Trump basks in attention of unmasked RNC crowd as America's coronavirus deaths near 180,000

(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

published 27 August 2020

President Trump was apparently craving a crowd.

Trump crashed Vice President Mike Pence's big moment on Wednesday night, emerging after his second-in-command's keynote speech to bask in the attention of the unmasked attendees at Fort McHenry. While the crowd had been spaced out for proper social distancing during Pence's address, they swarmed together to take photos and speak to the president and vice president at the end of the night. "They are jammed in there just like any other time," observed CNN's Dana Bash.

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"To have so many elderly veterans, or otherwise elderly people, in this audience, not sitting socially distanced, the vast majority of them not wearing any masks, for this to go on for a very long time including a lot of chanting and shouting — I just, I feel concerned for what is happening here," Rachel Maddow said on MSNBC. She added: "It's just unnerving at a health level. I feel like we're watching Chronicle of a Death Foretold here." Jeva Lange

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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