Outside the event, the national media are talking about Trump’s interview in Chicago at the National Association of Black Journalists convention. The consensus among the national media is that he bombed it, but Trump says he sees it differently.

“I showed up,” he says, pointing out that despite the strained back-and-forth, it was something his Democratic presumptive opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, did not do. So, why does he show up in places people don’t expect him to? He goes to the Bronx, New Jersey, Temple University in Philadelphia, and Detroit — places no Republican candidate, even him, has earned even token support in decades.

Trump explains it is no different from his decision in 2016 to show up in places like Ashtabula, Ohio; Luzerne, Pennsylvania; and Kent County, Michigan; places Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns rarely visited over the years, let alone held rallies. He says that because the middle class is the beating heart of the country, this election is about restoring prosperity and hope to middle-class America in every corner of the nation.