Donald Trump's Obsession With Crowd Size Marked First And Last Days As President
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Donald Trump’s last days as president had a lot in common with his first in at least one regard: an obsession with crowd size.
According to Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, the president wanted as many people as possible to hear his speech on Jan. 6, 2021 ― and didn’t care how many brought bear spray, spears, guns and flagpoles to use as weapons. Many such items were used a short time later when his supporters rioted at the Capitol.
“I heard the president say something to the effect of, ‘I don’t f-ing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me. Take the f-ing mags [metal detectors] away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here,’” Hutchinson testified Tuesday before the House’s Jan. 6 committee.
The reason for Trump wanting the crowds? “He was furious because he wanted the arena we had at the Ellipse to be maxed-out to capacity,” Hutchinson said.
Of course, an obsession with crowd size is something that had been a part of Trump’s presidency since his very first day in office in 2017. The day after his inauguration, he personally called the head of the National Park Service to ask for photographic evidence that would support his claims about the size of the crowd.
Trump falsely claimed up to 1.5 million people attended the event, even though experts said the data suggested the crowd was only about one-third the size of the group that gathered for Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration.
Twitter users couldn’t help but make “Crowd size” a trending term.
So it starts and ends with crowd size …
— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) June 28, 2022
“All we have to fear is…smaller crowd size” #January6thHearingspic.twitter.com/bNcaxQQ6Hf
— TrivWorks (@TrivWorks) June 28, 2022
"You know, I don't fucking care that they have weapons." Donald Trump, per White House Aide Cassidy Hutchinson. He knew his supporters were armed. He knew Congress & Capitol security were in danger.
He cared that his crowd size looked small. And that's all. #January6thHearings— Karen DaltonBeninato (@kbeninato) June 28, 2022
I love how his obsession with crowd size will send them all to prison.
— Ethan Embry (@EmbryEthan) June 28, 2022
Trump was "fucking furious" about FUCKING CROWD SIZE AGAIN. Not that people had weapons, rifles, spears & bear spray. #Jan6Justice
— Lesley Abravanel 🪩 (@lesleyabravanel) June 28, 2022
His presidency began and ended with an obsession about crowd size
— Amy Capetta (@amycapetta) June 28, 2022
Crowd size. The DJT circle of life.
— Amanda Guinzburg (@Guinz) June 28, 2022
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
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