Trump Rally draws massive crowd.

returntosender said:

More to the point. That many and the heatwave.

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I don’t think anyone is surprised by the dedication of Trump die hards.

hislegacy said:

all 75,000,000 of them and growing.

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....that figure is based on the last election?

...as we learned in 2020, crowd size does not equate to voter turnout.
Most voters have never attended a political rally in person (for the record, I'm not aware of any research to cite on this point, but I think it's a safe assumption).

hislegacy said:

Yes she did and yes there were.

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I would suggest that the reason she lost is precisely because she didn't have the same kind same kind of size of cult-like following as Trump did.

A big part of the reason she lost is because the Democratic candidate who did have a bit of that kind of following (Bernie Sanders), had supporters who either switched and voted for Trump, or stayed home and sulked because their preferred democrat didn't win, and for the ones who did vote for her, there was a lot of "the lesser of two evils" talk, as to where a lot of the people who voted for Trump thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

wing2000 said:

...as we learned in 2020, crowd size does not equate to voter turnout.
Most voters have never attended a political rally in person (for the record, I'm not aware of any research to cite on this point, but I think it's a safe assumption).

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Thus my Nickelback comment earlier lol.

Nickelback sold out Madison Square Garden and filled the place with 20,000 fans... that totally means that everyone in America loves them, and nobody thinks they're terrible and worthy of mockery, right???

In my mind it is half Trump and half the insanity the left is pushing on this country. If left to continue, this country will be at the breaking point by the end of the decade. I cannot see how they can continue in this. Evil.

SavedByGrace3 said:

In my mind it is half Trump and half the insanity the left is pushing on this country. If left to continue, this country will be at the breaking point by the end of the decade. I cannot see how they can continue in this. Evil.

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That's the pattern of escalation I've referred to before... the pendulum keeps swinging a little wider each time.

Both sides set out to "take it to the next level"


Remember back in 2008 when Obama was considered to be super-progressive for saying "I support civil unions, but marriage is between a man and a woman"...and then in 2012 when people on the left thought that Mitt Romney (of all people) represented the most heinous version of right-wing politics they could think of?

Now we're at a point where Obama's 2008 positions and Romney's 2012 positions would get them both labelled as "sellouts" for their respective parties.

hislegacy said:

When on candidate consistently draws crowds 20k to 75k and his opponent draws perhaps hundreds - it makes sense to draw a populartiy comparison.

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Yes, and let's face it Trump is wildly more popular then Biden. A lot of us would rather a better candidate then him. That does not translate into votes though. The dynamic remains the same that few are voting for Biden but many are voting against Trump.

hislegacy said:

all 75,000,000 of them and growing.

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No amount of fraud or sexual assault will change their minds!

ThatRobGuy said:

I would suggest that the reason she lost is precisely because she didn't have the same kind same kind of size of cult-like following as Trump did.

A big part of the reason she lost is because the Democratic candidate who did have a bit of that kind of following (Bernie Sanders), had supporters who either switched and voted for Trump, or stayed home and sulked because their preferred democrat didn't win, and for the ones who did vote for her, there was a lot of "the lesser of two evils" talk, as to where a lot of the people who voted for Trump thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

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I don't know. Didn't she win the popular vote. Which meant she certainly had some cult like following. It was after the election when all the so called snowflakes came out. So I do think there was some of that.

Now I don't know if there were as many as on the Trump side. I don't think anyone has ever done a survey to determine exactly how many claim to be a cult like member. I think it's just nothing more than leftists trying to disparage people who think Trump would do and did a good job and is not a typical politician.

Myself all I can hope for is a better choice than him. If I was a member of the Republican party I would not be voting for him in the primaries.

Belk said:

Yes, and let's face it Trump is wildly more popular then Biden. A lot of us would rather a better candidate then him. That does not translate into votes though. The dynamic remains the same that few are voting for Biden but many are voting against Trump.

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I do think there is truth in that.

Say it aint so said:

Rally crowd sizes and the mythical numbers they site really doesn't mean anything.
Trump rallies are cult events with a lot of them traveling the country following him.
Only at Trump rallies do people come in Trump outfits, the more vulgar the better.
These events are a street hustler's merch paradise.

Keep in mind Trump lost by 8 million votes to someone who never got out his basement.

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True Biden was fortunate COVID came along.

rjs330 said:

I don't know. Didn't she win the popular vote. Which meant she certainly had some cult like following. It was after the election when all the so called snowflakes came out. So I do think there was some of that.

Now I don't know if there were as many as on the Trump side. I don't think anyone has ever done a survey to determine exactly how many claim to be a cult like member. I think it's just nothing more than leftists trying to disparage people who think Trump would do and did a good job and is not a typical politician.

Myself all I can hope for is a better choice than him. If I was a member of the Republican party I would not be voting for him in the primaries.

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Winning the popular vote because democrats hated the other guy doesn't mean that they particularly like her.

I don't know how the culture was in other parts of the country, but here in the midwest, everyone I know who voted for Hillary during that election didn't like her all that much, they just disliked Trump more. Sort of the "blue no matter who" mindset I mentioned earlier.

I didn't (and don't) see people with pro-Hillary bumper stickers still on their cars and people still flying Hillary flags in their yards.

I do, however, still see people doing that for Trump. (and not just because he's running again) There were people with Trump flags in their front yard in late 2021/early 2022.

rjs330 said:

True Biden was fortunate COVID came along.

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There was nothing "fortunate" about covid.

Say it aint so said:

There was nothing "fortunate" about covid.

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I didn't say COVID was fortunate I said Biden was.

ThatRobGuy said:

Thus my Nickelback comment earlier lol.

Nickelback sold out Madison Square Garden and filled the place with 20,000 fans... that totally means that everyone in America loves them, and nobody thinks they're terrible and worthy of mockery, right???

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I think a better example would be Cold Play. They routinely sell out stadiums but are truly awful and normal people hate them.

The hate that Nickeback gets is of course valid but pales in comparison to the hate Cold Play so and should get.

Makes you wonder about Avril Levine.

Larnievc said:

I think a better example would be Cold Play. They routinely sell out stadiums but are truly awful and normal people hate them.

The hate that Nickeback gets is of course valid but pales in comparison to the hate Cold Play so and should get.

Makes you wonder about Avril Levine.

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I mean yeah...a niche following is still a following none the less.

Perhaps a better comparison would be some of the conventions they have that sell out.

For instance, ComicCon and Wizard World. My cousin goes to those, and they sell out and sell fast when tickets hit the market (he and his friends get up early and refresh the webpage like in that scene in Big Bang Theory),

...but in reality, it's likely way under 5% of the population that are die-hard fans of that sort of stuff.

I'd suggest that it's largely the same with political figures. Given that we're a country of 300 million people, if you go to an area that's particularly friendly to whatever it is that's getting pitched, it's not surprising that someone can muster up a big turnout.




Where the two situations differ is that ComicCon knows they're a niche sort of thing, they see it for what it is. Or like a concert, the goal is to pick a "friendly" area where they know they have a lot of fans, and run a show.


In politics, strategists seem to have some tunnel vision and assume that these kinds of big regional turnouts are somehow emblematic of a wider popularity.

It'd be like if a Hip-Hop artist sold out a venue in Brooklyn, and used that successful show to assume "that must mean we'd be really popular if we went to a place in rural Iowa"

If Trump wants to really gauge how popular he is (or if the RNC wants to get a read on it), they shouldn't be assuming that being able to draw a big crowd quickly in Pickens, SC (a county that's 78% republican, bordered by 3 other counties that are >65% republican) is somehow evidence of widespread appeal.

It's the same mistake I've highlighted that the democrats make from time to time...assuming that because a particular candidate or policy is extremely popular in NYC, LA, or San Fran...that'll it'll somehow play in middle America.

One notable example is that I've critiqued democrats on their affinity for "Manchin-Bashing". They assume because he doesn't meet the coastal standards for "real progressive/liberal", that "we should primary him and get him outta there, we can do better", to which I tell them, "In West Virginia, no you can't".

Republicans make the same mistake in the New England region. What's popular in South Carolina isn't always popular in Massachusetts, Maryland, or New Hampshire...which is why you see a lot of instances of people in those states voting for moderate republicans for governor, but when it comes to general elections and presidential candidates pandering to southern politics, those states go blue.