Dana Milbank: Lot of empty seats at Trump rally in Reading, Pa. Arena has 7,200 seats.

[Dennis Donovan]

Dana Milbank
Lot of empty seats at Trump rally in Reading, Pa. Arena has 7,200 seats.


6:55 PM · Oct 9, 2024

Link to tweet

On edit: A newer view of the arena:

Jake Traylor
📍Reading, PA — Though most of the arena is full here, a few sections in the back are not (and are not just sectioned off for press either). Notable and unusual for a Trump rally.
Video in tweet below
7:39 PM · Oct 9, 2024

Link to tweet

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Trump is running out of gas.

For a gasbag, that is a problem.

[rsdsharp]

4. He really is. He's doing two rallies a week. This time in 2016 he was doing as many as five a DAY.

[Initech]

62. And he looks like he's maybe had 5 minutes of sleep in the last four years.

[617Blue]

6. If Harris had a crowd like this CNN would be very concerned.

[BonnieJW]

25. No, no you're wrong.

There are 50k people standing outside who can't get in.

[duncang]

27. I came here to say the same thing

[Eliot Rosewater]

29. That is what the trump campaign told me, I asked about the pictures and they said the main stream media

doctored the pictures and to never believe anything media tells them only believe what der leader tells me.

BTW, while this is sarcasm, sort of, it is what over 60 million people believe.

[dchill]

30. FEMA is keeping them away.

[bullimiami]

35. Because Harris and the dastardly dems wouldn't let them in.

[ailsagirl]

41. That's right-- I forgot...

[vapor2]

2. Maybe his followers are tired

of his sharks and electric boat rambling

[magicarpet]

14. djt has told the "...you knew I was a snake" and Hannibal Lecter stories about 1,000 times.

A lot of people walk out from bordom,... many people run for the exit points too.

[BattleRow]

43. Or finally realizing just how much

their potentate is actually a Putintate.

[617Blue]

3. Many empty heads as well.

[littlemissmartypants]

36. DUzy!🏆🏅

[ailsagirl]

40. ...

[hatrack]

5. Well, He just had a big rally at the site of His Crucifixion a day or two ago . . .

And Orange Jesus didn't give sight to the blind, or regenerate an amputated limb, or ascend into Heaven.

Instead, it was the same old shit, and the crowd's tapped out and tired, and they don't need another shirt, or another ramble down Failing Memory Lane.

[BamaRefugee]

11. Did he at least feed the 5,000?

I mean 5,000 Happy Meals wouldn’t break a bona fide billionaire.
And McDonalds has fishes and loaves right on the menu.

[hatrack]

16. Yeah, but they had to pay . . .

$47 a pop.

[BamaRefugee]

7. It would be nice if they put time stamps on these photos. For all I know this might

Be 3 hours before starting time or 30 minutes after it ended.

If this was taken at the mid-point of the hate fest, I’m guessing a couple of thousand folks are too busy telling Quinnipiac pollsters how Kamala is going down in flames.

[WarGamer]

18. I checked the live feed on youtube... that picture is hours ago.

[W_HAMILTON]

49. I bet you did!

[WarGamer]

50. I'm a big believer in my own signature line.

[W_HAMILTON]

51. I'm on mobile and don't see it.

[WarGamer]

53. My Signature on DU reads:

Good DU'ers don't propagandize other DU'ers

I have np problem with half truth or false memes on social media, they really do serve a purpose pumping up our base and creating trending hashtags and such things...

Like Couch Fucker.

Hilarious stuff and testament to the power of memes.

But there isn't anyone here on DU who needs convincing or needs to have their opinions "shaped" with misinformation.

Thus... obviously fake content on DU being passed on as fact is a disservice to DU'ers.

DU is at it's best when it's factual and even educational.

Just... IMHO

[BannonsLiver]

58. +1 Looks like others are starting to catch on.

Welcome to the club.

[Wiz Imp]

19. I found video

The video started before Trump spoke, but after Trump started they were very careful with the cameras to never pan them past about the mid-point of the arena so you couldn't see the empty seats in the back. I gotta believe they would be sure to pan the whole arena if it was full. Also, you could see some empty seats in the areas they did show (to be fair, not many empty seats, but they definitely weren't all filled). Finally, they went to reporters outside the arena while they were still waiting for Trump to show up and there were no more than a handful of people outside.

[brewens]

34. The rally where they were leaving right after the debate, I think the one with DC Sarah, they stopped

showing the audience members asking the questions and I thought that was weird. Someone got video showing the crowd walking out on him at about the same time. That was why.

[TheRickles]

28. Yep, it's suspicious that this video cuts out just before showing a view of the podium, which would

let us see whether Trump is present and speaking to the crowd, or not even there yet. It'd be nice to be able to trust DU posts and not have to be as suspicious of them as when viewing Fox News clips.

[Sugarcoated]

59. This one looks legit

Link to tweet

[TheRickles]

61. Much better! Thanks for posting this.

[Sugarcoated]

64. My pleasure!

[keithbvadu2]

8. Don't forget the customary 50,000 attendees outside who could not get in.

[ananda]

9. Maybe he couldn't afford his AI crowd generator.

...

[rogerballard]

10. There are 50,000 waiting outside to get in

[TheCowsCameHome]

21. How many can fit in a sewer pipe at one time?

I would think it would restrict the flow of MAGAts waiting to get in.

[ailsagirl]

42. ...

[RJ_MacReady]

12. But

We were told right here that we can't joke about this anymore because its not true!

[OAITW r.2.0]

17. Who told you that?

We love crowd size reality here. Crowd size is Trump's ultimate dick pic. His crowd pics seem to be small and flaccid.

[RJ_MacReady]

20. lol

It was in the topic about that Pakman guy lol.

[Wiz Imp]

24. Yeah. Several people said he's been getting much bigger crowds the last several weeks

However, that is not true. Outside of Butler over the weekend (which was a unique situation), his crowds have continued to be smaller than in the past and despite his insistence to the contrary, he is not filling even small arenas.

[spanone]

13. K&R

[Wiz Imp]

15. I wonder if this will calm down the people who were freaking out about the size of the Butler crowd a few days ago?

I also saw an article in the past day or 2 with Steve Kornacki talking about Hispanic/Latino voters in PA. He specifically talked about Reading (whose population is now close to 70% Hispanic/Latino) and said it had shifted sharply from majority Democrat 4 years ago to majority Republican now and could be key for Trump to win the state. Well, it looks like they aren't overly enthusiastic about Trump. That's a ton of empty seats in an arena which already isn't overly large.

[Torchlight]

22. He passed his Best Used By date and is heading into "what's that fuzzy stuff in the fridge?" territory.

Sure, there's a gonna be a few fans of his pretending it's something it's not, but once we realize they're trying to convince themselves more than anyone else, the desparately absurd narrative begins to make sense.

[Wiz Imp]

23. He also spoke in Scranton earlier today

The video for that one shows lots of empty seats on the floor just 15 minutes or so before the (non-Trump) speakers started speaking. This was about 90 minutes before Trump started speaking. They conspicuously didn't really show much of the crowd once Trump started - they had the cameras completely fixated on him).

[Dan]

26. This is unfair to Trump, because

We know, everybody knows, you know it - that there are several hundred thousand outside that couldn’t get in due to Biden’s Secret Service mandate.

[Jmb 4 Harris-Walz]

31. Perhaps people are finally understanding just how immoral Trump is after his LIES in relation to the hurricanes.

[littlemissmartypants]

44. Or at least how out of touch?

Not up with current events?

Maybe those so-called Christians that actually know the ten commandments suddenly remembered number nine.

Here's the kiddie's version in case he's lurking:

[Basso8vb]

32. That's clearly eleventy brazillion.

[FL_Jerry]

33. I had to really laugh out loud on that one...

I'm going to use it when talking to Magas around here.

[ailsagirl]

38. Welcome to DU, FL_Jerry

[FL_Jerry]

55. Sorry to say I'm a lurker...

I've been around a long time, I just don't post much(means not at all . Everything is well covered by the time I see it so I enjoy reading the posts anyway.

I used to dl anti Bush media stuff from this url, not sure if it was the predecessor of this, but not really a message board back then. Scored Rush is a Nazi and I hate Republicans which I still listen to when I think about it.

[ailsagirl]

37. No kidding!!

[vercetti2021]

39. And I'm suppose to believe he is up in WI and MI?

Give me a fucking break...

[wolfie001]

45. Trump will lie and said it was a record crowd

And his stupid cult will either A. believe him or B. say it's fake news. Rinse and repeat.

[VGNonly]

46. Puppet Show and Trump Rally

[Klarkashton]

47. All the maga assholes from out of state went home after

The Butler one. This is the leftovers.

[lees1975]

48. This is pretty much standard for both Trump and Vance

The enthusiasm level of their core base is not as high as it was at first. This is what the polls are missing. Of course, the media has ten Trump stories every day, and very little on Harris or Walz, but I don't think there's been a venue that they haven't packed to the rafters since they started.

[Beartracks]

52. Curious: how well-attended are Vance's events?

[bmichaelh]

54. MSG Rally

And Trump is having a rally at Madison Square Garden.

19,500

Trump prepare to be embarrassed.

Unless they buy up the seats and transport people into the arena.

[Wednesdays]

56. Madison Square Garden

With 8.3 million people in NYC, they're bound to scrape together a few thousand cretins to attend.

[Cha]

57. Kick for empty seats 👿🤢

[Sugarcoated]

60. Heres another take

Link to tweet

[Amishman]

63. Some context from someone in the area

Reading is a very impoverished city; median household income is 42k. It's also very Hispanic (Puerto Rican). It's also very blue.

The surrounding area (Berks county) is completely different - white, red, and better off financially (74k median household income).

The Republicans in the area hate Reading. They won't go into the city and are proud of it.

Some years back when the river flooded, I heard people joking it was a shame it didn't wash the whole city away.

But at the same time, there are a LOT of Trumpers within a 30 minute drive. Even if a lot of them won't go into Reading no matter what, I would have still expected there to be more than enough to pack Santander arena.

[bamagal62]

65. I am pretty sure

That Taylor Swift is from Reading.