Trump Says He’s in Danger. So Why Did He Seek Out the Embrace of 100,000 Fans?

Chicken tenders and cynicism were flying through the air.

It was Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and former President Donald J. Trump was in the bowels of Bryant-Denny Stadium at the University of Alabama, surrounded by screaming football fans. He began hurling boxes of chicken at them. His aides filmed his every movement, uploading the footage to social media.

One popular pro-Trump influencer reposted a video of Mr. Trump traipsing through the concourse, writing: “There have been two assassination attempts on this man in the past three months and he walks into a stadium full of 100,000 people like a boss. Next week he’s returning to the site where he was shot. Total badass.”

It was a perfect encapsulation of the ways in which Mr. Trump and those around him have plied the plots against his life for political benefit.