President Donald Trump went after Fox News on Sunday for not covering what he called the "packed house and incredibly enthusiastic (beyond!)" crowd at his Ohio rally. Critics pointed out that the rally was held in a high school gym.
"Sad to see that Fox & Friends (Sunday) is not covering our packed house and incredibly enthusiastic (beyond!) Rally that took place in Ohio last night, or the ones in Alabama, Texas, or Oklahoma over the past two days," Trump wrote on Truth Social. He added that the rallies "were all sold out, with thousands of people trying to get in."
Saturday's rally was held in the gym at Butler High School in Vandalia, near Dayton.
Lindell TV correspondent Cara Castronuova, a strong Trump supporter, posted from inside the event and described a scene she said rivaled his first campaign.
"In a high school gymnasium in Vandalia, Ohio right now, MAGA fever is honestly at a level close to 2016," she wrote.
The replies weren't kind, even from Trump supporters.
"Please don't do this," wrote Trisha Hope, a Republican national delegate from Texas.
Castronuova stuck to her description. "I didn't say crowd, it's obviously a HS which is smaller venue," she wrote. "I said the pure reactive emotion and Trump ecstasy in the room. It's real."
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) put it more bluntly Saturday: "Want to know how popular trump is? He's speaking in a high school gym in Ohio."
Neal Williams, who describes himself on X as a "Reagan-Romney principled Republican," pointed to the gym's size. "Butler high school gymnasium holds 5,000 people. LOL WEAK SAUCE," he wrote. "Hilarious he even has to go out there because he knows he's cooked."
Daniel Kinney, a former supporter who said he lives about 30 minutes from the venue, said his enthusiasm has disappeared. "2 years ago I would have been there (well it would have been at a fairgrounds or arena because the demand would have been 10x this)," he wrote. "Now you couldn't pay me to go."
Navy veteran and podcast host Hal For NY answered Trump's Fox complaint in seven words: "He was in a high school gymnasium."
The Ohio rally had already drawn attention. New York Times reporter Katie Rogers posted video of the upper level "emptying out" about 45 minutes into Trump's speech, and a protester interrupted him by shouting about the E. Jean Carroll verdict.