The day before the Republican Party’s midterm convention got underway, Donald Trump published an item to his social media platform trying to hype up the event, boasting that the gathering would be really “HOT!” The president added that the venue in Dallas “is totally sold out” because “everybody wants to be there.”
A day later, as he prepared to board Air Force One, Trump briefly spoke to reporters about the convention and again said, “Everybody is coming to the convention. Everybody wants to come. … We’re going to be sold out tonight, just so you understand.” For good measure, the president went on to say that some Republicans wanted to be there but would not attend “because we don’t have room.”
I realize that Trump cares about crowd sizes to a remarkable and borderline unhealthy degree, but those who covered the event made it clear that if the event was “sold out,” plenty of people who had tickets decided not to show up.
PBS White House Correspondent Liz Landers posted a brief video to social media, for example, showing many empty seats on the upper level of the American Airlines Arena as the convention got underway.
The crowd grew as the festivities continued, but only a bit. MS NOW’s Vaughn Hillyard and Emily Hung reported on Wednesday night, “We’re 90 minutes from Trump taking the stage for his keynote speech here, and we’re looking at a crowd that fills maybe 60% of the total capacity in this downtown Dallas arena.”
NBC News reported that by the time the president took the stage, there were still “hundreds” of empty seats.
During his (exceedingly long) speech, the president said, “This place is packed. And not only is this packed, but you have an equal number of people standing outside.” That wasn’t even close to being true: A New York Times reporter noted at the time, “Large sections of the upper level are completely empty.”
Soon after, Trump specifically boasted that the arena was full and “nobody” had left the venue. The same Times reporter added, “Neither statement is true. There are empty seats across the arena, and I just stepped outside and found many people streaming toward the exits.”
If recent history is any guide, the White House will soon insist that no political convention in American history has ever been as well attended as the first evening of this pointless gathering in Texas. Reality is pointing in a very different direction.
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