Empty seats are becoming a more common sight at Trump’s final rallies

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Donald Trump has spent nearly a decade bragging about his crowds. Lately, it has been boasting the same stretches of empty seats.

In his third bid for the presidency, Trump for the first time faces an opponent who holds his own massive rallies, drawing further attention to the fact that his crowds, however enthusiastic, have sometimes failed to fill large venues and they often lessened as he spoke.

In North Carolina this weekend, the former president and Republican candidate spoke at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, where the lower level of the 22,000-seat arena remained unfilled, with the upper level blocked off entirely.

“We had the biggest rallies in the history of any country. Every rally is full,” he falsely claimed anyway. “You have no free seats.”

He started Monday, the eve of the election, in Raleigh, North Carolina, where a late-arriving crowd nearly filled the venue but left a few empty seats. In Reading, Pennsylvania, Trump took the stage at Santander Arena, where there were sections of empty seats in the 7,200-seat arena. The campaign hung a large American flag in the back of the arena, blocking the view of several sections of seats that remained unfilled.

It then went to PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, where the upper level seats were again locked.

The former president’s crowds still numbered in the thousands and regularly roared as he spoke. But the scenes provided a notable contrast to Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ biggest events this fall — and to the volume and atmosphere of Trump’s crowds eight years ago, when he first sought and won the presidency.

To be sure, crowd sizes are not necessarily predictive of election results. And his core supporters this year remain engaged enough that he packed Madison Square Garden in heavily Democratic New York City just days ago.

Still, Trump drew smaller crowds in the latter part of the campaign than he had in previous races, especially in his first campaign, when his mass events became a political phenomenon. Trump’s crowds this fall have often thinned out as the former president’s long speeches stretch into the second hour.

People usually leave as he speaks, sometimes in droves, after waiting hours for a seat.

There are reasons why some might be tired.

Trump returned again and again to the same battleground states, sometimes speaking in the same places and even in the same places. Trump’s smaller crowd in Greensboro, for example, came eight days after he campaigned in the same city.

He’s also often late, starting three hours ago recently in Traverse City, Michigan, after taping an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan.

But whatever the explanation, the former reality TV star and consummate showman remains clearly invested in the performative aspect of presidential politics and clearly concerned that Harris, unlike Democrats Hillary Clinton in 2016 or Joe Biden in 2020, can match and even surpass his campaign tactics. . Harris, for example, recently filled the large coliseum in Greensboro.

Democrats have embraced the dynamic as a way to get under Trump’s skin. Former President Barack Obama, the last national figure before Trump and Harris to make mass rallies a key part of his campaigns, noted Trump’s “weird obsession” with crowd size during his speech at the Democratic National Convention in August. Obama added mocking hand gestures about size that evoked Trump’s own comments during his first campaign about the size of his hands and his implication that they reflected his manhood.

Harris invoked the crowd number during her only debate against Trump, one of many times she skewered the former president during their 90-minute exchange. She urged people to attend Trump’s rallies because one way of understanding his time has passed.

In Pittsburgh on Monday night, Trump pointed to Beyoncé’s appearance at a recent Harris rally that drew more than 30,000 people. The megastar introduced Harris to Houston, but he didn’t perform.

Harris campaigned with a host of celebrities and pop stars in the final days of the campaign, culminating in a rally in Philadelphia with Oprah Winfrey and Lady Gaga. The star of Trump’s show, meanwhile, remains the former president.

In recent days, he has shown a wistful side about both the rallies and the crowds that come to see him – however large they may be.

“I’ve got one left,” he said in Pittsburgh, looking wistfully at his night event in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “And remember, rallies are the most exciting thing. There will never be such rallies. This will never happen again.” ——

Barrow reported from Washington. Jonathan J. Cooper contributed from Phoenix.