Oklahoma reported 450 new cases on Thursday, a surge from the record 259 daily cases reported Wednesday.
Black Lives Matter events are on hold, but @realDonaldTrump's rally will continue as scheduled.
https://t.co/eAQ9JhnEGC— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) June 20, 2020
WATCH: Thousands of people gather in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma ahead of Trump's first rally since #Covid19 lockdowns began in March pic.twitter.com/9ZHsLuWtGP
— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) June 20, 2020
Forget masks, I want every attendee to wear a PROUD TULSA RALLY ATTENDEE cap for the next six weeks, as a public warning for the rest of us:
Trump rallygoer sans mask: “We had a friend who died from Covid, and his son was on a ventilator, he almost died. So we know it’s real, but then at the same time you don’t know what the facts are, you feel like maybe one side plays it one way and the other side plays it another.” pic.twitter.com/WGoKD1ihaW
— John Aravosis ?????️? (@aravosis) June 20, 2020
I've spent a lot of my life studying cults. I was born in one, we escaped when I was very young. We witnessed mass denial, magical thinking, abuse, violence.
And I just want to say for the record there is a cult gathering happening in Tulsa today.
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) June 20, 2020
I just want to say something very clearly:
Many people at the Trump rally today will die. Even more of their vulnerable family members will die. Those are the cold hard facts of this disease.
They DO NOT DESERVE to die. They have been LIED TO. This is a disaster for everyone.
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) June 20, 2020
— Annie Gabston-Howell- (@AnnieGabstonH) June 20, 2020
"This event flunks Trump's own guidelines… so why is he doing it? This isn't even about politics, it's about ego, it's about assembling Trump's followers to rise up with chance of praise for their leader" – @RonaldKlain w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/wGnkNWf2s2
— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) June 19, 2020
Only been at the Trump rally since 9, but something I’ve noticed: No anti-Biden merch. This shirt is for sale, but the anti-Dem stuff has been anti-Hillary or generically about liberals being losers. pic.twitter.com/dWASK8DLDe
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) June 20, 2020
Interesting question:
I've asked before, I ask again: Will journalists covering the President's #Tulsa campaign rally sign #COVID19 liability waivers?
They should refuse to do so.@maggieNYT @andersoncooper @chrislhayes @lehmannchris @maddow @AliVelshi https://t.co/68kQTJOU9K— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) June 19, 2020
I pray that tomorrow in Tulsa there is no violence. I pray it doesn’t lead to a further spike in illness. But make no mistake. President Trump bears responsibility for whatever happens. He is provoking and inciting a confrontation with glee.
— Dan Rather (@DanRather) June 19, 2020
JoyceH
Latest news – Trump is enraged that the six staffers testing positive and the Berman firing are taking headlines from his Triumphant Rally. Meanwhile, the news is noting that the arena isn’t full and there’s no overflow crowd. “Overpromises and underdelivers” is a feature with Trump, a reporter says.
cope
This is gonna be great…Caronapalooza*. However will they write this history in the future (assuming a future)?
*h/t: the internet
Martin
I need Cheryl to help me back-of-napkin figure out what size meteor would confer LD50 at the baby gate if it hit dead center. Wishing for SMOD is a bit of a fools’ errand when you get get acceptable results with much, much smaller (and therefore statistically more likely) one.
Immanentize
@cope: Or the Die in a Fyre Festival.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Just clicked on MSNBC in time to see trump hug the 80-something James Inhofe, now chatting with Langford and (I assume) Mrs Langford and greet a handful of others. Haven’t seen a mask on the tarmac
Brachiator
CoronaVirus Dance Party!
Featuring that hit tune, Achy Breaky Lung
NotMax
@Brachiator
American Blandstand.
Another Scott
Wonkette liveblog – https://www.wonkette.com/this-is-your-official-thread-for-mocking-trumps-tulsa-coronarally
Cheers,
Scott.
JPL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Hugs are good or so I’m told. He needs to just go out and hug all his supporters. The more the merrier.
Kent
I hope to god those cell-phone data folks who gave us the geographic spread of Fort Lauderdale spring breakers back in March do the same thing for this rally.
Pin all 20,000 or so cell-phones that show up at this rally then track their geographic diaspora over the next week.
It would be very educational on several levels.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yes – lot of empty seats in that arena.
Luciamia
Pence to speak first? What a treat for them all. Tapioca at room temperature.
raven
Cool, enough empty seats to make the optics terrible and enough people to make it dangerous. Fuck yea!
Omnes Omnibus
So the BLM organizers thought that black lives mattered and postponed their event.
Baud
Suicide by
coppresident.Baud
@raven:
Less is more.
scav
I’m sure that even if we count all the voices in their heads, that crowd still won’t manage a million.
jl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: ‘ Told that there’s a been a mass text to Tulsa ticket holders begging people to come to the arena. “There’s still room!” ‘
Enjoy the elbow room here and now at the rally, won’t have it at the hospital.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
half-listening to MSNBC, trump and his campaign are putting out the word that they had to cancel the overflow event because of “intimidation” by protestors. And “the media”. Alex Jones is rolling around Tulsa in some kind of armored vehicle?
hotshoe
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
Thank the small gods for that.
I am mean, and bitter, and wish ill upon every person deplorable enough to attend. And at the same time, I wish even more that the Dumpster-in-Chief looks out upon empty seating, and gets so furious with lack of dummies that he gives himself a stroke out of sheer pissedoffness.
He deserves it more than anything.
NotMax
@Jim, Foolish Literalist
Less than anticipated turnout evidence they listened when he warned “lowlifes” to stay away?
//
HumboldtBlue
Some genius came up the perfect soundtrack for the Trump rally.
Also:
Amir Khalid
@JoyceH:
From the timing of the Berman firing, right before the Tulsa rally, it does occur to me that Barr could have been acting without an order from Trump, and it simply didn’t enter Barr’s mind that the firing could be a distraction.
raven
THERE IS STILL SPACE!!!!
Omnes Omnibus
So they are girlie man cowards…. Okay.
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
She knows who the non white males are.
raven
I want to be a cowboy!
Gravenstone
The dude in that Aravosis tweet is a special kind of willfully stupid. To know two people directly affected by covid, but to still try and play it off as some sort of partisan issue is beyond insane.
jl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: “Alex Jones is rolling around Tulsa in some kind of armored vehicle?”
Isn’t that just Alex Jones, with well-padded armor?
satby
@Omnes Omnibus: the protesters who aren’t there?!?
mrmoshpotato
@cope: Driftglass called it “Plagueapalooza” on yesterday’s Professional Left podcast.
Gravenstone
@Immanentize: I still like the Virus Swap Meet that someone put forth here the other day,
mrmoshpotato
@Immanentize: Nice!
Kent
Oh, he is no doubt doing Trumps bidding. That is the entire point of appointing Barr. But his day-to-day actions may not actually be micromanaged by the White House. That is true. But that is likely because they have one left working in the White House who has any level of strategic competence (or any other sort of competence). Barr is supposed to be doing Trump’s bidding without having to be told.
Immanentize
So if i were in charge of creating Trump electoral sympathy for his law and order schtick (which I am not and would not) I would create a fake assassination attempt in which Pence is the target before Trump comes on stage — see?
Maximum theatre danger, but none for Trump. He could never manage the full Bolsonaro.
But my novel awaits….
jl
@Gravenstone: Some people are so mean, and not-nice, they’ll die or wreck their kidneys and ruin their lungs, just to embarrass Trump. Everyone knows that. Many people have told me.
Omnes Omnibus
@satby: Why would you interpret my comment as saying that? No, the Trumpies who didn’t show up because of fear of protesters.
Kent
@HumboldtBlue: Well, they are just rolling over the 2016 party platform unchanged for 2020. So yes, they don’t appear to know what year it is.
Gravenstone
@HumboldtBlue: You go with the boogeymen you have, not the boogeymen you wish to have.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
(Gym Jordan milling and mingling maskless in a maskless crowd and I am having un-christian thoughts, not for the first time since watching footage from Tulsa)
Luciamia
@Omnes Omnibus: Jeepers. What happened to “dominate?”
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
I see Uday and Qusay are there.
Honus
Too bad Sheila Buck wasn’t wearing camo and carrying an AR-15. Then they would have respected her rights.
rikyrah
Omnes Omnibus
@Luciamia: Inorite?
HumboldtBlue
Eric Trump earlier ensuring his dad the crowd was yuuuugggge
And here Eric Trump ensuring his dad’s re-election.
Elizabelle
This is gonna be a fun thread to check in on later. I will leave you, to witnessing Trump in all his COVID … splendor.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Mr DAW has the rally on the TV. All I can say is hahahahaha. Outside event cancelled because no overflow crowd to watch. Empty seats.
Immanentize
@HumboldtBlue:
This would be a much better soundtrack
Sad Tuba
Mary G
A few people in the upper deck now. A very few.
I feel like I have the little angel on one shoulder saying I’m glad BLM cancelled and Trump’s playing to a half-empty house, so not as many people will get sick and die and there won’t be violence. The little devil on my other shoulder is pissed off. They boarded up windows for a mile around and nobody is even there.
Baud
@Elizabelle:
My guess is that the coronavirus will be too embarrassed to be seen there.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I saw him hug someone; didn’t catch that it was Inhofe. But the utter masklessness caught my attention.
Fuckin eejits.
Immanentize
@Gravenstone: That would be our resident word smith — Betty Cracker
Kent
I think the NItty Gritty Dirt Band drew a bigger crowd than this at our county fair last summer.
Haydnseek
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s going to be like some failing game show. They’re going to start dragging random people in off the street, shoving a 5 dollar bill into their pocket, then frog marching them into the virus hot zone just because they need bodies in the seats for the campaign propaganda ads.
Kent
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: You win the thread today!
Barbara
@Baud: Until embarrassment is fatal, the coronavirus will exhibit no shame whatsoever as it invades the rally.
Mary G
Another Scott
[ world’s tiniest violin plays ]
(via nycsouthpaw)
Cheers,
Scott.
dexwood
@Gravenstone: Betty Cracker, originally, I think, but picked up by a few.
PPCLI
@jl: How delicious.
No doubt Brad Parscale is, at this very moment, desperately chasing the car with Sheila Buck to see if he can get her to return to her chair! All is forgiven!!!!
rikyrah
@Omnes Omnibus: .
Yep ?
Another Scott
@Mary G: Ack! Too slow!! :-) GMTA.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mallard Filmore
@rikyrah: This is why I don’t think the Russians are so actively working with the Trump re-election team this time around.
Haydnseek
@Omnes Omnibus: “Intimidation?” So much for the “domination” bullshit.
@Omnes Omnibus:
HumboldtBlue
The Trump campaign is blaming tonight’s turnout which has fallen well short of their expectations to protestors “interfering with supporters” attempting to gain access to the Trump events.
jl
@Mary G: Will make a good few seconds of footage in an oppo political ad, for some comic relief.
For people who got into betting pools on what percentage of the crowd would wear a mask, looks like the person who went for zero wins it all.
mrmoshpotato
This belongs here too.
ThresherK
@Kent: Great minds! I commented that elsewhere earlier today.
Mary G
The media’s just rubbing it in now.
Kent
Don’t worry. Jared is tanned and rested after his victory over Covid and solving mid-east peace. He’s all ready to take over.
jl
@HumboldtBlue: The mass texts begging for people to come on down went to the wrong phone numbers?
Brachiator
@mrmoshpotato:
Burning Fever Man
JPL
So Pence was suppose to speak both outside and inside. Have both been canceled? I think trump is suppose to speak soon.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kent: Having worked for useless idiots like Trump the louder Trump complains about Barr to more likely Trump told Barr to fire Bergman on Friday. I mean come on, Barr should know how US DAs are replaced.
JPL
Okay so Pence is speaking now.
FelonyGovt
@Mary G: That’s delicious. I wonder if even the flying monkeys are getting tired of him.
satby
Immanentize
I went to the Tulsa rally all my friends were there,
We are old and not so thin and some had lost their hair.
When I got to the Tulsa rally. In order to get get in,
They took our but I was cool — ibuproferin.
But it’s alright now,
I learned on the campaign stump.
Who cares if you please yourself,
So long you please the Trump.
Kent
MSNBC having a very astute conversation right now about how refusing to wear a mask is the new MAGA hat
Reason 9587 why Trump is unfit.
jl
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Maybe Barr couldn’t get any documentation from Trump at all? Then a sane person doesn’t follow the order, since Trump will deny it in public (as apparently he did) as it suits his whim.
Amir Khalid
@Kent:
I know Barr only ever does what Trump wants. I think this was a failure by Barr (or collectively by the administration ) to coordinate their moves so as not to get in each other’s way.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
BWHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH
Baud
Worst episode of Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? ever.
Another Scott
@Haydnseek:
Cheers,
Scott.
Omnes Omnibus
@rikyrah: Hey, I saw it as a positive contrast to dumbass’s rally.
Luciamia
Line from a old MASH episode. “They sure invited a lot of empty chairs.”
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Building across the street says “Fuck Trump” – (no really) (photo)
Haydnseek
@Another Scott: Well played sir. Well played indeed.
rikyrah
????
Uncle Cosmo
So the Coronapalookas are out in farce, not force, in Tulsa tonight. I guess the lackluster attendance caught ’em unprepared – if they’d thought about it a few days back, they probably could’ve leased that glorified bin-liner the Jacksonville Jags use to cover their stadium’s upper deck to make scanty crowds look less pitiful, stuffed it in however many semis & trucked it to Tulsa in time to set up…
(FWIW I visited Tulsa on a bidniz trip late last millennium in high summer & the weather was obscene even by mid-Atlantic standards.)
HumboldtBlue
@Immanentize:
Nice
Mary G
Teenagers pwned the president:
All the data Parscale harvested is of people who’ll never give them a dime.
Wyatt Salamanca
Yesterday, I saw a woman in her late sixties wearing a face mask emblazoned with the words “Trump 2020”.
Has anyone else here seen a Trump supporter wearing a pro-Trump face mask?
HumboldtBlue
How about something very nice amidst the slag heap of Tulsa quips.
Joe Biden and Christian Cooper have a short talk.
bucachon
Pence not being able to say the words Black Lives Matter makes the argument that are no racists in the USA.
“Well, I don’t accept the fact, Brian, that there’s a segment of American society that disagrees in the preciousness and importance of every human life,” Pence replied.
Immanentize
@Mary G: That’s because yutes don’t do facebook
Haydnseek
Long time LA Laker fans will remember the great Chick Hearn line” ” If there are ten thousand fans in attendance tonight, then most of them are dressed as seats.”
Cheryl Rofer
@rikyrah: I want the media to cover this more. Maybe they will. It’s not just empty seats, but all that contact information Parscale was gloating over is worthless.
The kids are okay and should get a LOT of credit.
ETA: I see Mary G beat me to it.
Immanentize
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
I am so glad you didn’t say “literally” because you know, not.
rikyrah
Omnes Omnibus
@Immanentize: It might bring Steve in the WTF back.
randy khan
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
That building would be awesome even without the signs, but they take it all the way to the top.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Smart!
Omnes Omnibus
@Uncle Cosmo: There is a reason that Oklahoma was the last place we stole from the Native Americans.
Uncle Cosmo
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: I looked at the image of that charmingly ornamented brick building & wondered if it’ll have any unbroken windows by tomorrow morning. Kinda hoping no one in the campaign had the foresight to arrange for a couple of pallets of bricks to be strategically stationed on the arena side of the street for rally-goers’ convenience…
The Thin Black Duke
I’m thinking about that scene from Lord of the Rings where Boromir says to Faramir, “Remember today, little brother. Today, Life is good.”
Immanentize
People came from miles around
all the MAGAs there,
Pence had brought his mother,
There was virus in the air.
And over in the corner,
Much to my surprise,
Billy Barr with a Sheriff’s star,
Dabbing tear-gassed eyes
(Refrain)
Kent
Oklahoma Statehood: 1907
Arizona and New Mexico Statehoods: 1912
Alaska and Hawaii Statehoods: 1959
Mike in NC
Those clips really show off white male stupidity.
Immanentize
@The Thin Black Duke: I can’t tell if that is celebratory or a dire warning. You are always welcome at our house to watch all of LOTR and all the commentaries with me and the Immp.
Ken
Positive sign? They sense blood in the water, failure looming on the horizon, the fat lady singing, and other metaphors?
Martin
Eric Trump calls BML protesters ‘animals’. Really working hard to win over the (checks notes) ⅔ of Americans who support BLM protests.
JMG
Trump hates ridicule mor than anything, And that’s all he’ll get tomorrow. Should be a REAL fun ride back to Andrews on AF1.
Ksmiami
@Kent: yeah the tenor doesn’t seem like it’s from the incumbent rt?
Immanentize
@Omnes Omnibus: Then I say we all wrongly use literally if that can be the incantation.
TaMara (HFG)
Omnes Omnibus
@Kent: Not talking about statehood. Thanks.
Brachiator
UK Daily Mail headline talks about how Trump is arriving in Tulsa for his “comeback rally.”
Mary G
Turned on CNN and the chyron says “Smaller than expected crowd trickles into Trump rally.” Reporter says there were no protesters whatsoever at the security checkpoints. Secret Service made him move off the premises to the sidewalk.
Matt McIrvin
Lyre Festival
Uncle Cosmo
@Omnes Omnibus:
M31
Vyre Festival
Martin
@Kent: I think he’s referring to the end of the last indian territory, which got merged with the OK territory and left the indigenous people with reservations within the state, and much less sovereignty as a result.
Mary G
Another Scott
@Uncle Cosmo: A friend and I made a half-continent circuit around the summer of ’80 or so in a 1966 Oldsmobile F-85 with no AC. We cut across a corner of OK heading south, on a newly repaved asphalt highway. In the hottest part of the day.
Zowie, it was hot.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mary G
JPL
I was planning on listening to a few minutes, but it appears that both MSNBC and CNN cut away. Oh well.
Immanentize
Trump gave all the racist,
Thought that’s why they came,
But a half filled hall and sinking polls,
It didn’t feel the same.
I said “hello” to Maggie H.
She belongs to him.
But when I looked at Anderson C.?
Time to hit the gym.
(Refrain)
Achrachno
@Wyatt Salamanca: One about a week ago I think. F… Trump is more common, but I’m in So. Cal.
Baud
They should have used those cardboard people they have at Korean baseball games?
Wyatt Salamanca
@JMG:
I look forward to his bowels being in an uproar. From now until Election Day, I want this bargain basement Jabba the Hutt as miserable as possible every single day.
Steeplejack
Neither MSNBC nor CNN is carrying Trump live. MSNBC showed a few minutes of Trump’s intro and then went back to the panel discussion. Fox News is showing Trump live.
debbie
The Guardian is live blogging the rally, and wow, more empty than filled seats! Even better, in the top photo, there’s a lone man in a suit wearing a mask.
Another Scott
@JPL: The BBC News channel was running it live.
I cut away to watch a Family Feud rerun. It’s an improvement.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ken
I suggested this in another comment thread. It would work fine for fooling Trump, since he’s too vain to wear the glasses he needs.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@Baud: In Dump’s case, blow up sex dolls
Ken
Right up until someone starts giggling uncontrollably.
HumboldtBlue
Jordan Keppler takes on an extraordinary face-palming hilariously cringe-inducing tour of Trump supporters.
Ken
@Mary G: So when Parscale gets fired, how long do you think it will take them to realize that he was handling all the convention logistics?
debbie
Kent
@Omnes Omnibus: Just nit-picking. Congress erased Oklahoma Indian territory in 1907 when they granted statehood and erased the reservations in the eastern half of the state. In New Mexico they were still busy extinguishing native land claims as late as 1924 with the Pueblo Lands Act. In Alaska they weren’t done officially taking native lands until 1971 with the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
Immanentize
Someone opened up a closet door,
And out stepped Jim Jordan
Without a coat and very short,
I’m glad that I’m not him.
If you gotta do a Tulsa rally,
I wish you a lotta luck,
I’m now ventilatored
I guess I’m really fucked
(Refrain)
(Repeat)
The Thin Black Duke
@Immanentize: Deal!
Kent
Trump speaking now. Seems like his combover is especially bad today.
Neither CNN nor MSNBC are actually showing the rally. They have have talking heads. They had a lot of shots and comment about the half-empty arena before he started, but once he got on stage they cut away. Heh.
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: Those are all most excellent!
Krope, the Formerly Dope
Such is the infinite power of our protesters that we were able to decimate the attendance of Trump’s rally with a mere none of us. FEAR US, we brought cookies.
Most Republicans never started.
mrmoshpotato
@HumboldtBlue: Stop making me think of Eric Dump’s disgusting face.
Immanentize
@The Thin Black Duke: We just upgraded to a Blueray set of LOTR. (No HD TV yet)
We will do this when we can meet.
Immanentize
@WaterGirl: I wish I played guitar!
Wyatt Salamanca
@Kent:
Free Trump’s hair!
Uncle Cosmo
@Another Scott: Zowie, indeedy. The one night I spent there was so caloriferous (low temp ~85F) I seriously considered stuffing the bedspread into the half-inch crack at the bottom of the door hoping it would ease the load on the obviously-laboring motel A/C enough to keep it from conking out.
RandomMonster
Trump spending a stupid amount of time explaining Rampgate. It’s one of the dumbest, most tedious things I’ve ever seen.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Achrachno:
That’s more like it!
I was just struck by the irony of one of his dumb supporters wearing a mask when all he’s done since the pandemic hit us is ridicule the practice of wearing a mask.
I can’t wait till Election night when the final results are in and this bloated buffoon has to deliver a concession speech.
mrmoshpotato
Holy shit! Watching Hal Sparks comment on Dump’s Plagueapalooza Nuremberg Whinefest, and Dump claims he couldn’t lift the water glass because he’d been saluting too much earlier. HAHAHAHAHA!!! Assclown!
ETA – tired arm from lifting his baby hand I suppose.
rk
I’m watching a Trump speech for the first time. He’s just boring. Chinese flu, Kung Flu, Bad Hombre (Sp?) raping a white woman, and a long, long, long tedious explanation of the stupid ramp walk. Imagine risking life and limb for this crap.
mrmoshpotato
@Brachiator: Well done.
Ladyraxterinok
@Mary G:
Boarded up a Quik Trip 4 miles from BOK, 10 blocks from my apartment. Looks like super super cautious! Wheew
!
rk
He’s calling the virus COVAD.
Wyatt Salamanca
@rk:
Trump is an incurable buffoon and I look forward to his defeat that will free us from this doucheocracy.
The Pale Scot
On one of those twitter sidebars someone described a group of Trump supporters as a klandemic.
Perfect
The Pale Scot
@Haydnseek:
That’s what CGI is for. I’m sure they’ll steal some clip from Gladiator and clumsily insert it in ‘ronarally footage
Ladyraxterinok
@Kent:
The 1st law the OK legislature passed set up
Jim Crow regulations. So it was ‘cool’ that OK GOP
campaign in 90s used slogan ‘we want to restore
traditional OK values’!!
Ascap_scab
@Luciamia: Had to watch Fox after to get their take. “Pence needs to be replaced with Ivanka as the new VP”, -Tyrus.
Not exactly a glowing review.