Viral photos show hundreds of empty seats at Donald Trump's final rally
Donald Trump's final rallies met with empty seats, photos go viral online
Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump has expressed pride in having “huge crowds” with “no empty seats” at his rallies. However, viral photos from the former president's final stretch of the 2024 campaign tell a different story. On Monday, the GOP nominee began his final set of rallies on the eve of Election Day in Raleigh, North Carolina, where the lower level of the 22,000-seat arena remained unfilled, according to an Associated Press report. As he promised to “make America great again” one last time, empty seats became a common sight.
Trump's final rally met with empty seats; photos go viral on social media
Despite the lower and upper levels of the Raleigh arena being empty, Trump falsely claimed, “We’ve had the biggest rallies in the history of any country. Every rally’s full. You don’t have any seats that are empty,” per the outlet.
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Next up in Reading, Pennsylvania, the former president faced a similar situation as there were sections of empty seats in the 7,200-seat Santander Arena. Interestingly enough, the Trump campaign covered the view of the empty seats by hanging a large American flag near the back of the arena, per the outlet.
Again, while campaigning at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, the upper-level seating was blocked off. Photos and videos from Trump's rallies soon went viral online, stirring debate on social media. While some criticised the GOP nominee for lying about having packed stadiums, several others claimed that his final rally was, in fact, in Michigan, where thousands roared as he spoke.
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“If the event was in Grand Rapids it would have been held at Van Andel arena. That's not a picture of the Van Andel. One end of that arena has no seating where as this one has a continuous ring around the center. I dislike trump as much as the next guy but this pic isn't accurate,” wrote one Reddit user in response to a photo showing empty seats at Trump's rally.
“Ok, but to be fair, and I'm not a trump supporter at all, all the empty seats are behind the stage... nobody would ever be behind the stage at something like this event,” another user said. Meanwhile, an X user shared a news clip of one of his rallies, tweeting, “Trump says there’s no empty seats and the cameraman goes rogue Live fact checks at trump rallies now.”
One more X user shared a video from Trump's rally and wrote, “This is Trump’s final hate rally. Low energy. Tons of empty seats. Him slurring; looking burned out. People bored. The perfect ending for one of the most pathetic scumbags to ever be in politics.”