When Harris draws huge crowds, Trump reacts like Trump

There were no official figures for Kamala Harris’ audience size for her final performance at the Ellipse, but as the Democratic vice president prepared to take the stage, her communications director told MSNBC that there were 75,000 people on hand – huge number of participants in the election speech.

If this sum is correct and virtually undeniable, it suggests that the Harris crowd at the Ellipse was much larger than 53,000 people who attended Donald Trump’s January 6 speech at the same venue nearly four years earlier.

Around the same time, the former Republican president held an event in Pennsylvania where he commented on the Harris crowd.

“They’re busing people because they couldn’t find anyone to see her tonight.” Trump saidreferring to Harris and her team. The Republican candidate added: “She can’t get anyone.”

Obviously, the idea that the Democratic candidate “can’t get anyone” is completely insane. Not only were tens of thousands of people gathered at the Ellipse, but tens of thousands of people had gathered a few days earlier. attended Harris rally in Houston.

The more interesting part of Trump’s line, however, was the idea that the Democratic Party’s campaign had amounted to “busting people because they couldn’t get anyone to show up.” He said the same thing at an event last week, telling a Michigan audience: “Have you ever seen the crowds of people on Kamala? They accommodate ten people and bring them by bus. They take the bus and pay people. This is true. They pay people. They don’t understand people.”

In fact, the former president was pressing the same linealmost word for wordWith early September – when he first began to notice the large and excited crowds that Harris was drawing.

In August Trump went so far as to say what people used”artificial intelligence“To create the impression that a large number of people had gathered for the vice president’s campaign events. He added then that the images showing her audience were “false“

What strikes me about all of this is how truly pathetic it is. Trump’s ego can’t handle the idea of his opponent having enthusiastic supporters, so he’s apparently making himself feel better with some sort of conspiracy theory: Harris and her team must be paying fake supporters to attend her events , because the alternative is that a lot of Americans actually like her and I want her to win.

Moreover, this applies not only to the 2024 elections. In early June 2016, when the then-candidate sparked protests, Trump suggested that the people involved couldn’t help but like him. They were, as a Republican said at the time: “paid agitators“

After the GOP candidate won on Election Day 2016, there was corresponding anti-Trump activity. In November 2016, he said that the following were involved: “paid protesters“

Months later, after the Republican inauguration, the activism continued. Trump once again assured the public that these Americans deserved to be ignored because he believed they “paid protesters“

The following year, Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court inspired a new round of progressive activism. The protesters, Trump insisted, were “paid specialists“

This was in October 2018. He’ll do it again in October 2024, suggesting the Harris campaign pays people to attend her events.

The problem isn’t just that Trump views Americans he disagrees with as “the enemy is within“, the problem is made worse by the fact that he often sees Americans with whom he disagrees. as an impossibility this can only be explained by corrupt schemes that exist only in his head.