President Donald Trump’s campaign had been touting his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma as the reboot of his troubled campaign. It reported one million tickets had gone out. It defied health and city officials who pleaded with Team Trump not to hold a rally amid Oklahoma’s rising coronavirus numbers. The Trump campaign insisted it would go on as planned. And while masks would be available, wearing them would not be required. Nor would social distancing.
In the end, officials dismantled the stage for Trump’s speech that was set up to address the expected overflow of the crowd outside that couldn’t get in. The reason: there was no overflow crowd. And, inside the stadium, there were many empty seats.
Was it due to the virus? Was it due to his campaign requiring all those that got tickets to sign a statement absolving the campaign of any liability if they got sick? Was it due to teens on social meeting deciding to buy tons of tickets and not show up?
This Tweet by Trump’s campaign manager didn’t work but did spur on a lot of comment about the fact he will most likely be looking for a new job:
Radical protestors, fueled by a week of apocalyptic media coverage, interfered with @realDonaldTrump supporters at the rally.
They even blocked access to the metal detectors, preventing people from entering.
Thanks to the 1,000s who made it anyway!https://t.co/eM2nohMEy6
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) June 20, 2020
Social media has had a field day on this development, which some note is political malpractice since the Trump campaigned hyped a massive event which failed to materialize. But most simply couldn’t resist coming up with some jokes.
After Trump finished speaking it took 46 seconds to empty the arena
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) June 21, 2020
tRUmp rally organizers have asked Tulsa police to bring back the woman they arrested earlier to help fill up the arena.
— Alex McKinley ??????? ?? ?? ?? (@Ajohms1956) June 20, 2020
The crowd was trying to do the wave but it was more of a wa-
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) June 20, 2020
Actually you just got ROCKED by teens on TikTok who flooded the Trump campaign w/ fake ticket reservations & tricked you into believing a million people wanted your white supremacist open mic enough to pack an arena during COVID
Shout out to Zoomers. Y’all make me so proud. ?? https://t.co/jGrp5bSZ9T
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 21, 2020
I thought a million people would be…people-ier. https://t.co/rYhJj45bZK
— Tiffany Bond (I) for US Senate???? (@TiffanyBond) June 20, 2020
Joy: Everyone is shocked.. This was an easy setup for Brad Parscale… They completely messed it up. Brad Parscale is now furiously trying to tweet excuses… There’s a lot of twitter traffic that says he was played by young people and K-pop fans who ordered tickets… pic.twitter.com/nFeA93LTX9
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) June 21, 2020
— FUBU23 (@WilsonCool23w) June 21, 2020
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) June 21, 2020
He's used to hearing "I thought it would be bigger." https://t.co/UV2abGsjMU
— Nary Trump (@unRealMaryTrump) June 20, 2020
The Emperor has no crowd
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) June 21, 2020
Congratulations @realDonaldTrump and @Parscale
You finally embraced social distancing! https://t.co/mnHxYIZjEN
— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) June 21, 2020
A whole lot of empty seats. Certainly not since he’s been president has there been one this empty by the time the VP took the stage. Don’t remember any this empty in the campaign either. https://t.co/J5YQkW3Dyc
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 20, 2020
The Lament of Brad Parscale, After Being Fired by Donald Trump
There once was a grifter named Brad
Who after Tulsa was feeling sad.
The crowd had been crappy,
His boss very unhappy–
For Brad no more Ferraris to be had!— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 20, 2020
Some see a stadium and say it’s half full. I see a stadium and say it’s half empty.
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) June 21, 2020
Trump campaign blaming protestors and news media for smaller-than-expected turnout at #TrumpTulsa rally. My sources tell me China, Hillary, and John Bolton were also involved. And I'm still digging. Send tips to me via Twitter.
— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) June 21, 2020
The Trump people will tweet this and say it's Tulsa. https://t.co/o1CmetTZED
— Dick Polman (@DickPolman1) June 20, 2020
It's official: Trump's Tulsa rally is an embarrassing disaster.
1? The outdoor event has been cancelled.
2? The overflow accommodations are unneeded.
3? TV shows a half-empty arena.
4? Trump is late—and angry.
5? 6 members of his team already got coronavirus because of all this. https://t.co/vXP6VvdaiT— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) June 20, 2020
OJ would get bigger crowds at this point
— Rogue WH Snr Advisor (@RogueSNRadvisor) June 20, 2020
This is what happened tonight. I’m dead serious when I say this. The teens of America have struck a savage blow against @realDonaldTrump. All across America teens ordered tickets to this event. The fools on the campaign bragged about a million tickets. lol. @ProjectLincoln.
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) June 20, 2020
Paging Sean Spicer for a crowd estimate in Tulsa
— Dan Rather (@DanRather) June 20, 2020
They cannot turn out 19,000 in OKL?????
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) June 20, 2020
There is a basic rule in politics: Underpromise and overdeliver.
The @realDonaldTrump campaign got it backwards tonight.
The mammoth outdoor rally they promised was canceled at the last minute for lack of interest.
The indoor rally? Less than capacity.
After all that ballyhoo!— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) June 20, 2020
Looks like about 980,881. https://t.co/tlRoaDmTID
— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) June 20, 2020
The "start of your campaign" is a flop. https://t.co/Cexv4hOz6p
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 20, 2020
Gosh, this "majority" @realDonaldTrump talks about is silent AND invisible.
— John Weaver (@jwgop) June 20, 2020
I’m watching the rally speech with the small crowd. This is the most optimistic I have been about Trump’s defeat in more than three years. Someone needs a new act.
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) June 21, 2020
Of course. It was the peaceful protesters who scared off the Trump supporters. Right. Oh, and the scary media.
Trump campaign version of dog ate my homework.
— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) June 20, 2020
“We’ve sold over 1 million tickets to the rally in Tulsa, and by 1 million, we mean 4,000.”
— Rogue WH Snr Advisor (@RogueSNRadvisor) June 20, 2020
Trump needs to file an "Amber Alert" for a million missin' MAGAs. https://t.co/JzHh2Mdzs3
— Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) June 20, 2020
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.