President Trump’s 2020 campaign manager on Sunday tweeted photos of police holding back protesters at the Oklahoma arena — doubling down on claims the crowd wasn’t as big as expected because supporters had difficulties getting into the rally.
“Sure no blocked gates @cnn. @cnn if you think families with children will push through this your [sic] sick,” Brad Parscale said in the posting. “America, this is the country @cnn is ok with, think about that. This is the main gate of the rally:”
The picture, from Saturday night’s campaign event in Tulsa’s BOK Center, showed a line of police walling off a throng of protesters at one of the arena’s gates. The snap was taken by a wire service and appeared on CNN’s own website.
Parscale had previously said more than a million tickets were requested for the rally, but the crowd that did make it in was not enough to fill the 19,000-seat BOK Center. The local fire department told Forbes it tallied just under 6,200 attendees.
Trump supporters had to pass through checkpoints for security screening and to check the temperatures of attendees to determine if they might have the coronavirus. Campaign officials also passed out masks and hand sanitizer as the lines of supporters waited to enter.
“Sadly, protesters interfered with supporters, even blocking access to metal detectors, which prevented people from entering the rally,” campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said before Trump took the stage.
Other users on Twitter responded to Parscale’s tweet by linking to photos of people passing through entry gates at different parts of the arena where protesters weren’t present.
Teens on the TikTok social media platform and K-Pop fans have also taken credit for the below-expectations turnout, saying they reserved many seats despite having no intention to attend.
