'About half full': Trump reportedly draws small crowd to Iowa event

Former President Donald Trump's rally in Iowa didn't draw the sort of crowd he may have hoped for, reported New York Magazine's Olivia Nuzzi on Wednesday.

"Although supporters stood in the rain for hours to enter, Trump’s rally in Dubuque is not as well attended as past rallies have been," Nuzzi posted on X. "The venue can hold 3,000 people. From my vantage point in the back, accounting for the large press area, I would guess the room is about half full."

During the rally, Trump discussed how he supports exceptions to abortion bans, and actually earned applause with that line, according to Nuzzi.

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The former president has constantly tried to play up the size of the crowds that gather to hear him speak. He famously overestimated the size of the crowd gathered for his 2017 inauguration and for years complained that the media didn't take his claims about it seriously.

He has continued to make similar exaggerations on the 2024 campaign trail, claiming that he drew a crowd of 75,000 at Pickens, South Carolina, only for the Secret Service to undercut that claim.

Even Trump's own supporters have had to admit that in recent years, his crowds haven't had the same energy or size as they used to.