If “All the world’s a stage,” President Trump is about to appear on one of the biggest, Madison Square Garden. Will the event — set for Sunday — pay off for him and Republicans?

Many of the 45th president’s detractors are already complaining that Trump is wasting his time at New York City. They’re advising him to spend his time where they think it is better invested. If one believes conventional wisdom that would seem to make sense. 

No Republican running for president has won New York and its considerable allotment of electoral votes since President Reagan in his historic 49-state landslide victory in 1984. Tor Trump, though, this will be a homecoming of sorts. New York is where he started, building his empire and the most iconic buildings in his portfolio. 

It’s also where, when political attacks didn’t yield the desired result, civil and criminal attacks were unleashed by some of Trump’s most strident opponents. With the polls offering at least some hope for a Trump win on November 5, his Madison Square Garden speech would be an opportunity for Trump to do what Trump loves to do most — troll and trash talk his opposition on turf they consider to be theirs and theirs alone. 

When it comes to trash talking in politics, nobody does it like Trump, who has become the Larry Bird of political trash talk. He gets under his opponents’ skin like nobody else can, driving his opposition absolutely insane. Just look at Trump’s visit to a McDonald’s to make fries and work the drive through, upstaging Vice President Harris over her boast to have worked at McDonald’s in her youth.

New York City isn’t Butler, Pennsylvania. If it weren’t for the attempt on Trump’s life, that rally would have been just another in a line of events like ones Trump holds across the country every week. MSG is different. New York is the press capital of the world, and all eyes will be on Trump heading into the final week of the campaign and just as early voting in the Empire State will have started. 

Plus, too, New York is home to Attorney General Letitia James and the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, both of whom campaigned for office vowing to go after Trump and then keeping those campaign promises. This is Trump’s opportunity to come onto their turf like a conquering hero. 

When Trump takes that stage, with great fanfare and showmanship, he will be on a national stage unlike anyplace else. Trump will prove what many people are learning about modern politics, that it’s not where you say it but how. Going viral, having social media clips and memes that people post and repost, and having this be the center of the conversation on every news channel is what will make this pay off for Trump. 

Then there’s Trump’s claim that he could put New York in play. While his carrying the state is unlikely, he could impact a number of swing congressional races that Republicans are defending, in areas that are already unhappy with the Democrats’ pro-criminal reforms. Add in Mayor Adams’s arrest for corruption, which also tarnishes his party’s image, and Democrats could feel a sting in the suburbs.

While no one congressional race is likely to swing control of congress, despite what candidates in those close races want us to believe, the more Republicans Trump helps with his coattails will only make it easier for him to advance his agenda next time around. Holding seats in the red-trending suburban districts will only add to the Republicans advantage. 

Never mind the naysayers preaching their conventional wisdom. Trump has a lot to gain from this huge Madison Square Garden spectacle. Trump is the most unconventional politician of his time. Why should being conventional suddenly be his priority?