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Trump’s a broken record: "Witch hunt…, stolen election/fraud…, big strong men with tears in their eyes…, nobody’s ever seen…, Biden is the worst President in history…, it’s so unfair, and so on. Occasionally, there’s some new red meat like “poisoning the blood of our country”.
There are polls designed to find out the facts and there are polls designed to tell the customer what he wants to hear.
Ask yourself which kind of poll Trump would want.
Does anybody know historically what the crowd sizes are for political rallies? I know one of the fake photos being passed around by MAGA is an Obama rally (you can see Obama clearly in the photo). Is 3000 a lot historically at this point in a campaign (May of an election year) or is it, in fact, quite small?
I’m Donald the 45th I am…
“Do you want a poll question that glorfies The Great Leader Trump (peace be unto him), or one that supports a pedophile Democrat?”
Crowds aren’t really a good indicator of popularity. I recall reading that in 1988 Michael Dukakis spent the last weekend of the campaign doing rallies coast to coast, early morning to late night, and at every stop he found large, enthusiastic crowds. Dukakis was buried by George H.W. Bush, who was almost as bad a campaigner as Dukakis.
Heck, I went to a huge rally for Walter Mondale in 1984. But we know what happened.
Not as big an effect as you’d think. There are probably more Trump supporters in New York City than there are in any similar-sized area anywhere else in the country. Sure, it’s a small percentage, but there’s more of everyone in New York City.
I wonder if his own lies are working against him. If his supporters only see his claims for crowd sizes, they might think “Wow, that’s going to be jam packed, sounds like standing room only! And imagine the lines at the restrooms! Besides, with that many folks going, he doesn’t need little old me there”.
I was going to suggest Trump take some photos of himself in a tank like Dukakis did. But then it crossed my mind that Trump wouldn’t be able to fit in the tank.
Plus, it might aggravate his bone spurs.
I don’t know which Trump thread this best fits, but Rubber Chicken Guy is my hero. (See the video.)
It’s not just an issue of how big are the crowds, it’s a combination of factors. Both Trump and Trump supporters make a big issue of crowd size as an indicator of popularity, so they are motivated to make them as big as possible. And they did that the last two elections. It’s a self-supporting system. But now, despite that attitude, and what we saw the last two times, he’s struggling to get a decent crowd. It’s that change in his supporter’s behavior which is the real key. They’re not coming out in droves any more, and it’s worth asking why that is.
In other words, it’s polls, and it’s crowd size. To put it slightly differently, it’s ratings.
Remember, Trump was a TV host, to whom ratings are everything. To Trump, there is no other way to measure popularity other than ratings; or in his current circumstances, polls and crowd sizes.
And of course, his supporters believe that too. “Trump’s polling great!” and “Did you see the size of that rally crowd?” and so on. Usually followed by, “CNN has lousy ratings; don’t know how they stay in business,” as if they’re TV executives. I get the feeling that if Trump didn’t put so much emphasis on ratings, however he defines them, neither would they.
I’m going to change this up a bit. From what I’ve seen, Trump supporters live in an “all-Trump-all-the-time” bubble, consisting of friends, neighbours, co-workers, relatives, and so on; and all of whom are madly supporting Trump. Or they claim to. But deep down, they may harbour doubts or they just plain don’t plan to vote for him once of the privacy of the voting booth. They dare not share their doubts with others in the bubble, because that would invite ostracism.
Hey, if I was in New York and was offered a ticket to a Yankees game, I’d go. And being surrounded by Yankees fans in the stadium, I’d cheer for the Yankees, and we’d all get along just fine. Meanwhile, I don’t mention that I’m really a Blue Jays fan. I can go along to get along.
That’s what could be happening here. Trump supporters, surrounded by other Trump supporters, don’t necessarily like the “home team,” but they go along to get along with their friends and neighbours and relatives and co-workers in the bubble.
Very 1984, somehow.
The crowd size may just be a sign that some of these nasty people are crawling back under their rocks. I hope it’s because they are finally seeing him for who he really is.
He’s out there begging the libertarians to join him and not being cheered in his efforts. I think he knows he doesn’t have the numbers anymore.
Or that they are short on funds and attention span to keep going to these non-events to hear the same old song and dance and to buy the overpriced merchandise they pedal.
We’ve seen MAGATs turn against dyed-in-the-wool Republican politicians for the sin of not supporting Donald Trump multiple times. Liz Cheney probably agrees with 90% of what the MAGA base says they want but because she didn’t buy Trump’s baloney she was pilloried and primaried. My MAGA mother thinks Nikki Haley is a Democrat. And that behavior has trickled down to MAGA Republicans among themselves. When I was still a Republican, back when I had hopes the party would come to their senses, when I voiced criticism of Trump it was made clear I had no place among them. I was a RINO. At least for me, being a Republican wasn’t my whole life. Rejection from them didn’t mean rejection from all my friends and family members.
I don’t think anyone’s mentioned that he’s getting less coherent, and does appear to be in the early stages of dementia.
My WAG is that his Deadhead-like followers would stop wanting to be reminded of this, so some of them stop following him around, and he’s more dependent on local followers to fill up seats.
He’s welcome to become a hermit anytime he wants.