Oh baby, we’re looking GOOD for 2020 aboard the Trump Train! 🚂
All systems go!
Choo chooooo!
At least, that is, judging by the attendance at the MAGA Rally last night in Green Bay, Wisconsin!
First of all, make no mistake, Wisconsin is not exactly a red state.
President Trump pulled off a surprise win in the state in 2016, but according to vote tracking website 270towin, the state has gone blue in every other election back to 2000:
So it's not as though President Trump was in a deeply red state.
He wasn't.
But after choosing to SKIP the Press Correspondent's Dinner for the third year in a row, President Trump decided to host a huge Rally party instead, and he chose Green Bay, Wisconsin.
And boy did it not disappoint!
Take a look at these photos of the PACKED-TO-CAPACITY stadium:
According to Heavy.com, the attendance likely hit the 10,000 seat max capacity of the arena, and they note that's not even counting the people who were turned away at the door and who had to stand outside:
President Donald Trump is already hard at work on his 2020 campaign for President. Today he hosted a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin in lieu of attending the White House Correspondents Association Dinner. The rally began at 7 p.m., but doors opened at 4 p.m. Hundreds of people were lined up hours before the rally started. Read on to see crowd photos and learn more about how many people attended tonight.
Traditionally, Presidents attend and speak at the White House Correspondents Dinner, but Trump is rarely interested in traditions. Since he became President, he has eschewed the Correspondents dinner and held a rally instead.
The rally was held at the Resch Center in Green Bay. The Resch Center has a capacity of 9,877, Fox 6 reported. However, the Green Bay Press Gazette noted that the Resch Center has 10,000 seats depending on the layout. (The record attendance at the Resch Center was 10,414 when Elton John was there in 2003, Green Bay Press Gazette shared. Rounding out the top five were 10,367 from Shania Twain in 2004, 9,974 from Metallica in 2004, 9,885 from Jason Aldean in 2012, and 9,765 from Elton John in 2010.)
The venue was packed, so it’s likely that close to 10,000 showed up for the rally. The Secret Service were only letting the first 10,000 inside and the rest would need to stay outside. So it’s likely that close to 10,000 people were inside, not counting the people left outside. We’ll update this story when a more official estimate is available.
People arrived in town on Friday night so they could attend, and many gathered for hours in the cold outside the stadium to get seats, WSAW reported. Some people told Green Bay Press Gazette that they had waited outside overnight.
And if this video of the overflow crowd is correct, then the grand total for Trump's Rally almost certainly blows right past the record held by Elton John since 2003:
Either way, our friend Chuck Callesto points out this amusing and rather salient point:
Here is the full speech if you missed it:
And a couple other highlights:
And here's more, from Fox News:
President Donald Trump derided actor Jussie Smollett as "third rate" during a Wisconsin rally on Saturday and called his legal trouble — in which he allegedly lied about Trump supporters attacking him in a hate crime — a "disgrace to our nation."
"That case in Chicago is a disgrace to our nation," he said, after defending his supporters. "He said 'I was beaten up by MAGA country.' Can you believe it?" Trump said, referring to Smollett during a rally in Green Bay.
"Turned out to be a total lie," he added.
Smollett's case ignited a media firestorm after the “Empire” actor, who is gay and black, said his alleged attackers yelled, "This is MAGA country."
A grand jury indicted him on 16 charges for allegedly lying about the attack but State's Attorney Kim Foxx controversially dropped the charges. Foxx's decision provoked widespread criticism and appeared to prompt some of her staff to resign.
Smollett became the target of a civil lawsuit in April as the city's law enforcement demanded payment, potentially above $130,000, to cover the costs of their investigation into his alleged attack.
His alleged assailants, brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo, also filed a defamation suitagainst Smollett's attorneys for continuing to accuse them of perpetrating a homophobic and racist attack.
On Saturday, thousands, including some who stayed the night and waited in the cold just to be first in the door, attended the “Make America Great Again” rally.
"There's no place I'd rather be than right here in America's heartland," Trump told the audience Saturday. "Is there any place that's more fun than a Trump rally?"
The event occurred on the same night as the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, which Trump skipped for the third year in a row.
His speech came just hours after a tragic shooting that left one dead and several others injured at a synagogue in California.
"Our entire nation mourns the loss of life," Trump said, before noting that his administration "forcefully" condemned anti-Semitism.
In 2016, Trump won Wisconsin -- often considered a swing state with strong labor interests -- with just a slim 1 percent margin over former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. According to a statewide survey released in April, Trump has maintained nearly 50 percent of the state's support during his third year in office.
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