If there’s one thing that has remained consistent about Donald Trump through his presidency it’s his obsession with size.
For Mr. Trump, success is measured in things like TV ratings and crowd sizes. Which is why Saturday’s poorly attended white supremacist MAGA rally in Tulsa was especially devastating for him.
Prior to the event, Trump’s campaign bragged that over 1 million people had RSVP’d, and that it expected 20,000 indoor attendees, plus another 40,000 outdoor attendees, for a total of 60,000 screaming, cheering, mask-less Trump Republicans.
But according to the Tulsa Fire Department, the final total ended up being closer to 6,200. That number includes Trump’s campaign staff, secret service, stadium employees, Trump supporters, and, yes, paid actors.
Now, the New York Times reports that Trump had a meltdown backstage when he realized just how terrible the turnout was.
He had previously been warned on Air Force One that the numbers were going to be a little lower than expected, but it wasn’t until he looked out and saw the empty stadium that he lost it, according to four different sources.
Trump purportedly screamed and yelled when he saw the sparsely filled arena, becoming more and more “furious” as the time for him to take to the stage drew nearer.
When he finally gave the two-hour address, he was able to put on an about face, but the moment he stepped off stage, he “deflated.” Then he fumed the entire ride back to Washington, D.C. on Air Force One. His bad mood continued through the weekend, the Washington Post adds.
Widely shared video of Trump returning the White House around 1 AM early Sunday morning showed him looking tired, disheveled, and defeated corroborates the story.
Tears of a clown pic.twitter.com/L9iCguYtBb
— Dave Matt (@davematt88) June 22, 2020
Meanwhile, CNN reports that first daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, were “pissed” at Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, for “over promising on crowd size.”
Parscale, who Trump purportedly calls “the website guy,” tried to stop the bleeding by rushing out a statement blaming “leftists and online trolls” for making “phony ticket requests” and claiming “a week’s worth of the fake news media warning people away from the rally because of COVID and protestors” also contributed to the awful turnout.
Then the campaign said the fire department was wrong and that 12,000 people went through the metal detectors at the rally, not 6,200 as officially reported. (We believe the fire department.) In either case, even 12,000 is a far cry from the 60,000 it was expecting and the 1 million that RSVP’d.
Trump himself tried putting a positive spin on the whole disaster earlier today by tweeting a Fox News article boasting about how 7.7 million people tuned in to the conservative news network to watch him babble incoherently for two hours.
“Trump rally gives Fox News largest Saturday night audience in its history” https://t.co/XZaStbbRIp
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2020
While it seems doubtful Trump will quit doing rallies anytime soon, there are now reports that his campaign is “rethinking” their formula due to Saturday’s poor turnout, a worsening pandemic, and a shifting political landscape.
Related: Trump’s disastrous Tulsa rally immortalized in tweets and memes
blackhook
When this Morbidly Obese Orange Toddler is booted outta town & exiled to his mosquito-infested trash mansion, We The People will be singing & dancing in the streets…
“Ding Dong The Wicked Witch Of The West Wing Is DEAD!!!”
Harley
He’s going to try to figure out how to defect to Russian between November 4th and January 23 with as many secrets and launch codes as he can take with him, to earn Putin’s favor. Of course Putin will be serving him some nice earl gray polonium tea.
WSnyder
Let me coin a new metaphor: a ‘Trumpian Implosion’. Use this to describe any Yuge, self imposed, self-centered collapse brought on by ignorance, hubris and stupidity. When someone who is so out of control, guided solely by their need for absolute fealty and adoration, ignores all common sense and sound advice and as their world crashes in around them, ignores all the damage it’s doing and all the hurt it’s causing everyone else; their narcissism blinds them so that they can’t accept any blame or even recognize how bad things really are.
OrchidIslander
Apparently I have rubbed someone at Queerty the wrong way because every time I post a comment it is removed. Still I persist. Nothing but applause for your comment. Some people bridle at this phrase, saying it does not really mean what the user intended, however: I could not agree with you more if I tried. Applause!
Invader7
Well well well. Mr. Small Cauliflower Penis shows his TRUE vile self and blames everyone but himself for the crap fest aka the Tulsa rally. First scheduled on Juneteenth ..then he and his bigoted,racist re-election team including his insipid daughter & son-in-law claimed they didn’t know it was on Juneteenth – a huge LIE. That’s why the website is selling baby onesies with Baby Lives Matter across the front. More crappy Trump merch. Then rescheduled to Sat. Of course the turn out was low- people weren’t paid like the past rallies- that’s right ..the Orange Monster had to pay people to turn out. Then a large percentage of the less than full crowd didn’t wear masks… way to go idiots…Now they’ll spread the Corona virus even more…as large events are called “Super Speader ” events .. And MORE people are going to die cause of the cowardly Drumpf only cares about himself and NO one else !! Everyone get out and VOTE in your primaries and in the November general election. Unless YOU want for more years of this crap !!! Get rid of the republicans in ALL levels of government: county,city ,state and federal. ENOUGH of the Neo NAZI FASCIST white insane power mad nut bags. Aka Howler Monkeys for Drumpf !! They gotta go !!!
hotdogla
That visual, now I’ll never eat cauliflower again. Stormy Daniels in her book, described his penis looking the Mushroom from Super Mario brothers.
WSnyder
So, I’m going to take a page from Trump’s current rational and it goes like this:
You don’t have COVID-19
If you don’t test for COVID-19, you can’t have it.
Testing for COVID-19 leads to proof you have it.
SO….
Donald Trump is NOT smart.
Donald Trump never took an IQ test.
If you don’t have a test, you don’t have what the test would be looking for.
So, Donald Trump is therefore stupid because he’s never had a test for intelligence.
So by Trump’s OWN Testing Standards…Trump is an Idiot.
ricdardc1
Trumps Rally was like Him having sex with the Mail Order Wife, Once He Enters He Can’t Fill It UP !
Neoprene
If I were a presidential aide I would have made damn sure Air Force 1 was well stocked with McDonald’s Big Macs and fries for the flight home.