Former President Donald Trump has spoken out about claims that his supporters leave his rallies early, saying it “never happens.”
Crowd size and how long people stay at rallies and political events has been a major topic in the run-up to the presidential election, which is now just a few days away.
Trump addressed the issue again on Thursday, during a benefit with political commentator Tucker Carlson in Glendale, Arizona.
He was discussing his love for his supporters, who he referred to as a “sea of red hats,” when he said: “There’s never been rallies like this.”
Trump referenced his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, saying people leave his events “out of exhaustion and boredom” during the pair’s TV debate on September 13—something the former president has pushed back on multiple times since.
He said: “When that sleazebag said, during the debate, she said: ‘Oh your rallies aren’t well-attended and people leave.’ They don’t leave and they’re really well-attended, we can’t get places big enough.
“And then I said: ‘No, no, you know, the rallies are the biggest in history’—just like this, this is a part of a rally—’we never had an empty seat and nobody leaves early.'”
He said: “And you know what, if I saw people leaving, do you know what I’d do? ‘Ladies and gentlemen, we’re gonna make America great again, goodbye everybody.’ And everybody would be happy, nobody would leave.
“But we don’t have to do that, nobody leaves, it’s a lovefest. It’s never happened before. This has never happened before.”
Trump said President Ronald Reagan, who both he and Carlson are fans of, would not be able to attract crowds as large as he does.
“If Ronald Reagan came back from the dead at the height of Ronald Reagan, if he went to California to have a rally, he’d have 250-300 people in a ballroom someplace,” he said, “we have 50, 60, 70, 80, 100,000 people.”
Trump held a rally in the deep blue state’s Coachella Valley last month, at the Calhoun Ranch. He said then, on Truth Social, that 100,000 people had turned up for the rally but a permit issued for the event by Riverside County capped capacity at 15,000, according to local outlet the Desert Sun.
Newsweek has contacted Trump’s team, via email, for comment.
It comes as Harris ridiculed Trump for his focus on crowd sizes. Speaking during a rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Thursday, the Democratic nominee said: “You may have seen [that] I talked in Washington, D.C., the other day. You know, he likes to compare crowds. I had 100,000 people there.” As she mentioned the size of the crowd gathered to hear her talk, Harris broke into a chuckle.
She was referring to the rally she held at the Ellipse on October 29 as the official “closing argument” for her campaign. Her campaign reported that 75,000 people were at the event.
Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at Albuquerque International Sunport, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Albuquerque, N.M. Donald Trump has spoken about claims that supporters leave his rallies early.
AP
