As Donald Trump rambled past the one hour mark in Pennsylvania, his supporters were walking out.
Trump came out and took the stage at the home of the Wilkes Barre Scranton Baby Pens, in a critical swing part of Pennsylvania at 4:39 PM ET. As usual, Trump could not keep it brief. He spoke until 6:24 ET,
At around 5:40 PM ET, this began to be noticed by reporters:
Looks like people are starting to trickle out of the Wilkes-Barre Trump rally as he goes past the hour mark. There appears to be more empty seats. pic.twitter.com/V3wYr0WLpg
— Zac Anderson (@zacjanderson) August 17, 2024
Zac Anderson of USA Today posted, “Looks like people are starting to trickle out of the Wilkes-Barre Trump rally as he goes past the hour mark. There appears to be more empty seats.”
Sections of empty seats are visible.
We always try to be fair when assessing what is happening with Trump’s crowds, which means that we don’t use video taken before the ex-president began speaking to measure attendance, and we try to find comparison video of the crowd at the beginning of his rally.
Here is what it looked like at the venue before Trump took the stage:
To entertain the crowd at Trump’s rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania while they await Donald to finally show up, some dudes run around flapping their arms like birds to rile up the crowd.
And he still doesn’t come on stage.
Weird. pic.twitter.com/AiU2ldenfZ
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) August 17, 2024
The arena capacity is 8,300 for hockey and 10,000 for concerts. It appears that for security reasons, the full concert setup wasn’t utilized, as there was space left on the floor between Trump and the crowd. There is also empty space on the floor at the sides, so given the empty space, the arena was not at 10,000 attendees,
What is indisputable is that Trump’s own supporters keep walking out on him while he is still speaking. It isn’t like the Wilkes Barre Scranton area is well known for its heavy Saturday evening traffic, so people wee not leaving to be the traffic and get home.
People were leaving it seems because Trump’s endless rambling and repetition of the same grievances over and over again is bored. Even Trump’s biggest supporters appear to be bored with his act.
The energy and enthusiasm is with Kamala Harris. Trump and his supporters are going through the motions. Trump lacks energy, and that lack of energy is reflected in his crowds not sticking around.
Republicans should be worried because if Trump’s biggest supporters are walking out, imagine what he is doing to Independent and swing voters.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
