PHOTOS: Trump's Tulsa rally saw low turnout, lots of counter-protesters, not much social distancing, and the return of the Baby Trump Balloon
- Donald Trump held a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 20 —his first political rally since the country shut down in March due to the novel coronavirus.
- The rally was held at the BOK Center, which has the capacity to hold over 19,000 people. However, it was reported that just under 6,200 people attended the rally.
- Trump held the rally despite coronavirus fears, as Tulsa County alone saw a 100% increase in cases the week leading up to his campaign event.
Donald Trump held a political rally on June 20 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This was his first rally since the coronavirus pandemic shut down the country in March.
The Trump campaign was expecting a large audience turnout, as the rally was held at the BOK Center, which has the capacity to hold over 19,000 people. But the Tulsa fire department has since revealed that just under 6,200 people actually attended the event.
Furthermore, the Trump campaign said it received over 1 million ticket requests, which was later proven to be the work of TikTok users and K-Pop stans, who reserved tickets without the intention of ever attending the event. The Trump rally even had an overflow area, designated for those who could not fit in the arena, though the area had to be discarded due to low audience turnout.
Trump 2020 Communications Director Tim Murtaugh and Trump Campaign Manager Brad Parscale blamed protesters and the media for low audience turnout. After the event, Murtaugh released a statement claiming that the event drew 4 million in online viewers.
"President Trump's rally in Tulsa attracted over 4 million unique viewers across all of the campaign's digital media channels," Trump 2020 Communications Director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement. "The live-streamed pre-rally shows drew an audience of more than 2.5 million unique viewers by themselves. These numbers don't even include television viewers."
But low audience turnout isn't the only thing the event saw. There were also hundreds of counter-protesters and the return of the famous Baby Trump Balloon.
Here are photos of what the event looked like.
On June 20, Donald Trump held his first political rally since the country shut down in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The event was held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was initially scheduled to be on June 19 — a day that is also known as Juneteenth. Juneteenth is a holiday that celebrates the end of slavery in the US. After outcry over his choice of date, Trump moved the event to the 20th.
"We had previously scheduled our #MAGA Rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for June 19th – a big deal. Unfortunately, however, this would fall on the Juneteenth Holiday," Trump tweeted.
He added that "many African American friends and supporters have reached out to suggest that we consider changing the date," and that he "therefore decided to move our rally to Saturday, June 20th, in order to honor their requests."
Trump also received criticism for scheduling the event in Tulsa, Oklahoma — the site of the Tulsa Race Massacre, which saw a white mob target Black Americans and burn down "Black Wall Street," killing an estimated 300 people.
Though Mike Pence did not attend the rally, Donald Trump's son Eric did.
Source: LA Times
People had actually started to camp out in Tulsa for the rally, the day before it was set to be held.
The rally was hosted in the BOK Center, which has the capacity to hold over 19,000 people. Tens of thousands of people were expected to attend Trump's rally, though it was reported only about 6,200 showed up.
As Business Insider previously reported, the Trump campaign was expecting a large audience turnout, as the rally was held at the BOK Center, which has the capacity to hold over 19,000 people.
However, the Tulsa fire department has since revealed that just under 6,200 people actually attended the event. The event even had an overflow area, designated for those who could not fit in the arena, though the area had to be discarded due to low audience turnout.
Source: Tulsa World
The Trump campaign also said it received over 1 million ticket requests, but that was later proven to be the work of TikTok users and K-Pop stans, who reserved tickets without the intention of ever attending the event.
Source: Business Insider
Trump 2020 Communications Director Tim Murtaugh and Trump Campaign Manager Brad Parscale blamed protesters and the media for low audience turnout.
Source: Washington Post
After the event, Murtaugh released a statement claiming that the event drew 4 million in online viewers.
"President Trump's rally in Tulsa attracted over 4 million unique viewers across all of the campaign's digital media channels," Trump 2020 Communications Director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement. "The live-streamed pre-rally shows drew an audience of more than 2.5 million unique viewers by themselves. These numbers don't even include television viewers."
Outside the rally, hundreds of protesters marched against Trump.
The Los Angeles Times reports that after the rally finished, hundreds of protesters, including those from Black Lives Matter, began marching the streets.
The protests were mostly peaceful, though a few clashes did break out, the publication reported. The police had to repeatedly separate those who were sparring. Sometime during the evening, police fired pepper balls, though it's not clear if anyone was hurt.
The famous Trump Baby Balloon also made an appearance at the counter-protests.
The Trump Baby Balloon became famous after it was flown over London in July 2018, as Donald Trump made an official visit to the United Kingdom.
Source: The Hill
Donald Trump referred to those protesting outside his rally as "thugs."
Trump said the protesters (and the media) were scaring people away and referred to those protesting outside his rally as "thugs."
Meanwhile, Murtaugh and Trump Campaign Manager Brad Parscale blamed protesters, as well as the media for low audience turnout.
Parscale even said that at one point, protesters had blocked the metal detectors, preventing people from entering the venue; however, the Los Angeles Times reported that though the police did say the entrance was blocked, it was only for a brief moment and nobody was denied entry.
Trump held the rally despite the fact that the coronavirus continues to sweep throughout the nation. Tulsa County alone saw a 100% increase in cases the week leading up to his rally.
Tulsa saw a 100% spike in cases the week leading up to Trump's rally, according to NBC News's Kristen Welker. Before the event began, it was reported that six Trump staffers tested positive for the virus.
At the rally, Trump said he ordered the "slow down" of coronavirus testing, calling it a "double-edged sword" because more testing leads to finding more cases.
"When you do testing to that extent, you're gonna find more people," Trump said at the rally. "You're gonna find more cases. So I said to my people, 'slow the testing down, please.'"
A White House official later told Reuters that Trump's comments about testing were a joke after they prompted outrage on social media.
Source: Business Insider, NBC News
According to Murtaugh, attendees were given temperature checks before going through security and were given wristbands, face masks, and hand sanitizers.
Ahead of the rally, the Oklahoma Supreme Court unanimously rejected a bid to require attendees of Trump's Saturday rally to wear masks and practice social distancing.
The ruling follows warnings from health experts who fear the rally at the BOK Center could be a "superspreader" event for coronavirus.
As reported by Welker, the campaign required those who attended the rally to sign a digital waiver, stating the campaign and president were not liable if they got sick.
However, there were many in Trump's audience who did not wear masks, gloves, or any other form of protective gear.
In addition to many not wearing masks, there also wasn't much social distancing going on at the event.
After the rally, a source told CNN that two secret service agents also tested positive for the coronavirus.
Source: CNN
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