Crowd Size

Once again those of us who follow Dotard Donnie on Twitter are treated to another series of boasts about crowd size. In the latest installment of "Mine is the Biggest", Trump brags about beating Elton John's previous record for filling the arena in New Hampshire where the rally took place. Supposedly a local Fire Marshal verified that the crowd had about 200 more people than Elton John's concert. Fake Fire Marshals have been trotted out before, and it seems like everything that Trump does, he claims is "the biggest", "the best", "never seen before", "record setting", so excuse me if I'm a bit skeptical of his claims this time.

The question to ask, however, is "Why is this important?".

There is no doubt that a lot of people attend the Dotard's rallies. There is no doubt that the arenas that they are held in are pretty full. There is no doubt that, other than the occasional protester who slips in, the attendees love Donnie and swallow his bullshit with nary a dissenting thought.

The answer is that it's important to Trump, no one else cares, no other politician has made crowd size such a central yardstick of not only popularity, but of legitimacy. Even back during the 2016 primaries, Trump saw popularity as a substitute for competence. This isn't discussed much, since the serial dumpster fires that have been the Trump presidency tend to obscure things more than a few weeks in the past, but throughout the primaries, Trump would say the equivalent of "Look, these other people voted for me, they think I'm the best, so therefore I am the best, so you should vote for me". After a while his shtick evolved into the more familiar "Only I can solve these problems" that we all know and love.

Big crowds are something tangible that Donnie can point to and say "see, all these people love me". It's an area where he can control the narrative, exclude anyone who disagrees with him and lie without consequence, in fact, lie with extreme positive feedback. He can't even do that on Twitter, where thousands correct, contradict and mock him every day. The big crowds allow him to dismiss the polls that show him lagging behind various Democrats as "fake polls", to label any reporting that criticizes him as "fake news" and to brag that he has accomplished more than any other president despite having only one significant legislative achievement. The crowds allow him to live in his fantasy world where he is popular and effective, when in reality he is neither.