{"id":773,"date":"2026-04-22T04:04:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/?p=773"},"modified":"2026-04-22T04:04:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:04:30","slug":"6-excuses-for-why-the-trump-tulsa-rally-was-such-a-dud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/?p=773","title":{"rendered":"6 excuses for why the Trump Tulsa rally was such a dud \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"layout__top layout-with-rail__top\" data-editable=\"top\" data-track-zone=\"top\">\n<div class=\"headline vossi-headline headline--has-lowertext\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/headline\/instances\/headline-trump-tulsa-rally-2020_h_210e66d433340ab11fa516d4b590650b@published\" data-component-name=\"headline\" data-analytics-observe=\"on\">\n<div class=\"headline__wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline__footer vossi-headline__footer\">\n<div class=\"headline__sub-container vossi-headline__sub-container\">\n<div class=\"headline__sub-text vossi-headline__sub-text\">\n<div class=\"vossi-byline byline\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/byline\/instances\/byline_h_210e66d433340ab11fa516d4b590650b@published\" data-component-name=\"byline\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"vossi-byline__images byline__images\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"layout__wrapper layout-with-rail__wrapper\" data-sticky-anchor-pos=\"top\" data-sticky-anchor-condition-type=\"pageType,subsection\" data-sticky-anchor-condition-value=\"article,!elections\" data-sticky-anchor-priority=\"1\">\n<section class=\"layout__main-wrapper layout-with-rail__main-wrapper\">\n<section class=\"layout__main layout-with-rail__main\" data-editable=\"main\" data-track-zone=\"main\" data-reorderable=\"main\">\n<article class=\"article\" role=\"main\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/article\/instances\/h_210e66d433340ab11fa516d4b590650b@published\" data-component-name=\"article\" data-drag-disable=\"true\" data-unselectable=\"true\" data-show-regwall=\"false\" data-show-paywall=\"true\" data-subscription-only=\"false\">\n<section class=\"body tabcontent active\" data-tabcontent=\"Content\"><main class=\"article__main\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image__lede article__lede-wrapper\" data-editable=\"lede\" data-freewheel-lede=\"true\">\n<div class=\"image vossi-image image__hide-placeholder image--eq-extra-small image--eq-small image--eq-large\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/lede-268841a42e4f0ce7d4d732d23826abc5@published\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"donald trump 0621\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.6665\" data-original-height=\"1333\" data-original-width=\"2000\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/200622155252-donald-trump-0621.jpg?q=w_2000,h_1333,x_0,y_0,c_fill\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\"><picture class=\"image__picture\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/200622155252-donald-trump-0621.jpg?q=x_223,y_78,h_876,w_1556,c_crop\/h_383,w_680\/f_avif\" type=\"image\/avif\" media=\"(max-width: 479px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/200622155252-donald-trump-0621.jpg?q=x_223,y_78,h_876,w_1556,c_crop\/h_653,w_1160\/f_avif\" type=\"image\/avif\" media=\"(min-width: 480px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/200622155252-donald-trump-0621.jpg?q=x_223,y_78,h_876,w_1556,c_crop\/h_605,w_1075\/f_avif\" type=\"image\/avif\" media=\"(min-width: 960px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/200622155252-donald-trump-0621.jpg?q=x_223,y_78,h_876,w_1556,c_crop\/h_833,w_1480\/f_avif\" type=\"image\/avif\" media=\"(min-width: 1280px)\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"image__dam-img\" src=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/200622155252-donald-trump-0621.jpg?q=x_223,y_78,h_876,w_1556,c_crop\/h_833,w_1480\" alt=\"donald trump 0621\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption vossi-image__caption attribution\"><\/div>\n<p>Patrick Semansky\/AP<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article__content-container\">\n<div class=\"article__content\" data-editable=\"content\" data-reorderable=\"content\">\n<div class=\"source vossi-source inline-placeholder\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/source\/instances\/source-h_210e66d433340ab11fa516d4b590650b@published\" data-component-name=\"source\" data-article-gutter=\"true\"><cite class=\"source__cite vossi-source__cite\"><span class=\"source__location vossi-source__location\" data-editable=\"location\"><wbr \/><\/span><span class=\"source__text\" data-editable=\"source\">CNN<\/span><wbr \/><span class=\"source__separator\">\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span><\/cite><\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/paragraph-4516649ecbbd99a2aacfd52574139e91@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"on\">President Donald Trump\u2019s hype about the potential crowd at his return to the campaign trail over the weekend in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was off by 994,000 people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/paragraph-3c44e7ed71caf0208b402b6105b1ebc5@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"on\">He\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1272521253136498690\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tweeted that 1 million RSVPs\u00a0<\/a>had been received. The Tulsa fire marshal told CNN that\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/06\/21\/politics\/trump-rally-tulsa-attendance\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">just under 6,200 people were in the BOK Center,<\/a>\u00a0which has a capacity of 19,000 people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/paragraph-bf7085f14b4ba7112d8b4fdee292748b@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"on\">So\u2026<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-slot-dynamic ad-slot-dynamic--1\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/ad-slot-dynamic\/instances\/sharethrough@published\" data-placement=\"{&quot;mobile&quot;:{&quot;position&quot;:5},&quot;desktop&quot;:{&quot;position&quot;:3}}\" data-unselectable=\"true\">\n<div class=\"ad-slot\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/ad-slot\/instances\/cnn-v1@published\" data-path=\"end\/ad-slot-dynamic[0]\/items\" data-desktop-slot-id=\"ad_nat_btf_01\" data-mobile-slot-id=\"ad_nat_btf_01\" data-ad-label-text=\"Advertisement\" data-unselectable=\"true\">\n<div id=\"ad_nat_btf_01\" class=\"ad\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"ad-slot__feedback ad-feedback-link-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-feedback-link\" data-ad-type=\"DISPLAY\" data-ad-identifier=\"ad_nat_btf_01\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/paragraph-dee018cf4174e988c4cc3e3f680c9108@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"on\">Faced with the thing Trump hates the most \u2013 empty seats \u2013 he and his White House have gone into overdrive to explain away why the crowd was so small. Here are the excuses they\u2019ve offered up in the days since.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/paragraph-0d4c90ac5ee354b8af5ffabef1788ad9@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"on\"><strong>1) LOTS of people watched online!<\/strong>: \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s rally in Tulsa attracted over 4 million unique viewers across all of the campaign\u2019s digital media channels,\u201d Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said in a statement Saturday night. \u201cThe live-streamed pre-rally shows drew an audience of more than 2.5 million unique viewers by themselves. These numbers don\u2019t even include television viewers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/paragraph-e9516666364f911b5f00af0f601627b8@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"on\"><strong>2) LOTS of people watched on TV!<\/strong>: \u201cWOW! The Trump Rally gives @FoxNews the \u2018LARGEST SATURDAY NIGHT AUDIENCE IN ITS HUSTORY\u2019,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1275210912077680640\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tweeted Trump on Monday<\/a>. (And yes, he spelled \u201chistory\u201d wrong.) \u201cIsn\u2019t it amazing that virtually nobody in the Lamestream Media is reporting this rather major feat!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/paragraph-22e518e721c7348c3bd838cd9e925321@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"on\">On Tuesday, Trump spoke with reporters prior to leaving for Phoenix, adding, \u201cWe had a nice crowd. But we had the highest ratings in the history of Fox on Saturday night. And online, I heard the record was unbelievable. I heard the numbers were unbelievable. I think you probably know that. What were the numbers online? Do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/paragraph-7bbfed5cc1279367d7abdb388808937f@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"on\"><strong>3) \u201cRadical\u201d protesters!<\/strong>: Murtaugh told CNN\u2019s Ryan Nobles on Saturday night that \u201cprotestors interfered with supporters, even blocking access to the metal detectors, which prevented people from entering the rally.\u201d As Nobles, who was in Tulsa,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/06\/21\/politics\/trump-rally-tulsa-attendance\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a>: \u201cSeveral CNN teams on the ground throughout Tulsa on Saturday said they did not see any prolonged activity by protesters that prevented attendees from gaining access, although one entrance was closed for brief periods of time because of efforts to block that entry point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/paragraph-e8bbdeb65f63420e7085d61591b2fca8@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"on\"><strong>4) The media!<\/strong>: In an interview with Fox on Tuesday morning, Trump suggested that the way the news media portrayed the public health risks of attending an indoor rally amid the coronavirus pandemic dampened attendance. \u201cYou had nothing but horrible press for a week and a half, two weeks leading up to it, that you were going to be in bad shape if you walked into the arena and various other thing,\u201d said Trump. Campaign manager Brad Parscale said something similar on Sunday: \u201cThe fact is that a week\u2019s worth of the fake news media warning people away from the rally because of Covid and protestors, coupled with recent images of American cities on fire, had a real impact on people bringing their families and children to the rally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/paragraph-1f0f2e5ee9b3af2cfd642eee7feab006@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"on\"><strong>5) The curfew!:<\/strong>\u00a0In that same interview, Trump seemed to blame a curfew in Tulsa for the lack of crowds, suggesting that people were forced to get out of line to get into the arena. \u201cI don\u2019t know where they went but they had to leave,\u201d he told Fox News. That seems to run directly counter to Trump\u2019s own tweet on Friday. \u201cI just spoke to the highly respected Mayor of Tulsa, G.T. Bynum, who informed me there will be no curfew tonight or tomorrow for our many supporters attending the #MAGA Rally,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/06\/19\/politics\/tulsa-mayor-curfew-trump-rally\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he tweeted Friday afternoon.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cEnjoy yourselves &#8211; thank you to Mayor Bynum! @gtbynum.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/paragraph-c361d8fde6a9a262d6667d960de86302@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"off\"><strong>6) It actually was a giant success!<\/strong>: \u201cThe President was very pleased with the rally,\u201d said White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany at Monday\u2019s White House briefing. \u201cI was with him, and I just have to say these media reports that he was somehow furious on the plane \u2013 there is no grounding in fact to that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/paragraph-3fbae7ebef2811c2bbdddb8298afcec4@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"off\">Remember that the rally was on Saturday night. Which means that in about 60 hours, the White House has made at least six different excuses for the disappointing crowd. Which is one every 10 hours \u2013 an impressive pace!<\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content_full-width vossi-related-content_full-width related-content_full-width--link\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/related-content\/instances\/related-content-7542AC44-C239-45B8-EE4C-FD64FC6ACAE0@published\" data-component-name=\"related-content\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"off\">\n<div class=\"related-content_full-width__image image__related-content\">\n<div class=\"image vossi-image image__hide-placeholder image--eq-extra-small\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/thumbnail-related-232ff55f386b4f1ae296a20b22e4c07c@published\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-original-height=\"900\" data-original-width=\"1600\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/180921091202-cillizza-youtube.jpg?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\"><picture class=\"image__picture\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"image__dam-img\" src=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/180921091202-cillizza-youtube.jpg?c=16x9&amp;q=h_144,w_256,c_fill\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"related-content_full-width__headline\"><span class=\"related-content_full-width__headline-label\">THE POINT &#8212; NOW ON YOUTUBE!<\/span><span class=\"related-content_full-width__headline-text\" data-editable=\"content.headline\">In each episode of his weekly YouTube show, Chris Cillizza will delve a little deeper into the surreal world of politics. Click to subscribe!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/paragraph-be7da200f252ab8a3f7c3405bc40d2f1@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"off\">The variety of excuses sounds a lot like young me trying to explain to a teacher why my assignment wasn\u2019t turned in on time. I had a stomachache! And I was out really late because my dad had a meeting! Also, my head was sort of hurting! And I actually did the assignment but then I spilled ketchup all over it!<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/paragraph-5d761753ec12d160117d6e099c0d96f2@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"off\">Which, as anyone who has ever been a teacher (or who has a lick of common sense) knows, is just total BS. The reason you need to make excuses is because you either overpromised, underdelivered or both. And that\u2019s exactly what happened in Tulsa on Saturday night. Trump wanted this rally to be a triumphant return, an antidote to weeks of bad press and even worse polling. It wasn\u2019t. And so, his White House is in the process of trying to explain it all away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/paragraph-12e0a8c3007f9cba75ddc1f1adf0ba85@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"off\">But facts are stubborn things.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/main><\/section>\n<\/article>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Patrick Semansky\/AP CNN\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 President Donald Trump\u2019s hype about the potential crowd at his return to the campaign trail over the weekend in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was off by 994,000 people. He\u00a0tweeted &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=773"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":778,"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773\/revisions\/778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmpackz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}