51 yr old Iowa grandmother on TikTok, former Buttigieg volunteer, behind the ticket troll

[highplainsdem]

Tweet from NYT's Evan Hill tonight, linking to a CNN story published a few days ago, before anyone knew how successful it would be:

Link to tweet

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/16/politics/tiktok-trump-tulsa-rally-trnd/index.html

Mary Jo Laupp, a 51-year-old grandmother living in Fort Dodge, Iowa, appears to have helped led the charge on TikTok late last week when she posted a video encouraging people to go to Trump's website, register to attend the event -- and then not show up.
"All of those of us that want to see this 19,000 seat auditorium barely filled or completely empty go reserve tickets now and leave him standing alone there on the stage," Laupp told her then-1,000 or so followers on TikTok, normally thought of a platform for dancing teenagers and not, necessarily, political action.

Laupp, who said she worked on Pete Buttigieg's campaign in Iowa last fall, told CNN she made the initial appeal upset that the rally was originally set to take place on Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

-snip-

Her idea prompted multiple other TikTok users to post similar videos calling on their followers to do the same -- visit the website, register for the event, fail to show up.
One video, with more than a quarter of a million views, called on fans of South Korean pop music in particular to join the trolling campaign. Fans of the music, which is known as K-pop, are a force on social media -- they posted over six billion tweets last year alone. And they have a history of taking action for social justice causes.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Good for that Iowa grandmother!

I'm not surprised she supported Buttigieg. Smart candidates draw smart supporters.

[highplainsdem]

4. +1,000,000

[calguy]

20. Fort Dodge, Iowa is my hometown

I was born and raised there until I went into the Army when I was 19. I never went back. Many great and warm people live in Iowa. It was democrat territory when I lived there. I can't for the life of me understand how it went so conservative. Maybe too many people like myself moved away.

[bobbieinok]

30. Lived in IA from 68 to 89. It was a democratic state til the 80s

Reagan's election and the defeat of IA support for the ERA, both in 80, gave the super conservative IA GOPers and their Religious Right allies a strong foothold in the state. By 88, my moderate GOP friends didn't recognize their party. And the same thing was happening nationally to the GOP with its collaboration with the Moral Majority and groups like Weyrich and his team

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

[sheshe2]

3. Punked!!!!

[backtoblue]

7. Those meddlesome kids!

[Squinch]

5. I wish her name and address were not public.

[Hekate]

9. Seriously

[tishaLA]

11. First thing I thought, too

those people are dangerous.

[Blue Owl]

6. Suck it, Diaper Donnie!

n/t

[Jeebo]

8. I've got a feeling they saved some lives.

How many more people would have spread the virus and how many more would have gotten and sick and died if more people had attended? We'll never know.

-- Ron

[Mr.Bill]

18. They didn't keep anyone from attending.

The simple fact is if 19,000 Trump fans wanted to come to the arena today they could have.

The polls are real, folks. Trump can't fill an arena anymore. And that is the only campaign tool he has.

[JI7]

21. Yeah, bUt they probably got their hopes up about a huge turnout

[Mr.Bill]

23. Exactly.

[dalton99a]

10. Great job!

[ChoppinBroccoli]

12. This Is Brilliant. We Should Do This For ALL His Rallies In Perpetuity

We already have the term "DU'ing the polls." We should "DU his rallies." Request as many tickets as possible and then not show up. It would be a huge shot to his ego to see arenas half empty everywhere he goes.

[yaesu]

16. great idea, I would love to see an official DU calling all members to request tickets or any other

thing we can think of online to screw him over.

[Sneederbunk]

13. Mary Jo Laupp, if you are listening. . . . Keep it up.

[IADEMO2004]

14. I fear for her safety now.

[Cha]

15. Fantastic! Thank You, Mary Jo Laupp, K-Pop & Kids United!

[liberalmuse]

17. It's first come, first serve.

It doesn't matter how many tickets the Trump campaign would have given away. They only do it to get contact information so they can send these people campaign materials. All you have to do is show up and it's first come, first serve. The truth is, people had other priorities rather than go to Trump's first rally in months. I guess they just aren't that into him, and it looks like the people who did show up were either paid, or bored as hell. I think it's great that people trolled Trump by vastly inflating the numbers, though. I'm loving what the K-Pop fans have been doing online in support of good causes lately.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

26. "Campaign materials" that costs the campaign and goes into the recycle bin.

All in for that too. Before they figured out I was a Democrat after moving to KY, McTurtle sent me campaign bulletins in the mail every year. His lies would make me ill.

I'm guessing a bunch of folks didn't want to waste gas and hotel money 'cause they're broke, or got scared after seeing the huge recent spikes in virus cases and stayed home. They'll still vote for the asshole regardless.

KY

[liberalmuse]

34. Yeah, that's sobering.

“Vote for Trump: He cages children, stokes racism, disparages liberals (ie; hates the same people we hate and has the power to do them harm) and can “sometimes” drink a glass of water with no help from tiny hand #2!”

[GreenEyedLefty]

19. This saved lives.

[flibbitygiblets]

22. meddling kids save the day again!

[niyad]

24. What popped into my head, "Go, Granny, go Granny go" from Jan and Dean's song.

Even if she isn't from. Pasadena!

[highplainsdem]

25. ...

[niyad]

27. Thank you for that particular clip! A truly amazing concert, many performers my. Loved seeing

Leslie Gore introducing them.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

28. Will Trump be labeling this "Tulsagate"?

KY......... ..........

[certainot]

29. fantastic

[NBachers]

31. First it was the Auntie Fa's, now it's the Grammy Fa - Dangerous forces to be reckoned with!

[Totally Tunsie]

32. She'll be hearing from Chump's lawyers

first thing Monday morning. A GoFundMe may be in her future for legal representation.

[Thekaspervote]

33. Even if the teenage group Kpop and others like her had not snapped up tickets, had there been a

Big crowd waiting to see him without tickets they would have then filled the stadium. The dye is cast! Even in big red OK, surrounded by other red states he can’t get people to come. He is soooo done.
Washed up donnie!!

[canetoad]

35. Well done Mary Jo Laup

But I don't understand why CNN and anyone else who reports your efforts insists on calling you a grandmother.

You may well have children and they have their own children. This does not super-validate your efforts to stymie Trump; your deeds stand alone and are worthy of praise, whether you are a mother, grandmother, aunt or sister.

Is a woman (or man) more noteworthy for having descendants than those who dont? Is this a reference to age? At 51, Mary Jo Laup is a woman who obviously stands on her principles and backs them up with action. Why on earth are the press insistent on highlighting the fact that she has grandchildren?

To answer my own question, they love to trot out the terms 'grandmother' or 'grandfather' when it suits them; when they wish to emphasise the qualities of a person otherwise without power or social influence.

Well done, Mary Jo.

[niyad]

36. A most excellent post.