Former President Trump's rally in Dayton, Ohio, opened Saturday with an announcer's voice directing the packed MAGA crowd: "Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the horribly and unfairly treated Jan. 6 hostages."

Why it matters: Trump's honoring of supporters prosecuted for storming the Capitol has become a tradition at his rallies — and a fitting prelude to the type of provocative speeches likely to define his campaign for the next seven months.

• After standing and saluting the J6 Prison Choir's alternate rendition of the national anthem, Trump praised Jan. 6 defendants as "unbelievable patriots" and vowed to help the "hostages" on his first day in office.
• What followed was a free-wheeling, headline-seizing speech in which Trump painted an apocalyptic vision of an America overrun by immigrant "animals" if President Biden is re-elected.

What they're saying: "I don't think you're going to have another election, or certainly not an election that's meaningful," Trump predicted if he doesn't win in November.

The big picture: The Biden campaign sees these rallies — with Saturday's intended to boost Ohio businessman Bernie Moreno ahead of Tuesday's Senate GOP primary — as a gold mine for ad material.

• With many voters only now tuning back in for the general election, Biden is seeking to draw a sharp contrast with Trump on policy, rhetoric and optimism about America's future.
• Key to that effort is a rapid-response team responsible for clipping and blasting out videos of Trump tossing red meat to his MAGA base with insults, obscenities and dehumanizing rhetoric about immigrants.

Between the lines: The cycle of viral sound bites can sometimes play directly into Trump's hands.

• After the Biden campaign issued a statement condemning Trump's warning of a "bloodbath" if he loses, Republicans accused critics and the media of taking his comments out of context.
• The Trump campaign says the former president was referring not to political violence, but to how Biden's policies could impact the auto industry and the U.S. economy.
• "He always walks up to the edge on that rhetoric," Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "But sometimes the mainstream media, whether they want to or not, can't resist and they go just a little bit too far."

What to watch: Now that most of Trump's Republican skeptics have grudgingly accepted he'll be the nominee, they'll face new pressure to defend some of the former president's more extreme rhetoric.

• But plenty of former Trump allies have refused to do that — including former Vice President Mike Pence, who shocked the political world when he said Friday he "cannot in good conscience" endorse Trump.
• "It's just unacceptable," Pence told CBS News' "Face the Nation" when asked Sunday about Trump's description of Jan. 6 prisoners as "hostages."