Last week, Donald Trump told a gathering of House Republicans that Milwaukee, which is hosting the Republican National Convention next month, is a "horrible city." We all know what he means. His campaign flak helpfully clarified that Trump was in fact deploying his racist trope about any Democratic city that has a lot of Black residents. His campaign spokesman responded to the report of the closed-door statement by tweeting that Trump, a convicted felon, was talking about "how terrible crime and voter fraud are.”

It could look like Trump is risking blowing the battleground state by denigrating its residents. Or he could be sending a message for a very specific kind of loyalist.

The news of the comment, its obvious meaning, and the campaign's reiteration of its obvious meaning, makes it clear he didn't slip up, and he wasn't just being the "drunk uncle." Trump is very deliberately trying to tell a certain segment of Wisconsin supporters what to do. It's a rallying cry they've heard before—and not just from Trump in 2020. I've seen it before, first-hand.