It’s late so I’ll make this short and sweet. It’s too fun a bit of news to just leave out there without alerting folks to what’s happened and something to look for tomorrow. The bottom line (literally) is that Trump belatedly decided late last week to hold a “rally” in Asheville, NC. Specifically on Wed., August 14. What has Ronny Jackson at his side shoving tranquilizers down Trump’s throat is that the city of Asheville said ‘Ok. We’ll give you a permit BUT first give US $82k. Upfront. None of your just bill the campaign and it will be taken care of bullshit!’
I don’t know about you but I find that funny as hell. Then I think about Trump’s reaction and laugh even harder. His staff MIGHT have tried to hide this little logistics SNAFU from him but it’s news and he WILL have found out about it by the time he takes the stage. It really is a funny story that Newsweek has published: Newsweek tells us Trump is all set to step onto the stage at Asheville’s Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. AFTER being forced to cough up $82,247.60 to the city for his “last-minute” rally. Gee, you’d think that Asheville maybe doesn’t trust Trump to pay his bill if they don’t get their money upfront. My oh my, however could they have thought such a thing? Well, Newsweek explains it pretty well:
While the campaign paid in advance due to Asheville’s policy for short-notice bookings, Trump has a long history of failing to pay cities for billed rally fees, leaving the White House in January 2021 with at least $850,000 in unpaid rally debt. Most of the bills are still unpaid, including more than $500,000 owed to the city of El Paso, Texas.
They dryly note that when contacted for comment Team Trump was crickets. Maybe they couldn’t hear Newsweek asking because their eardrums had burst due to Trump’s bellowing in rage? Fun as all this is to contemplate the article then mentions something a bit more serious and for me at least interesting. The City of Asheville owns a couple of venues that sit side by side. The interesting part is the one Trump, Mr. ‘Nobody draws as big crowds as me’ chose the (much) smaller venue!
The Trump campaign booked the smaller of two venues at the same complex in downtown Asheville for Wednesday’s rally. The Thomas Wolfe Auditorium has a capacity of just 2,431 people, while a larger arena next door that is not hosting Trump has a capacity of 7,200.
You’d think given Trump’s obsession with crowd size, especially his ridiculous claim about the Harris/Walz rally in an airplane hangar with Air Force Two in the background having an AI generated crowd he’d want to do his own airport rally in Asheville. Then he could make up any damn size crowd number he wanted with little pushback. It already has grated on him being in indoor venues much smaller than in the past – and not even being able to fill THEM most of the time. (Not to mention seeing MAGA get bored and walking out) Some 7K seat arena is simply not what’s acceptable to him.
However, when he sees where he will actually be speaking he’ll start screaming asking why they are headed into the SMALLER building. Knowing his campaign had to shell out over eighty grand just so he could appear and do his tired old schtick will already have him in a foul mood. I rather doubt he intended to let THAT go during his remarks. Plenty of complaining about how “unfair” city officials had been to him and issuing orders to the crowd to vote them all out is as predictable as the sun coming up.
However, looking out from the stage to a very nice venue for performances (real arts and entertainment) that only seats 2400 people? It could be a sight to see him lose his shiite onstage. And as soon as he walks off he’ll be demanding the names of those who arranged the rally and that they be fired. If any happen to be there in Asheville they’d better have enough left on their credit card to buy their own ticket home.
So folks, keep an eye out tomorrow because this could wind up being blown up by Trump into a BFD. What few actual professionals on his staff and so many in the GOP desperately want (him to forget about “stollen” elections and crowd sizes and concentrate on issues like the economy and immigration) will once again take a back seat. Maybe for the rest of the week. Fine by me. I’ll just sit back and enjoy the likely sh*t show Trump will be providing tomorrow. As I always say I’ll take my entertainment where I can find it and I’m pretty sure there will be plenty after Trump sees the ‘rinky dink’ sized venue he’ll be speaking in!
The schadenfreude just keeps getting better and better!
Isn’t Asheville NC another of the more liberal areas of NC? If so then this small arena may not even be filled. Wouldn’t that just put the icing on the cake. One can hope.
Well, it’s in a Congressional district represented by a GOPer so there’s a good chance of people from the area who “migrate” to see Trump. (Imagine as Trump’s on stage, ranting about “illegal immigrants” to an audience of mostly “out of towners.” Maybe it’s not identical but it IS a funny thought.)
Asheville is known as the liberal stronghold of North Carolina. I live there.
Color me surprised. I thought NC was more conservative the further west in the state you went, with Charlotte and Raleigh islands of moderation (I’ve been told that residents of Cary, one of Raleigh’s largest suburbs claim their town’s name is an acronym for “Containment Area for Relocated Yankees”).
I’ve lived in Cary for almost seven years now I guess. I’m in an over 55 building with over two hundred apartments and we’ve got a mix of folks. From very liberal like me (I’m not the only such person here) to MAGAs but folks are civil to each other. Without a working car for a year and a half now I seldom get out in town anymore but I’ve never heard that one. A friend I made when I first moved to NC ten years ago (I was first in the next suburb south of Cary) grew up in Cary and she her parents (now both deceased) lived less than ten minutes away. She has two sisters who still live here with their own families, both of which aren’t much more than five minutes away by car. She’s the only progressive one in her large, Catholic family. Yet I never heard that one. I think given it’s an affluent suburb (if there’s a bad, or even “rough” neighborhood in Cary I haven’t ever found it) it’s probably safe to say it leans GOP but more like old-school GOP. Low taxes and regulation. On social war crap I get the sense it’s a community that related to Tim Walz’s ‘mind your own damn business’ thinking. If anything the Dobb’s decision pushed some folks our way. I do know we have an active county Democratic Party. A month or so back George (a fellow veteran who sometimes has given me a ride out to the VA) knocked on my door. He was helping someone from the building do a canvass and sign up volunteers. George is much more active in the building’s social life and I don’t think he’d have wasted her time if he knew only a few folks here would respond favorably)
Denis, you overlooked the Magic Trump factor, where any Trumpette is worth 50 sane people, so the hall will hold 120,000 (and the Orange Utang will claim close to that number (plus the ‘yuge crowd’ that couldn’t get in)
Asheville is an art/cultural center and the largest town in the mountains of western NC. I’m sure the poor folk have been priced out of the real estate since rich retirees have been flocking to our state. There are enough idiots in the area to fill that small venue. Remember Rudolph the bomber was given aid for a long time in his effort to avoid arrest. There’s a history of the law not being respected by the dispossessed in many areas. At least the city government was smarter than El Paso.
One minor correction, it’s airplane hangar not airplane hanger. Otherwise, I completely agree with you.
Fixed. Thanks for the catch. Hope you enjoyed the overall article.
Finally these ralley venues are getting wise to DON THE CON’S failure to pay bills. He has left outstanding bills at locations all over the country for rallies from both his 2016 & 2020 campaigns.