U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to recast a low turnout at a rally in Tulsa, Okla., on the weekend as he sets out on another campaign swing in Arizona and Wisconsin this week.
As U.S. President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign rolled west to Arizona on Tuesday and goes on to Wisconsin on Thursday, he is dismissing growing concerns about a spreading coronavirus.
“Not worried at all,” he said in an interview with Scripps news, Washington. “We watch it, we’re very careful.”
But there’ll be no rallies in Arizona and Wisconsin, just speeches as the campaign team still struggles to explain what happened Saturday in Tulsa, Okla.
Eight members of his team tested positive for the coronavirus, including Secret Service personnel. Thousands of empty blue seats in Tulsa’s BOK centre dominated the news cycle. An outside overflow area was quickly dismantled Saturday night.
Leaving for Arizona Tuesday, Trump brushed off the low turnout, saying the TV audience was huge.
“As you’ve probably heard, Fox has the highest ratings on a Saturday night in the history of Fox. So that’s the ultimate poll, I guess,” he said.
After a pause demanded by the coronavirus, Trump is trying to rev the campaign up again, but he’s been wounded politically.
The Trump team broke a simple rule of managing expectations with the Great American Comeback rally. Instead of underpromise and overdeliver, they did the opposite.
“One million people request tickets for the Saturday night rally in Tulsa,” Trump said on Twitter the morning of the event.
At best 12,000 showed up, at worst 6,000, depending on whose numbers you trust.
Trump blames protesters
Trump won every county in Oklahoma in 2016, and the state by more than 30 points, yet Republicans could have been sending him a message Saturday: They don’t want to risk their health or they’re not as enamoured with the candidate as they once were or maybe a combination of both.
Trump blamed “bad people outside,” referring to protesters. He said the Democrats and demonstrators “will do anything to stop us,” and told the crowd Saturday night that an unnamed law enforcement official said: “Sir, it’s too dangerous for you to be outside.”
But there is no evidence protesters blocked entry to the BOK centre. Only one person was arrested early in the day, a 62-year-old Catholic teacher, Sheila Buck of Tulsa, whom CBC videotaped being handcuffed and dragged to a police car at the behest of Trump campaign security.
WATCH: A teacher is arrested before the Trump rally in Tulsa:
Sheila Buck, a teacher in Tulsa, is dragged away by police. She was registered for the rally but was spotted by the Trump campaign team kneeling to pray outside the venue. She was accused of trespassing and detained by police until the evening. 3:04
The relaunch rally was vexing for Team Trump, but still thrilling for southern Republicans who did