Lines disappeared and arena seats remained before Trump took stage in Orlando

[riversedge]

Seems more came for the outside party and came to listen to Trump. oh well, he is boring!




Lines disappeared and arena seats remained before Trump took stage in Orlando
Orlando Sentinel | Jun 18, 2019 | 9:53 PM





President Trump kicked off his re-election campaign in Orlando on Tuesday night to an Amway Center that was nearly filled to capacity.

The arena has a capacity of about 20,000. In his speech to supporters at Amway, Trump said 120,000 people had requested the free tickets to the event.


Whether it was the weather – hot earlier in the day, rainy in the afternoon – or people just wanting invitations to the historic event for keepsakes, it did appear there were fewer people than were planned. The planned overflow area across from the arena was virtually empty as the rally began inside the arena.

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About an hour before Trump was scheduled to speak, the long lines snaking around the Amway Center in downtown Orlando were gone and people could easily walk into the event.

A photo taken by an Orlando Sentinel photographer at 7 p.m. showed a large section of empty seats in the upper deck.
.........................................



The president joked he would get criticized for not packing every seat, even on a Tuesday night in Orlando.







President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Amway Center in Orlando to officially launch his 2020 campaign. The arena was near capacity for the president's speech. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP)MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images * (MANDEL NGAN / AFP/Getty Images)




Empty seats can be seen in the upper level about an hour before President Trump's campaign rally at the Amway Center in downtown Orlando on Tuesday. The arena was nearly full by the time the president spoke. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel) (Stephen M. Dowell / Orlando Sentinel)

[Tommy_Carcetti]

1. It seems The Guzzlers were a more impressive draw than The Donald.

Maybe they should run for President instead.

Although a lot of it may have had to do with The Guzzler's curious motto, "Come Guzzle with us!"

[dameatball]

5. It's not a major market, but the DeVoses have managed to finagle two arenas outof the tax payers.

[Turbineguy]

12. Vertical Integration

comes to grifting.

[dameatball]

3. I've walked, driven or ridden my bike over almost all of Orlando's streets over almost 30 years.

I am generalizing, but Orlando itself is definitely not a hotbed of conservatism. Loosely, the west side has traditionally been a combination of black, latino, carribean, etc. and some white working class. Downtown itself has become more gentrified and also has a significant LBGT presence, along with other professionals. The east side has become largely Hispanic, as have some other pockets here and there. The outlying areas are where you find a larger conservative population. I suppose this is similar to many other cities, especially those who have experienced rapid transformation over the past half century or so. When I was a kid Orange County was nothing like it is today.

[dameatball]

7. Most of those interviewed did not seem to be at all local. Small sample however.

[llmart]

9. That was what I heard when he had one of his rallies in my small town.

The next day I was reading in a local paper some of the interviews with people who had attended and the interviewer always started with the question "where are you from?" Small sample, yes, but I couldn't help but notice almost all of the people interviewed weren't even from my state, let alone my town. They were from as far away as Montana. I kid you not. That's when I decided that yes, it's probably true that it's the same core of people who follow him around, hmmm...exactly like cultists would do. Or as others have said, they're paid to do this.

[dameatball]

10. I just hope all those buses had to take I-4 past Disney. Serves em right...:)

[Hortensis]

16. Very interesting observations, thank you all.

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. I have seen pics showing the same people in several different rallies

sitting behind him. a couple blond women. In fact, now that I think of it, there was a pic spread of people who were supposedly in an overnight line in Orlando, and 3 of the 6 pics showed the same 2 blond women in different places. they had on loose red
blouses and straw boater hats with flag trim, pretty hard to miss.

[salin]

14. From a NYT article about the event:

The Trump campaign rented buses across Florida to bring in supporters. The result was a packed 20,000-seat arena, with an overflow audience outside. The president’s aides pointed out that the numbers were a contrast with those of most Democrats in the field.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/18/us/politics/trump-rally.html

First paragraph under the heading "Size Matters."

[Hortensis]

17. Ah. :)

[procon]

11. Trump's campaign has leaked a new press release.

It was the biggest crowd in the history of the world! No one has ever had bigger crowds than Trump! The arena was packed two to a seat with even more people standing shoulder to shoulder in the fire exit aisles. There were so many people there that the fire depart had to blow in extra oxygen.

The applause was so loud that it triggered seismic alarms. The loud cheers for Trump were mistaken as thunder and caused local meteorologists to issue severe storm warnings in the vicinity. The weight of so many people concentrated to hear Trump speak caused a 6 to 8 inch subsistance in the earth's crust. The heat generated by the record setting crowds was recorded by the international space station as a newly formed volcano.

Period!

[duforsure]

13. He claimed the day before the pro gangs rally

Thousands were in line,when their may have been less than fifty, and he has a history of paying people to attend and get the chanting started . It's just another phony pr campaign and fund drive so he can pay his debts with.he's a fraud.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

21. Yep...

... also reported on MSNBC and other news sources that the lines were long because those with, "tickets", had to text to Trump and/or install some app on their cellphones that allows tracking/data mining.

"Those seeking tickets to the rally are required to provide a cell phone number and email address on the campaign website. Such information is used by campaigns to forward political messages, solicit contributions and ask for volunteer campaign workers."

[link:https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2019/06/13/trumps-orlando-rally-tickets-not-guarantee-entry-amway-center/1445729001/|

[cutroot]

15. His rallies have always been spectacles

The veneer is peeling away. He will have to feed a few christians to the lions to maintain his potency.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

22. Did tRump's people tell them in an email their vote would be counted twice....

if they attended the rally? Promising forgiveness of their sins?

People reported driving from Arizona, wearing custom-made clothing and some carrying guns. Old folks seen standing for hours in heat and rain and probably dehydrated.

The power of brainwashing has no limits. This represents a cult - plain and simple. .....

KY.....