President Donald Trump hosted an unofficial “rally” the day after the Republican National Convention ended in New Hampshire. Many people held signs before the rally that read “peaceful protest,” a reference to what Trump said in the Oshkosh rally about his event being a peaceful protest rather than a rally. Trump isn’t holding official rallies at this time, but the rally today was so large that nearly a thousand people gathered in an overflow space outside, in addition to the people who were in the hangar. Here’s a look at crowd photos and more details about how many people attended the event.
Nearly 1,400 People Were at the Rally, According to Media on the Scene
According to the official event page, the rally started at 6 p.m. Eastern time, with doors opening several hours earlier. It was held at Pro Star Aviation in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Trump’s sign-up page still referred to the rally as being a Manchester, New Hampshire, event. The two cities are technically just a few minutes apart, but the rally was moved from Manchester to Londonderry a couple of days before the event, Union Leader reported.
Weijia Jiang of CBS News reported that about 1,400 people were at the rally.
Trump has visited the area several times before today. In February 2020, he held an official rally that was attended by more than 12,000 people. In August 2019, he held a Manchester rally attended by more than 11,000 people. Although this rally was not as large as those, it was larger than his last couple of rallies in Oshkosh, Yuma, Arizona, and Pennsylvania.
Here’s a photo from the hangar with Air Force One while Trump spoke.
Weijia Jiang of CBS News reported that a crowd of about 500 people was inside the hangar, and that number didn’t include how many were also outside the hangar.
Boston 25 News reported that people were lining up to attend the rally all day before doors opened in the afternoon. One person said they came all the way from New York for the event. Here’s a look at the crowd.
Masks were required for this event, Boston 25 noted. However, not everyone in crowd photos was wearing masks. D.J. Judd of CNN tweeted that before the event started, the crowd entering the hangar was split at about 50/50 wearing masks.
When the campaign asked the audience to wear their masks, they were answered with boos. In New Hampshire, masks are mandatory for crowds of more than 100 people.
The campaign distributed MAGA-branded masks, but not everyone wore them, CNN reported. People even sat on top of Porta-potties to see Trump when he arrived.
Trump began his speech by talking about people who were harassed by protesters after leaving the Republican National Convention the night before. He said: “They walked out to a bunch of thugs. Unhinged, manic rage. You ought to see last night in Washington, it was a disgrace.”
He claimed the protesters were “anarchists” who were just looking for trouble. Trump mentioned that he was considering having the National Guard called to Washington, D.C., which he had previously done in May, ABC 3340 reported.
Nearly 1,000 People Were Outside the Rally in an Overflow Area
About 500 people were allowed inside the hangar, and a crowd of about 1,400 people was there total, according to Weijia Jiang at CBS News. This means nearly 1,000 people were in the overflow area outside the hangar.
D.J. Judd of CNN reported a couple of hours before the event began that there were “easily hundreds of people waiting outside.” However, the photos and videos shared later indicated more than a couple of hundred outside. Judd said the campaign set up an outdoor screen for the crowd because Secret Service had to limit how many were allowed in the hangar.
A large overflow crowd that was gathered outside the hangar where the rally was taking place. You can see a video of the crowd below.
Here’s a photo of the overflow crowd.
And here’s a video showing the crowd waiting outside the rally.
Here are some more photos from the rally.
It’s not yet clear when his next rally will take place.
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