Indeed, the tension between past and present has come to define these outings more and more. It’s not that rally-goers are dissatisfied with the present: Everyone I’ve ever spoken to at a Trump rally, whether in Manchester or Cincinnati or Orlando or Nashville, believes that the president has done exactly “what he said he’d do,” as they often put it. Sometimes that belief is based in fact: Richard Toussaint, 50, of Somersworth, New Hampshire, for example, is among those who love Trump for the booming economy and job growth. “I believe the economy’s doing fantastic. The economy’s almost doing too good,” Toussaint told me last night in the arena at Southern New Hampshire University. “Back when he said, in 2016, ‘You’re gonna be tired of winning’—I believe that. Because in manufacturing now, we have a hard time getting anyone to work, because … everybody’s working.”

Other times, it’s not: Corrine Cavanaugh, a 52-year-old Boston woman wearing bejeweled, heart-shaped American-flag earrings, told me that the “[border] wall is stopping so much from happening.”

“Human trafficking, immigration, everything,” she explained. “The people in Congress are losing their money because they’re, like, human trafficking.” In fact, only about 50 miles of Trump’s wall—just over 2 percent of the whole border—has been constructed to date; this year has seen record numbers of migrants at the southern border; and there is no evidence that members of Congress are trafficking people across it.

Read: ‘It makes us want to support him more’

Trump also seems to believe—or, at least, tries to project—that the free world under his leadership is hunky-dory. The tension at his rallies, then, between past and present is something perhaps more fundamental to human nature: the thrill of the chase versus the waning high of the catch. At no time has that seemed more pronounced than at last night’s event, especially when Trump used two moments in his speech to seek the crowd’s affirmation of his reelection slogan, “Keep America Great.”

“So, if you don’t mind, you know, the other candidates go—they spend millions and millions of dollars on this question that I’m going to ask you. They spend millions. You remember the first slogan from our opponents? That’s right, neither do I—neither does anyone,” Trump said. “So we have to do this: We have to make a decision. You give up the greatest slogan in the history of politics in our country, ‘Make America Great Again,’ right? So do we give up ‘Make America Great Again’ for a new slogan? Because, look, our country is doing great.

“But do we give up ‘Make America Great Again’ for”—he paused, and then emphasized—“Keep America Great?” The arena erupted in cheers. Trump immediately walked over to the edge of the stage and motioned for someone to hand him their hat. He took it—it was his signature red with “Keep America Great” in white letters—and lifted it to show the crowd. Everyone cheered some more.