Video showed there were plenty of empty seats available during the speech Donald Trump gave this weekend at the latest edition of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), adding onto a list of scenes where the crowd sizes turning out for Trump at venues other than his hyped up rallies have been less than stellar.
It did look like Trump’s crowd was slightly larger than the pools of attendees who showed up for poorly attended, earlier speeches at the same conference from Nikki Haley, who’s supposedly running for president, and even Donald Trump Jr. himself, who remains politically visible even as Ivanka Trump — and her husband, Jared Kushner — step back this time. Whereas Haley’s and Don Jr.’s crowds were largely confined to what seemed like the frontmost third of seats in the main conference hall, the ex-president’s viewers at least extended into the second third of the main seats. There were still multiple rows of almost entirely empty seats in the back of the room.
As Trump hits his 75th minute, a handful of people are walking out, including an older gentleman in fleece vest holding a copy of the weekend WSJ
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) March 4, 2023
ABC also highlighted some of the many empty seats, which Donald himself has helped turn into such a story considering his obsessive focus on the size of crowds at his events. Trump’s speech was also disrupted by someone who started playing what the Republican Accountability Project identified as the hip-hop song called “Fuck Donald Trump.” Although audio from the event doesn’t make what exactly was going on super clear, the antagonistic response from members of the crowd to whatever exactly started happening certainly makes it seem obvious somebody started doing something to set off the Trump fans in attendance. In his actual remarks, which went on for over an hour and a half, Trump hit unsurprising — even if still outrageous — notes, and separately, he insisted to journalists that he wouldn’t depart the race for president if he were to be indicted.
An indictment could come from the Justice Department, where Special Counsel Jack Smith is investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents after he left office and his corrupt attempts to stay in power. Also looming over Trump is the criminal probe in Georgia by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis into pro-Trump attempts to meddle with the 2020 election results. “Probably it will enhance my numbers,” Trump said of a possible indictment. And in the speech, he encouraged his supporters to have the same kind of apocalyptic mindset that helped fuel the attack on the Capitol. “This is the final battle,” he told listeners. “They know it. I know it, you know it, and everybody knows it, this is it. Either they win or we win. And if they win, we no longer have a country.”
Yup, five minutes in, he thanks the fire department for letting all the people.
“Look at all these people they’re up to the rafters.”
There are no rafters. There is a giant section at the back completely empty.
— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) March 4, 2023
Someone in the crowd starts playing F*ck Donald Trump during his speech. pic.twitter.com/QRHM0eZNUI
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) March 4, 2023
Trump speaks to “packed” house pic.twitter.com/wFIDzBL3us
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) March 4, 2023
