I’ll make this quick. Trump has four events on his campaign calendar today. The first, in Raleigh NC had him appearing at 10am eastern time. At about five after ten I was watching MSNBC and the reporter had his cameraman follow him into the venue. No Trump. Yet. That’s not surprising as he’s habitually late. Still, with four events planned and travel he’s got a schedule to keep today. The point though is shot of the venue a few minutes after Trump was supposed to appear gave proof to what the reporter said about it only being roughly 70% full. And it’s not all that big a place to begin with!
North Carolina is a state Trump can’t afford to lose and he might as well have been living in daughter-in-law Lara Trump’s old family home recently. Team Trump never imagined in their wildest fears Trump would have to worry about this state. It’s not like he won it by all that much in 2016 or 2020 but it seemed like it would be safe. However Trump has been in trouble here (I live in NC in a suburb adjacent to Raleigh) since even before hurricane Helene. Asheville itself is Democratic territory but the counties around it and in that part of the state are Trump country. All of a sudden mail-in balloting looks mighty good to Trump – at least in that region!
However the state is not only in play but Harris seems to have an edge and this morning proves it. From what I can tell that place can hold at most 5k people. Maybe not even that many. Granted, since Raleigh is in Wake County which usually goes Democratic (not by a huge margin though) and neighboring Durham County also goes Democratic it’s easy enough to dismiss the crowd size. However all the other counties next to or near Wake County (and Raleigh) are Trump country. He should have NO trouble packing that venue to the rafters!
One can make a case as someone in the reporting mentioned after I started writing that for his followers there’s no need to show up – they’ve heard Trump enough times by now. (and for damned sure he’s been in the state enough the past month they’ve had chances to see him in person) However this is MAGA nation we’re talking about. Where’s the enthusiasm? That craving to get a jolt of “old time TRUMP religion/hate?” I can’t say for sure but I’m confident that within an hour’s drive of Raleigh there are a million people and Trump can’t muster even five thousand (and I’m not sure the venue can hold even that many) to show up and set the tone for the final day of the campaign?
It’s ten-thirty and Trump still hasn’t taken the stage. He’s probably waiting for the place to fill up. I’m sure even his deteriorating brain remembers the days when his events had a rabid crowd assembled long before he was scheduled to speak. AND that if he was an hour or even two late getting there they’d wait. I’m having fun thinking about Trump sitting backstage stewing over the fact the place wasn’t filled and with an amped up crowed chanting his name, MAGA slogans and nasty stuff about Harris. I think it’s fair to say he will be in either a foul mood or subdued to the point of seeming depressed and defeated once he takes the stage. For the rest of the day in fact. Or perhaps Trump will go back and forth between the two.
As NBC says it’s going to be a busy day for both candidates. Trump’s is getting off to a bad start.
don’t people work and go to school on Mondays and veterans day?