Donald Trump, after announcing that he needs attention and has chosen to get it by “running for president,” is now being rightfully fact-checked, accused of being a social media fraud and, most importantly, dissed by Neil Young.
Where to even start with Trump’s mess of a presidential announcement? As the “ham that looks like it’s wearing a merkin” went on and on about Obamacare and how our country doesn’t have victories anymore (“we used to have them, but not anymore,” Trump explained helpfully, making sure we got it), I was struck by the fact that people were actually cheering.
Who are these people, I wondered, who would not only take the time to attend a Trump campaign event in their off-time but also happily cheer as he he explained that people who don’t understand air conditioners would never be able to beat ISIS? (Fun thing about the speech: it makes no sense with and without context).
Turns out they’re confused tourists, and also actors.
From The Washington Post:
“This is beyond anybody’s expectations,” he [Trump] said to a crowd that he described as “thousands,” though it looked more like hundreds. “There have been no crowds like this.”
In reality, members of team Trump spent the hour before the event out in the streets of midtown Manhattan trying to lure tourists in to fill out the crowd. A man in a pressed suit who would say only that he “worked for Trump” offered passersby free T-shirts and already-made signs, many handwritten, to hold if they would come on in and see the show.
According to the Post, Trump’s street team was billing the event as “only in New York” and a great time to “make memories” for the small price of wearing a shirt (and cheering enthusiastically) and listening to Trump speak for way longer than any human being should be able to stand hearing. Of course, some of the people there were hoping Trump could actually do something for them.
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