It’s no secret that the Trump campaign’s big comeback rally this past Saturday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was somewhat of a dud. The Trump campaign planned for so many attendees that they set up an outdoor stage where Trump himself would speak to the “overflow” crowd — but an overflow crowd never showed up. In fact, only around 6,200 attendees showed up, which is around one-third of the capacity of the arena that the Trump campaign booked. (The venue’s capacity was 19,000.) During an episode of The View this Monday, the show’s conservative co-host Meghan McCain mocked Trump for the widely broadcast debacle.
She compared Trump’s rally’s turnout to the crowd for “a mid-level 80s band,” adding:
‘I was like, inject this into my veins. The Trump campaign has been braggadocios — Saying a million people were going to show up, and having 6,200 people show up. To say it was far below expectations is an underestimation… There are optics in every campaign or presidency that stick with the American public: Howard Dean screaming, President Bush with the ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner, and the image of Trump in front of a one-third full arena and getting off his plane with his tie undone and a MAGA hat looking depressed.’
This was the image captured by an @AP photographer as a rather disheveled looking Donald John Trump returned from his “fun night” in #Tulsa . pic.twitter.com/KBnefynKyi
— PETER MAER (@petermaer) June 21, 2020
An image has been widely circulated that an Associated Press photographer nabbed of Trump disembarking from a presidential aircraft and heading back to the White House after the Tulsa rally. Trump’s tie is undone, and he looks at least somewhat despondent. McCain called the picture “an image that is going to stick with the American public,” adding:
‘Does he look confident he’s getting re-elected? No. He looks like a depressed person that realized maybe, just maybe the writing is on the wall right now, and this is the image that’s going to haunt the Trump campaign. They can spin this any way they want. Kayleigh McEnany was on Fox & Friends trying to spin it, and even Fox & Friends was not having it.’
Watch McCain’s comments below:
It’s true — early this Monday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tried to convince Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy that Trump was actually in a great mood after the Tulsa rally, at which he spoke to a huge swath of empty seats alongside his supporters who did bother showing up. Doocy seemed to seriously doubt McEnany’s dismissal of the rally turnout problem and insistence that Trump was actually enthused by the proceedings.
1) Trump gazed in "horror" at the sea of empty seats at his rally, and raged at aides over it, a new report says.
His aides conceded to one another that he had failed to bend reality to his will.
This could go down as an iconic moment.https://t.co/RE6vFXA5zm
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) June 22, 2020
