Trump Campaign Pushes Lie Of Protesters Blocking Entrances To Explain Empty Seats

Reporters on the ground saw no evidence of demonstrations preventing access to Trump's "big" campaign event in Tulsa

The campaign team for President Donald Trump are trying to explain away his low attendance numbers by blaming protesters outside of his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday evening.

Getting people to go to the event should have been a cinch. Trump won the state in 2016 by more than 30 points. Presently, Trump is leading Biden by around 20 points. The president is clearly popular in Oklahoma.

Trump had expected the campaign event, the first he's held since March due to coronavirus concerns across the country, to be a huge event. He even claimed five days ago that a million individuals had requested tickets to be there.

Having so many seats noticeably sit empty on Saturday evening was an embarrassment, to say the least, for him and his campaign team. It necessitated a response, even if it was based on a flat-out lie. 

"Sadly, protestors interfered with supporters, even blocking access to the metal detectors, which prevented people from entering the rally," campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said. "Radical protestors, coupled with a relentless onslaught from the media, attempted to frighten off the President's supporters."

Others from the Trump campaign echoed those sentiments, and his supporters bought it hook-line-and sinker. Problem is, it's not based on facts.

Videos from the event purport to show protesters blocking entries, but those same videos...don't show anything like that, upon further inspection (seriously, watch the video...there's no blocking happening).

This was not how observers saw things on the ground, either.

"I didn’t see a single person being blocked from entering the rally and was outside for about 5 hours," Oliver Laughland from The Guardian said.

Other news agencies confirmed that they had not seen protesters blocking entryways:

Trump campaign officials said protesters prevented the president's supporters from entering the stadium. Three Associated Press journalists reporting in Tulsa for several hours leading up to the president's speaking did not see protesters block entry to the area where the rally was held.

Other messaging from the Trump campaign also seems to contradict that this ever actually happened, too. Just one hour before the rally was set to take place, the campaign sent a mass text to its supporters, telling them that there was "still space" available to see the president speak.

 

An Hour Before Trump Rally Scheduled to Begin, Campaign Sends Out Desperate Text: 'There's Still Space!' https://t.co/1jLqy9kOvb via @mediaite #TulsaRally

— Sarah Rumpf (@rumpfshaker) June 20, 2020

 

If the campaign "knew" that there was blocking of entrances happening, why would they invite more people to come? It goes against conventional wisdom. Why put people in supposed danger, why upset those individuals who would make the last-minute trip?

Even though most of his supporters will buy this line from Trump and his campaign, no rational human being should believe it. It's hogwash, and that's putting it mildly.

The president lies multiple times daily to the American people. It should come as no surprise, to be honest, that he and his campaign would try to push this lie, too, as it's his modus operandi.

Featured image credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr; The Lincoln Project/Twitter 

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