Trump's Tulsa Rally Epitomizes His Entire Presidency; an Epic Flop

After promising a packed arena and huge overflow crowd, President Trump ended up speaking to a half-filled auditorium in Tulsa yesterday. He got about 6000 true believers to show up to a venue that could hold more than 19,000. He blamed the media [of course] and violent "maniacs" and "thugs" for the sparse crowd, but even Fox News noted that there were few demonstrators and little interaction between Trump supporters and people protesting the event. Apparently even "maniacs and thugs" had more sense than to attend Trump's "coronapalooza."

Speaking in Tulsa, Trump dispensed his usual nonsense, arguing, for instance, that increased testing was the reason for the current spike in covid-19 cases in the United States, and then, bizarrely, claimed to have ordered less virus testing in the future. He also claimed that Joe Biden would give free health care to illegal immigrants, that President Obama gave 150 million dollars to Iran "for nothing," and that Joe Biden's son made 1.5 billion dollars from business with China. All have been fact-checked [here and here] as lies, and there are many others. As we have said before, if you cut out the lies, misstatements, and exaggerations in a Trump speech, the remainder wouldn't fill the back of a business card.

It's still too early to tell if the disappointing crowd in Tulsa is a sign that Trump's cult-like following is dwindling, but that wouldn't be surprising; he's accomplished almost nothing for his supporters and even less for the country. Yes, Fortune 500 CEOs were tickled pink with the reduction in the corporate tax rate and his roll-back of the nation's environmental standards, but that represents the sum total of Trump's 3 1/2 years in office. The rest is a jumbled mess of corruption, lies, race slurs, incompetence and failure. His MAGA slogan has become an epic joke and historians will have to create a new "dumpster fire" rating to categorize his presidency.

And, yes, his Tulsa rally captures all of that; the grandiose but unfulfilled promises, the pathetic excuses, the media-bashing, the lies, and a bit of race-baiting for good measure. Donald Trump has become predictable and maybe that's why so few fans showed up yesterday. Predictable is boring and Trump's draw [for his supporters] has been that he is new, different and refreshingly candid. But the President's "shtick" is starting to wear a bit around the edges, the lies becoming a bit too obvious, the narcissism more tiresome. Additionally, it's becoming difficult to ignore the corruption and incompetence, and some of his fans may be wondering when they will be getting their straight, white, evangelical utopia.

A Prediction: When this is all over, when Trump is back to hawking steaks and attempting to reignite his reality show career, few will ever admit to supporting him. The entire Trump administration will become like that really drunk night many of us had when we did and said really stupid things and cringe when our friends bring it up later. It will be best forgotten.

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By: Don Lam & Curated Content