Size matters

Trump is ranting about crowd size coverage again

May 30, 2018

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It wouldn't be a signature Trump speech without a reference to crowd size, right?

President Trump lashed out at The New York Times for estimating that his speech in Tennessee drew a crowd of "about 1,000."

The Failing and Corrupt @nytimes estimated the crowd last night at “1000 people,” when in fact it was many times that number - and the arena was rockin’. This is the way they demean and disparage. They are very dishonest people who don’t “get” me, and never did!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018

Trump said that the paper was trying to "demean and disparage" him when it published an article that said he "worked his audience of about 1,000 into a frenzy." The president has regularly focused on crowd size as an indicator of his popularity, previously complaining that media reports had underestimated the size of the crowd at his inauguration.

At his rally-style speech, Trump exclaimed, "this is a big crowd of people. This is a lot of people," in addition to bragging about his Electoral College win back in 2016. It's unclear exactly how many people attended the event, which was to boost Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), but photos indicate that the auditorium, with a capacity of 9,700, was not filled.

To the Times, Trump's speech was "raucous," "brash," and "richly embellished." To Trump, it was simply a "rockin'" good time, and claims otherwise must be another wave of "alternative facts."