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President Donald Trump has a decorated history of getting defensive over an ample number of subjects. The former NBC television game show host is particularly prickly over being challenged on issues of size and numbers. The president is sensitive about his (allegedly) minuscule hands, his popular vote total and apparently the way the media has characterized the unObama-like attendance for his Inauguration. This particular bit of grumbling came as millions of women worldwide are marching in protest of Trump.
“We had a massive field of people, you saw that. Packed,” claimed President Trump when speaking at Central Intelligence Agency headquarters.
Trump’s complaints about The Media™ are nothing new, so this response shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Trump said the reported turnout was a lie and that pictures comparing his turnout to Obama’s were a fabrication.
“Honestly it looked like a million and half people, whatever it was it was,” insisted Trump. “But it went all the way back to the Washington Monument … and by mistake I get this network and it showed an empty field, and it said we drew 250,000 people. Now that’s not bad, but it’s a lie.”
Trump tells CIA employees he thought he saw million or million and a half people at inauguration. Complains media showed empty fields.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 21, 2017
As Trump vented about his “fake news” gripes with the CIA in Langley, USA Today reports that Women’s March events worldwide have seen attendance totalling in the millions. An estimated 2.6 million people participated in over 673 marches in 32 countries, according to one march website monitoring the turnout. Metro ridership stats aren’t exactly hurting the claim that Obama and the Women’s March have delivered more impressive shows of support than Donald saw on Friday.
Metro Ridership: As of 11am, 193k trips taken so far today. (11am 1/20/13 = 317k, 11am 1/20/09 = 513k, 11am 1/20/05 = 197k) #wmata
— Metro (@wmata) January 20, 2017
Metro Ridership as of 11am: 275k. For comparison, that's more than 8x a normal Sat & even busier than most weekdays. #wmata #womensmarch
— Metro (@wmata) January 21, 2017
The New York Times lists attendance for Saturday’s D.C. event in the hundreds of thousands. (Roughly a half-million demonstrators according to the New York Daily News.) Naturally, Trump opponents had no problem pointing out the attendance difference. In addition to marching in Washington, massive turnouts were a trend across the globe. NBC News reports that Chicago tripled its expected number of protesters with an estimated 200,000 demonstrating. Boston also saw a major response with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren telling an estimated 125,000 attendees that it is time to fight back against a Trump presidency.
Happy to march with 125k+ women (& friends of women) in Boston. We can whimper, we can whine, or we can fight back. #WomensMarch pic.twitter.com/8yCQZBrqpO
— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) January 21, 2017
The protesters assembled in those cities are likely hoping that President Trump will tackle their concerns this evening rather than groan about attendance numbers. Mind you, SNL is on tonight, so that could be a long shot.
(Via USA Today, The Hill & CNN)