Mine is Bigger ...

Comparison from CBS

The Interior Department has been ordered to shut down its Twitter account after its National Park Service tweeted yesterday suggesting that Trump's National Mall crowd for his inauguration was smaller than Obama's was in 2009 ... see: Politico Story. Sounds like our government employees under Trump will need to remember for whom they work and begin to show some loyalty ... not a bad lesson to learn early on in Trump's term.

I have no idea whether Trump's assembled crowd was indeed smaller ... nor do I think it really important. But Trump clearly does. If the Trumpers were fewer than the Obama-ers, it might have been because Trump received Just 4% of the vote in Washington, DC whereas Obama had received 93% in 2008. (I suppose that this large differential can be attributed to the liberal government worker presence there.) Now these Obama voters clearly lived within a hop and a step of the National Mall and could easily have attended Obama's swearing in ... whereas they might not have shown the same enthusiasm for Trump. If, in fact, there was this turnout difference, I think Trump might easily excuse things due to this voter difference ... not something to fret over.

Of course, protesters blocking roads and rapid transits may also have affected turnout. And the fear of well-publicized expected violence  might also have affected things ... as well as the forecast rain. Add long lines to be checked through increased security and magna monitors might also have slowed things down ... it all depends when the photographs were taken. And finally, the big white patches seenin the Trump photos were apparently tiles laid don by the Park Service to restrict these areas to crowds ... strange? Lots of excuses for an apparently smaller Trump crowd if you are looking for them. (I like best my local voter differential  analysis above.)

But then I guess we don't know The Donald ... Sean Spicer had a press briefing yesterday wherein he defiantly claimed that Trump's turnout was greater ... see: NBC News Story. He might be right.

But one can easily make the case that this "mine is bigger" braggadocios on the part of the Trump team (and to a lesser extent, me) is rather childish. However, can we equally apply this shaming to those on the left and their media who are playing in this very same silly game?

Afterward: I did notice that these large white spaces on the National Mall seem to have largely disappeared for the Women's March the very next day ... strange ...