After weeks of his campaign officials boasting record reservations for President Donald Trump's first rally in months, turnout at the BOK center in Tulsa, Oklahoma left a lot to be desired for Republicans.
Only a few thousand people gathered in the 19 thousand seat arena, and an outdoor overflow area—where thousands more were expected—was completely empty, prompting Trump to cancel a second address he was scheduled to give to the overflow crowd.
All in all, the fire marshal confirmed that only 6,200 people—less than a third of the venue's capacity—attended.
Tulsa arena where Trump held his campaign rally holds 19,200. Tulsa Fire Marshal put actual turnout at 6200 https://t.co/Nj8KO0cU2I— Jayne Miller (@Jayne Miller) 1592737394.0
Trump's campaign staff—including manager Brad Parscale—insisted that protesters had blocked thousands of people from entering. This is despite Trump's own words days earlier vowing to deal roughly with any protesters attempting to disrupt the festivities. No one on the ground at the event confirmed any disruptive protesters, and the overflow area remained empty, signaling that no one was turned away from entering the stadium.
What was intended to be a comeback rally for the President, whose performance in the polls is dwindling to say the least, only served to humiliate him.
A tweet from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) only added to that humiliation.
6200. That could have been a Zoom meeting. Same energy, minus the #coronavirus risk. https://t.co/Ozh77k6ixF— Nancy Pelosi (@Nancy Pelosi) 1592785049.0
The Speaker pointed out that the President could've simply addressed 6200 people via the group video chat service Zoom, thereby avoiding the controversy he faced for gathering thousands of people into an indoor space without masks in a state whose new virus cases had seen days of record-breaking highs.
Pelosi asserted that a Zoom meeting would have the "same energy," which likely alluded to the body language of the supporters who watched the President's erratic speech.
The #COVID is kicking in? C'mon #tRump, wrap it up....your fans are getting tired and bored. #TrumpRallyTulsa… https://t.co/kVxA4vH99r— AC Junior (@AC Junior) 1592704454.0
People enjoyed Pelosi's Twitter shade.
@TeamPelosi "6200. that could have been a Zoom meeting" https://t.co/XzT1z3taYT— ABlackWomanWhoDontGiveAF*ck (@ABlackWomanWhoDontGiveAF*ck) 1592785527.0
@TeamPelosi Zooming shade. Love to see it.— ᴀʀᴛ 🇺🇸 (@ᴀʀᴛ 🇺🇸) 1592785184.0
@TeamPelosi The shade. I'm here for all of it... lol. https://t.co/MLoTADnJtK— Spirit, PhD, LPC, NCC (@Spirit, PhD, LPC, NCC) 1592790371.0
@TeamPelosi Good one Ms. Pelosi.— Bill Murtagh (@Bill Murtagh) 1592785195.0
Pelosi wasn't the only one who tweeted about the President's latest humiliation.
Told ya'll he exaggerates about the size of things.— Stormy Daniels (@Stormy Daniels) 1592751545.0
Is @parscale ok? We may be hearing some rumbles...— The Lincoln Project (@The Lincoln Project) 1592761519.0
So when we all get done laughing at crowd size (which, to be clear, I’m not ready to do yet) isn’t the big takeaway… https://t.co/lkfvq8Z4Ud— Matthew Miller (@Matthew Miller) 1592742008.0
A video of Trump exiting Marine One after the rally went viral for the look of defeat in Trump's demeanor.
Hung over after a narcissistic supply bender... https://t.co/oXwlTRRcOt— NeuroPsychoPhD (@NeuroPsychoPhD) 1592746441.0
The President is set to speak at a Teens for Trump event in Arizona on Tuesday.