Donald Trump holds first 2020 rally after ignoring coronavirus warnings... and sees low turnout

Kit Heren21 June 2020

Donald Trump's first rally since the coronavirus lockdown gained a lower turnout than expected after it went ahead despite health warnings.

The US president held his first rally in 110 days in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday night, where positive cases are still rising, according to the city's mayor.

Plans for an "overflow rally" for people who couldn't get tickets to the main arena were abandoned, while photographs showed many empty seats inside the 19,000-seat capacity arena

Republican officials said earlier this week that one million people had asked for tickets to the rally.

Empty seats at Donald Trump's first campaign rally of 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Getty Images

Mr Trump accounted for the empty seats by saying that "very bad people outside... doing bad things", referring to protesters outside the arena. Tulsa police reported one arrest from the demonstrations, which were largely peaceful.

People at the rally had to sign a waiver saying that Mr Trump's campaign did not have any responsibility if they got ill. Just hours before the rally began, Trump campaign officials said six staff members tested positive for coronavirus.

Tulsa's mayor GT Bynum said in a Facebook post that there were mixed opinions about holding the rally in the city while infections were still rising.

He said: "We do this as our positive Covid-19 cases are rising, but while our hospital capacity remains strong. Some think it is great, some think it is reckless. Regardless of where each of us falls on that spectrum, we will go through it as a community,"

Empty seats at Donald Trump's first campaign rally of 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Getty Images

The president focused on differences between him and Joe Biden, his Democratic rival in the 2020 election, which takes place in November.

He told supporters: "The choice in 2020 is very simple. Do you want to bow before the left-wing mob, or do you want to stand up tall and proud as Americans?”

The president also drew on recent protests after the death of George Floyd to condemn people who have vandalised or removed statues.

He added: “The unhinged left-wing mob is trying to vandalise our history, desecrate our monuments, our beautiful monuments.

Supporters at Donald Trump's first campaign rally of 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Getty Images

“They want to demolish our heritage so they can impose their new repressive regime in its place.”

Mr Trump also discussed his response to coronavirus, saying that too much testing was making him look bad.

He said: "Here is the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you are going to find more people, you will find more cases. So I said 'slow the testing down'. They test and they test."

An official for the Trump campaign later said he was "clearly joking".

The rally was first planned for June 19, which is a holiday marking the end of slavery in the US. It was moved to June 20 after criticism that holding the rally on Juneteenth was insensitive.

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