Trump addresses campaign rally at half-empty Tulsa arena

Hours before the rally, Trump’s campaign announced six members of its advance team had tested positive for COVID-19.

Gathering a smaller-than-expected crowd, President Donald Trump sought to reinvigorate his re-election campaign with a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, amid anti-racism protests in cities across the country and a still-strong coronavirus pandemic.

Even as the coronavirus death toll in the United States is nearing 120,000, Trump declared on Saturday night that his response to the pandemic saved “hundreds of thousands” of lives.

Trump also tried to explain away the crowd size, blaming it on the media for declaring “don’t go, don’t come, don’t do anything” while insisting there were protesters outside “doing bad things,” though the small crowds of prerally demonstrators were largely peaceful.

“We begin our campaign,” Trump thundered. “The silent majority is stronger than ever before.”

Trump has come under fire for his responses to the coronavirus and to the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in the custody of Minneapolis police.

The US president has brushed aside criticism for his decision to hold his first rally since March 2 in Tulsa, the site of the country’s bloodiest outbreaks of racist violence against Black Americans some 100 years ago.

“Oklahoma and America need four more years of President Donald Trump in the White House!” Vice President Mike Pence told cheering supporters ahead of Trump’s address at the 19,000-seat BOK Center arena, where many empty seats were visible.

Trump campaign officials had said prior to the event that demand far outstripped the capacity of the venue.

But on Saturday night, almost half of the BOK Center arena were empty, and the campaign was forced to cancel an outdoor rally, after the expected overflow crowd did not show up.