Former President Donald Trump has raised eyebrows with his decision to hold campaign rallies deep in Democratic territory, including appearances in Coachella Valley, California, and Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Yet it is not the first time Trump has paid attention to the blue states outside of the highly competitive Rust Belt, the region that, for him, was the difference between victory in 2016 and defeat in 2020. Trump’s embrace of SALT deductions, undoing his own handiwork from the 2017 tax law, is an overture to New Yorkers and Californians.