New York: Donald Trump's campaign rallies still draw massive crowds but rarely attract much national attention nowadays in the US. In his soliloquies, Trump tells variants of the same stories night after night and only occasionally makes news.

Even Fox News has stopped broadcasting them live, having discovered its regular programming attracts better ratings than a presidential rally.

But Trump's appearance on Wednesday night local time in Wisconsin was a different matter entirely.

This rally was being held just hours after the revelation that pipe bombs had been sent to the homes of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the offices of other prominent Democrats and the New York headquarters of CNN.