Giddy

Trump’s rally in Tulsa on Saturday night did not fill the 19,000 seat arena ... even though there were an estimated million applications for tickets (even if some were fake). His handlers blamed protesters blocking access and national media coronavirus scare tactics for the shortfall of maybe 7,000 attendees.

Anti-Trump forces were giddy about this shortfall even though Trump got a rousing reception. The lesson to the Trump administration is to be careful about overpromising and underdelivering crowd sizes ... especially during a pandemic ... where older adults ... much of his base ... might be more chary about assembling in groups.

And the lesson for the Democrats is to be careful about jumping up and down too much about this shortfall. The real benefit here is the data collected by his re-election committee during the ticket application process. This data will be used during the actual election ... and, I expect here will be more rallies to come ... maybe in smaller venues ... but bigger than Biden’s basement.

Headlines

Trump says he’ll leave office peacefully if he loses in November

Coronavirus updates: Cuomo urges caution in reopening; small town businesses face uncertain restarts

White House blames Mex for new [Covid] spike

Joe Biden: George Floyd’s death bigger than MLK assassination

Temperature spike: Earth ties record high heat May reading

$600 unemployment benefits are ‘lifesaving’ for this waiter, ‘I’m right on the edge’

[Trump] Moves rally to June 20 ‘out of respect’ [for black leaders]

Moore: I’m ‘begging’ Dems don’t underestimate Trump supporters’ ‘rage,’ ‘emotion’

Seattle’s mayor and police chief diverge on autonomous zone

Amazon warehouse workers interviewed by New York attorney general in retaliation probe

More than 20% of NYC residents know someone who died ...

Co-worker recants story about Derek Chauvin and George Floyd conflict

Headlines

Pelosi downplays threat to withhold impeachment articles from Senate

S&P rises to another record as investors shake off impeachment, hits 3,200

Reporters caught celebrating [impeachment]?

Pope Francis has migrant crucifix installed in Vatican

Democrats stockpile cash for state-by-state redistricting fight

Housing supply hits record low, igniting prices

Schiff claims that Trump made ‘veiled threat’ to him ...

Clyburn: I would delay transmitting articles ‘as long as it takes’

Putin says Trump won’t be removed on ‘trumped-up charges’

Investors bet on a Clinton-like rally with stocks up 7% since impeachment inquiry began

Senate trial in doubt ... McConnell threatens to cancel

Mitch McConnell: Pelosi ‘to afraid’ to send impeachment articles to Senate

Trump's Fans

Dan Amselem, another son of one of my favorite bloggers, The Diplomad, recently attended the Donald Trump's rally in Costa Mesa, California ... the one that should have been featured in the national news but wasn't ... because of the number of protesters waving Mexican flags and trashing cars, including police cruisers. Dan has written an account of this rally that is very informative ... see: The Diplomad. Rather than require that you read this entire narrative, allow me to quote two of its more interesting passages that caught my eye:

The first thing I noticed about those people in line was that it was majority women. I thought, it would be mainly white guys, but no, it was mainly women. Lots of minorities, as well; I was quite surprised.  

As noted, the most interesting part of the rally proved the demographics: it was probably 60% women. Lots of minorities as well, plenty of people holding "Latinos for Trump" signs. It was a good mix of African-American, Asian, White, and Hispanic--everybody got along well. 

Now I know that the popular meme says that women and minorities will not support Trump in the general election if he is the Republican candidate. Dan's observation seems to suggest that this may be another purposeful piece of media misdirection.