President Donald Trump's near-decade-long fixation on crowd sizes resurfaced over the weekend as the president inflated attendance at his July 4th address multiple times; however, unlike past instances, his strongest defenders didn't bother rushing to his defense.
“It’s nearly 10 years since Donald Trump had his first meltdown over crowds on the National Mall, insisting amid overwhelming evidence to the contrary his first inauguration attracted more than came out for Barack Obama,” wrote journalist Martin Pengelly in an analysis published Monday in Zeteo. “On Sunday, inevitably, he was at it again.”
In early 2017, Trump infamously inflated the audience size of his presidential inauguration, a claim that saw his supporters race to his defense. Over the weekend, Trump appeared to again inflate the size of his audience.
He claimed on Sunday that 422,000 people were waiting to listen to his speech before being “forced to leave” due to weather, after which, “at least 150,000 people returned.” During his July 4th address, he cited a different number, claiming 375,000 people were waiting to listen to his speech before leaving due to weather.
As noted by Pengelly, footage of Trump’s speech showed what appeared to be far less than 150,000 people. And, also as noted by Pengelly, the president’s strongest supporters, unlike in 2017, left Trump to defend his claims on his own.
“No one really cared. Such a damp squib of a controversy – no Sean Spicer harangue this time, no Kellyanne Conway and her ‘alternative facts’ – seemed about right for Trump’s squalid ‘Freedom 250’ hijack,” Pengelly wrote.
“Saturday night’s hyped fireworks display turned out dull and smoky, rain falling at the end. The ‘Great American State Fair,’ due to limp on at the Mall till Friday, has been a sparsely attended embarrassment and will in all likelihood continue to be so, even if the press, this writer included, will hardly be rushing to go back and check.”