Yankee Stadium erupt.”

Wells said the dire situation after Monday's loss had relieved the pressure.

“Why not go out tomorrow and have fun?” he described as the mood.

Freeman homered for his sixth straight Series game when he deposited a slider from rookie Luis Gil into the right-field short porch following Mookie Betts’ one-out double. He became the first player to homer in the first four games of a World Series and his streak of long balls in six straight games is one more than Houston’s George Springer 2017 and ’19.

“I'll look back on it after hopefully we win and get this thing done tomorrow,” Freeman said. “Pretty cool. Obviously, hopefully I can keep it going tomorrow.”

Game 5 is Wednesday night, with the Yankees ace Gerrit Cole and the Dodgers’ Jack Flaherty meeting in a rematch of Game 1.

Seeking to become the first team to overcome a 3-0 Series deficit, New York surged ahead 5-2 on Alex Verdugo’s RBI grounder in the second and Volpe’s drive against Daniel Hudson.

“All it takes is just one swing,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said.

Volpe sent Hudson's first pitch into the left-field seats.

“I pretty much blacked out as soon as I saw it go over the fence," Volpe said.

A Gold Glove shortstop in his second big league season, the 23-year-old Volpe also doubled and became the first player in Series history with a grand slam and a pair of stolen bases in one game. He was 8 when the Yankees last won the Series.

Volpe scored New York’s first run when he walked after falling behind 0-2 in the second inning. He made a baserunning blunder when he headed back to second to tag up and failed to score on Wells' double off the center-field wall — pounding his own leg in anger. Verdugo followed with an RBI grounder.

“They’re going to fight,” Betts said. “If you made it this far, you have a resilient team that’s going to fight the whole time.”

Los Angeles closed within 6-4 in a two-run fifth that included Will Smith's homer off Gil and an RBI grounder by Freeman. Despite a sprained right ankle, Freeman beat a relay to avoid an inning-ending double play on what originally was ruled an out but was reversed in a video review.

Wells hit a second-deck homer in the sixth against Landon Knack, and Verdugo added another run-scoring grounder in the eighth — capping an 11-pitch at-bat — ahead of Torres' three-run homer off Brent Honeywell.

Tim Hill, winning pitcher Clay Holmes, Mark Leiter Jr., Luke Weaver and Tim Mayza strung together five innings of one-hit scoreless relief with seven strikeouts, and the Yankees avoided what would have been their first losing Series sweep since 1976.

“As far as outcomes, to have six guys in your ’pen that are feeling good, rested, I feel good about that,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Twenty-one of the previous 24 teams to take 3-0 Series leads went on to sweeps, all but the 1910 Philadelphia Athletics against the Chicago Cubs, the 1937 Yankees against the New York Giants and the 1970 Baltimore Orioles against the Cincinnati Reds. All three of those Series ended in five games.

The 2004 Boston Red Sox, sparked by a stolen base by Roberts, are the only team to overcome a 3-0 deficit in any round, beating the Yankees in the AL Championship Series.

Judge drove in his first run of the Series with an RBI single in the eighth and is 2 for 15 in the four games. Dodgers sensation Shohei Ohtani also is 2 for 15 after going 1 for 4 with a single, his first hit since partially separating his left shoulder in Game 2.

New York stopped a seven-game Series losing streak against the Dodgers dating to 1981. The Yankees got their first seven RBIs from the bottom three hitters in their batting order, Volpe, Wells and Verdugo, who had entered 4 for 32 with three RBIs in the Series.

Volpe was interviewed after the game by former Yankees captain Derek Jeter, now a Fox broadcaster.

“It’s my dream, but it was all my friends’ dreams, all my cousins’ dreams, probably my sister’s dream, too. But winning the World Series was first and foremost. by far. Nothing else compares. So still got a lot of work to do,” Volpe said.

Former Boston star David Ortiz, also a Fox commentator, gave Volpe a shirt.

“I’ve got it in my locker,” Volpe said. “I can’t wear it. It’s got him and Red Sox stuff on it.”

UP NEXT

Cole allowed one run over six-plus innings in the opener -- Kiké Hernández tripled in the fifth as right fielder Juan Soto took a poor route, then scored on Smith’s sacrifice fly. Flaherty gave up two runs in 5 1/3 innings, a two-run homer by Giancarlo Stanton.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

Los Angeles Dodgers players watch from the dugout during the ninth inning in Game 4 of the baseball World Series against the New York Yankees, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Yankees' Anthony Volpe (11) and Gleyber Torres celebrate after Game 4 of the baseball World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. The Yankees won 11-4. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

New York Yankees' Alex Verdugo, left, Aaron Judge, center, and Juan Soto celebrate after Game 4 of the baseball World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. The Yankees won 11-4. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

New York Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton (27) and Juan Soto celebrate after Game 4 of the baseball World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. The Yankees won 11-4. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

New York Yankees' Alex Verdugo (24), Aaron Judge and Juan Soto celebrate after Game 4 of the baseball World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. The Yankees won 11-4. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Yankees' Anthony Volpe reacts after scoring against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the eighth inning in Game 4 of the baseball World Series, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

New York Yankees pitcher Luke Weaver throws against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the ninth inning in Game 3 of the baseball World Series, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

New York Yankees' Austin Wells hits home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the sixth inning in Game 4 of the baseball World Series, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Freddie Freeman hits a two-run home run against the New York Yankees during the first inning in Game 3 of the baseball World Series, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Freddie Freeman celebrates his two-run home run against the New York Yankees during the first inning in Game 4 of the baseball World Series, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

New York Yankees' Anthony Volpe celebrates after hitting a grand slam against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning in Game 4 of the baseball World Series, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

New York Yankees' Anthony Volpe celebrates his grand slam home run with Aaron Judge against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning in Game 4 of the baseball World Series, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

New York Yankees' Anthony Volpe celebrates his grand slam home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning in Game 4 of the baseball World Series, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

New York Yankees' Anthony Volpe hits a grand slam home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning in Game 4 of the baseball World Series, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Yankees' Anthony Volpe celebrates his grand slam home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning in Game 4 of the baseball World Series, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)