Trump’s rally in El Paso last night — to shill for his border wall — was notable for many reasons. For one thing, the counter-rally (with El Paso native Beto O’Rourke) had more attendees…
Numbers don’t lie.
— Farnaz Fassihi (@farnazfassihi) February 12, 2019
El Paso Fire Department crowd estimates::
Trump: 6,500
Beto O’Rourke: 10,000 – 15,000
… although that number does not include Trump rally-goers in the overflow park.
Trump, ever the liar, said 69,000 people signed up to attend the rally at the coliseum, but that only about 10,000 were allowed inside. Later, he said 35,000 people showed up.
Trump metrics. POTUS tells pool Beto O’Rourke failed last night because “From what I hear he had less than 1,000 people.”
— Eliana Johnson (@elianayjohnson) February 12, 2019
Secondly, Trump was heavily gaslighting his supporters with a new slogan “Finish The Wall”. He knows he will not get the money to BUILD a wall (or at most, only a few miles of it), but he still wants to run in 2020 with a “Promises Made, Promises Kept” slogan. So, he’s going to lie about his promises kept.
Also, Trump is now taking credit for the English language. Speciofically, he bragged about coming up the “caravan” term during Monday night’s speech.
“How about the word ‘caravan’? Caravan. I think that was one of mine,” he said, as the crowd booed.
But perhaps most notably, the Trump rally was marred by violence. A BBC cameraman was assaulted by a supporter, but that didn’t stop Trump from attacking the media anyway.
Just attended my first @realDonaldTrump rally where my colleague BBC cameraman Rob Skeans was attacked by a Trump supporter. The crowd had been whipped up into a frenzy against the media by Trump and other speakers all night #TrumpElPaso pic.twitter.com/Oiw8osPms3
— Eleanor Montague (@EleanorMontague) February 12, 2019
Skeans was not injured. The incident was also captured from other angles:
Here’s another angle, after the @USAFrontline reporter had already grabbed the guy.
— Jacob Rascon (@KPRC2Jacob) February 12, 2019
The crowd chanted “Trump! Trump!” Then the president looked at the media pen and asked, “You all right? Everything OK?” pic.twitter.com/Xsn30MrNPD
Donald Trump supporter attacks BBC cameraman as US president speaks at a campaign rally in Texas
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) February 12, 2019
[tap to expand] https://t.co/PTAxA4uBSg pic.twitter.com/LMaWQLGxGT
Trump paused his speech while the assailant was escorted away. The audience responded with a smattering of “CNN sucks!” chants that eventually morphed into “Trump! Trump! Trump!”
About 10 minutes after Skeans was attacked, Trump laid into the media again while deflecting from the notion that his campaign colluded with Russia.
“There’s also collusion between the Democrats and the fake news, right here,” he said, prompting more “CNN sucks!” chants.
The Trump anti-media rhetoric has consequences. It was only last October that bombs were sent to CNN.
Here’s something that will never happen:
NEW: White House Correspondents’ Association "condemns the physical attack on our colleague at the president’s rally in El Paso" and calls for President Trump to "make absolutely clear to his supporters that violence against reporters is unacceptable." https://t.co/dKr07kl1TZ
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 12, 2019