Photo of Obama's and Trump's Christmas tree lighting. One crowd is yuge. One crowd is not yuge.

[Miles Archer]

Link to tweet

[ornotna]

1. I'm impressed

Trump has more spotlights than guests.

[iloveObama12]

2. OMG!

[Roland99]

3. They are different angles

[Demsrule86]

5. It doesn't matter. I lived in DC... Tacoma Park...montgomery and this is the worst tree lighting

ceremony ever. I have seen bigger crowds when a dog managed to get into the White House grounds. Hubs was born in the Bronx...and when we went...he was like ....this is it? It was crowded and all but nothing like New York...he is right about that. New York at Christmas is magical.

[Siwsan]

7. trump* is going to have to find a more reliable place from which to hire seat fillers

His current vendor seems to have fallen short. Or, maybe the Russian Embassy had a conflicting event.

I tried to find a wider angle photo of last year's crowd. No luck, but maybe because the lighting is an annual event, the crowds were always large, as expected, so nobody saw the need to capture them in a photo.

[Demsrule86]

10. He probably didn't pay them...in Connecticut and New York...he is known for stiffing people

who work for him.

[Vinca]

4. Trump people failed again. Wrong count on the number of extras to hire.

[malaise]

6. Groper Don the Con must know that the vast majority of Americans

detest him. They cringe at the mention of his name. He is an uncouth, vulgar, racist promoting fascism, a pathological LIAR, women hating piece of scum with as much class as feral male cats when the females are in heat.

This was an unbelievably successful boycott - there will be no pretense of peace while this illegal piece of shit occupies the White House. He is worse than all the vermin and bugs in the building.

[underpants]

8. PERIOD!

Link to tweet

?s=17

[gratuitous]

9. Watch Trump stiff the contractor who put out all those empty chairs

Admit it, you know he'll do that.

[Grammy23]

11. Have there been any official estimates of crowd size?

The Park Service (I believe) estimated the Inauguration size. And of course, there were photos comparing the Obama and tRump inaugurations that had time stamps on them for comparison. The photo shown of last night’s tree lighting was taken from a different angle than the 2016 lighting, so it is difficult to compare using the two photos. For a real comparison, we need similar angles, like the Inauguration photos.

I have NO DOUBTS that the crowd size was smaller, but make the assertion based on similar photo angles. Or official estimates.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

12. I think the NPS stopped giving estimates of crowd size for events on the National Mall.

No one was happy with them. If the estimate was for a cause you liked, it was too low, and if the estimate was for a cause you detested, it was too high. The NPS couldn't keep people happy, so it stopped the practice.

I wasn't interested at all in going to see this, so I don't know the procedure for getting a ticket. You had to have a ticket; you couldn't walk up at the last minute, if I'm not mistaken.

I'm with you and Roland99, in reply #3; I'd like to see pictures taken from the same angle.

The weather was good this year. I think the temperature was in the upper 40s, maybe. There was a chance of rain later, and the winds were calm. I headed in the opposite direction, as I didn't want any part of this.

Here are some tweets. In the last one is a picture of last year's crowd taken from a different angle.

This is the largest crowd that has ever attended a National Tree Lighting in history. Period!

Link to tweet

The National Tree Lighting ceremony was beautiful this evening - but hard not to notice the empty seats. #Christmas #DMV #USA

Link to tweet

Last year's crowd:

Link to tweet

The tree is officially "the National Christmas Tree," and not the national holiday tree: Its Twitter account, though, is @TheNationalTree.

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to Light National Christmas Tree December 1 at President's Park

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2016 NPF NEWS

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will help wrap the National Park Service Centennial celebrations when they officially light the National Christmas Tree in President's Park on Dec. 1 during the 2016 National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer Simone Manuel is also set to make a special appearance with First Lady Michelle Obama.

Hosted by Eva Longoria, this year's National Christmas Tree Lighting features a line-up of chart topping talent who will make the night merry and bright. Yolanda Adams, Marc Anthony, Kelly Clarkson, The Lumineers, Chance the Rapper, James Taylor, Garth Brooks, and Trisha Yearwood will all perform a collection of holiday favorites accompanied by Afro Blue and the Airmen of Note.

Keep up with the National Christmas Tree on Twitter at @TheNationalTree and follow #NCTL2016 on social media for more information about the event and its history.

[Grammy23]

13. Clearly, tRump doesnt pay attention to estimated crowd size, official or not.

It just makes for a better argument to have estimates by those who know how to estimate a crowd size. Tickets given out is another way to arrive at a number. Somebody knows approximately how many people showed up. And the photos just help document it if the angles are the same.

tRump will probably say it is the largest tree lighting ceremony in the history of the world. Who ya gonna buh-leave? ME or your lying eyes??

[SDJay]

14. What a Delicious Friday Already!

And to the illness inside the rotting head of Dump, anyone wanna bet that this pisses him off as much as not more than the Flynn Flip?

[Gothmog]

15. Here is another comparison

Link to tweet

[bdamomma]

16. people just hate him

he's a fucking con man I can't stand to even look or listen to him.