Beto vs. Trump: Who Had the Bigger Crowd?

https://www.newsweek.com/beto-vs-trump-who-had-bigger-crowd-el-paso-1327514

Callum Paton

As President Donald Trump and former congressman Beto O’Rourke went head-to-head on the d******e issue of immigration in El Paso on Monday, the burning question following their competing rallies was not one of policy but rather who drew the largest crowd.

The answer is not clear, with no official count at either O’Rourke’s “March for T***h” or the president’s rally at the El Paso County Coliseum. It does seem unlikely that the president’s claim he was able to draw 35,000 people to his first rally of 2019 is true.

Trump thanked the El Paso Fire Department for securing 10,000 people inside with “tens of thousands” watching outside. The fire department itself doused Trump’s claims in cold water, explaining no extra accommodations had to be made at the venue.

According to an El Paso Fire Department spokesperson, speaking to the El Paso Times, 6,500 individuals were inside the coliseum during the rally. The Times reported that several thousand were watching the president speak on screens outside.

According to MSNBC correspondent Garrett Haake‏, who gathered and tweeted estimates, the president's supporters in attendance at the rally could have numbered as high as 18,500. Haake‏ gave the tally of 6,500 individuals inside the arena, as per the fire department, and between 10,000 and 12,000 outside, via NBC News reporter Ali Vitali. This may give the edge in terms of crowd size to Trump.

Haake‏ said according to organizers, roughly 7,000 people were at O’Rourke’s competing rally, which was backed by groups such as Border Network for Human Rights and Women’s March El Paso.

Bloomberg’s White House correspondent quoted an El Paso Police estimate that was considerably higher. Jennifer Epstein tweeted that between 10,000 and 15,000 had attended the anti-wall protest.


The president, who has placed great stock in his ability to draw large crowds at rallies, seemed unimpressed by O’Rourke’s decision to back the counter march. The Democratic politician, who gave up his congressional seat for an unsuccessful Senate bid in 2018, has publicly considered a run at the presidency in 2020.

“A young man who's got very little going for himself except he's got a great first name. He challenged us. We have say 35,000 people tonight, and he has, say, 200 people, 300 people," Trump said at his rally in El Paso. "Not too good. In fact what I would do, that may be the end of his p**********l bid."

Trump went on to claim the media would fail to acknowledge his was the larger rally, The Hill reported. “They will say Beto O’Rourke — that’s his last name, right, O’Rourke? — had a wonderful rally of about 15 people" Trump said.

Nwtk2007,

I was being sarcastic, if there were 7000, they were i******s. I’ve heard numbers from 200 up to 7000 depending on the source. It would have been a good sting operation to have a Beto look alike and round up the i******s.
I find it very offensive of anyone displaying the f**g of the country they’re fleeing and expect us to accept them with open arms.
I call that a passive aggressive invasion. Many of them look to be of age to make change in their countries however possible.
They don’t belong here! I get so tired of media referring to the “wall” as his wall, meaning President Trump. It is OUR wall/barrier/fence and we want it!

MAGA

B-D, I simply posted a response to the thread title, as it provided many different estimates of the crowd sizes. I suspected it would be rebuked by all that choose to believe no source other than one of their own. C'est la vie on OPP.

By and from all accounts, Beto's crowd was spread over several areas, and not just the area around that particular backstop. The article I posted proves as reliable as the selected photos you produced.

And, please spare me any belief that I am the one being duped, as I could say the same for the "fluff" many have fallen for and posted on this thread and others.