The crass, vitriolic and incendiary GOP rally in New York on Sunday was a deliberate echo of infamous 'America First' events from 1939 and 1941, but will it have any impact on November 5? In an election that will likely be won based on seven swing states, narrow margins could matter

In 2004, acclaimed U.S. author Philip Roth published his novel "The Plot Against America." The book, later adapted into an HBO miniseries, focuses on Roth's Jewish family in early 1940s Newark, NJ, and describes a dystopian, alternative history of the United States (and, inevitably, World War II). The main theme is that Charles Lindbergh, campaigning on neutrality and isolationism but with pro-German inclinations, latent and then open antisemitism and an authoritarian police-state America, won the 1940 election against Franklin D. Roosevelt.

That is exactly what the Trump campaign evoked on Sunday, providing a glimpse into an America under a second Donald Trump term. Take his words and statements for it. It reflects a racist, white supremacist, angry, misogynistic, xenophobic, undemocratic and quasi-fascist United States. Even if he ends up losing the election next week, have no doubt that anywhere between 72 and 75 million Americans will vote for this dark vision and mutation of their country.

Not since February 1939 did Madison Square Garden, in the heart of New York City, witness a more crass, vitriolic and incendiary performance than the one the Trump campaign proudly exhibited on Sunday.

In 1939, the German American Bund, a branch of the Nazi Party, organized a "Support Germany" rally at MSG. Fritz Julius Kuhn, a Nazi activist and head of the Bund, spoke against the backdrop of a huge portrait of George Washington adorned with swastikas on either side. Kuhn was later imprisoned as a German agent, but Lindbergh's "America First" platform was fully embraced by Trump and his MAGA movement. In 1941, Lindbergh had a Madison Square Garden rally of his own, calling for an "America First" approach to World War II.

The comparisons are reinforced by what actually transpired at Trump's rally. The procession of raging half-lunatics included a stand-up comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico "a floating island of garbage" and commented that the Hispanic community is not good at using contraceptives. That elicited the ire of cultural luminaries of Puerto Rican descent such as rapper Bad Bunny, musician Marc Anthony, actress Jennifer Lopez, journalist Geraldo Rivera and others. For ethnic balance and fairness, Hinchcliffe also noted that Jews are cheap.

"Hatred is not a bug but a feature of Trump's campaign," Congressman Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat, said in response on Monday.

Pennsylvania, perhaps the most critical of the seven swing states next week, is home to some 500,000 Puerto Rican Americans. So, in an election that may be decided by a few thousand votes in each of those states, the political debacle here is clear.

That was followed by old Trump friend David Rem, who described Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris as "the Antichrist." Then came the self-described conservative intellectual Tucker Carlson, a Vladimir Putin sycophant, Benjamin Netanyahu groupie and Trump cheerleader. He said that Harris, a "Samoan-Malaysian," wants to be the first low-IQ California attorney general president. Harris is neither Malaysian nor Samoan, and even Putin reportedly called Carlson – fired by Fox News for remarks negatively affecting advertisers – "not a very smart person."

Then came a pedigree bigot, Stephen Miller, a former Trump adviser on immigration in the White House and the most grotesque imitation of Joseph Goebbels a Jewish person is capable of. Yes, a grandchild of Jewish refugees from Belarus stood up and proclaimed that "America is for Americans and Americans only." Insert "Germany" where "America" was used and you'll get the gist of it.

MAGA merchandise was on sale outside MSG, including T-shirts with the oh-so-classy and clever text "Say no to the Hoe" (a misspelling of "ho"). In 2016, the Trump campaign sold T-shirts stating "Vote Trump not Tramp," directed at Hillary Clinton. In the meantime, the Jesus of Mar-a-Lago was found liable for sexual assault and paying off a porn star, so the use of the word "ho" should come as no surprise at these toxic, misogynistic rallies.

In the last several months, Trump has upped the ante of his racist and derogatory remarks. But it's not just the blatant and crude racism. It's the adopted fascist terminology, centered around "they" – those who are different from us, those who are "enemies from within," as Trump often describes them. They are poisoning the blood of our country. They are eating the cats and dogs. They are murderous immigrants with bad genes. They are criminals purposely deported from their home countries. They tried to assassinate him.

Nothing about the MSG rally was a coincidence. Choosing it as the venue was a defiant, attention-grabbing "in-your-face" move, meant to draw parallels to 1939 and 1941. Trump will not win New York; nor is New York City his official place of residence – Palm Beach, Florida, is.

After the horror show warm-up was over, an incoherent 78-year-old man rambled on for 78 minutes and doubled down on his plans: deport millions of immigrants; arrests journalists; use the military to go after political rivals who will surely "cheat and steal the election"; fire federal "deep state" workers and replace them with loyal cronies; deconstruct the checks and balances.

"We will use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798," exclaimed Trump, a known history buff. The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, of which the Alien Enemies Act was part, was intended to deal with agents from countries that are at war with the United States. It was last used in 1941-1942 to place Japanese-American citizens in internment camps after the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

Just in the past week, Trump has explained (not for the first time) that he would have negotiated an accord between the Union and Confederacy, and that Abraham Lincoln was distraught after his son Tad died – except that Tad Lincoln died in 1871, six years after Lincoln was assassinated. He also said he wants to be a "whale psychiatrist," since wind farms are driving the "whales fricking crazy" – but that's another story.

The conventional wisdom in American politics since Trump's announcement in 2015 that he was running for president is that nothing he says, no amount of vitriol, racism, sexism or ludicrously false statements he spews, damages him politically. That is by and large true, given that Trumpism and MAGA have become a broad movement of grievances and anger that outgrew and will likely outlive Trump himself.

Many of Trump's voters are cult-like voters for whom he is Jesus suffering for their sins. They vote for him not despite of what he says, but exactly because of what and how he says things.

But in an election that will likely be won by small margins across five, six or seven states, margins matter immensely and the Madison Square Garden rally may have an effect on three groups of heterogeneous voters: middle-aged white men who trend Republican but are unhappy with Trump and would have found it hard to vote for a non-white woman; soft Trump voters who dislike him but are wary of Harris even more and may now stay home; and an increase in the Hispanic, particularly Puerto Rican, voter turnout.

Madison Square Garden, as a singular event, will not change the course of the election because it is all blended, baked and factored into intentions and polls. The one thing it may affect is Democratic voter turnout, and that is where this election will be won or lost.