President Donald Trump is not letting the New York Times off the hook without a fight. On Monday he posted on Truth Social calling for the paper and other outlets to face legal consequences after they reported that his Saturday rally at the Ohio Arena had empty seats.
“The New York Times said, ‘There were empty seats’ when, in fact, there were none, and thousands of people had to be turned away,” Trump wrote. The New York Times, and many other Artificial Media Outlets, should be arrested for their dishonesty and disservice to our Country.” He also took a shot at the media’s double standard, writing, “When Bernie Sanders has 500 to 1,000 people, they make it sound like it’s the biggest event that ever took place. When PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP has 50,000 people, they make it sound like nobody showed up!”
He followed up with a second post addressing why some upper sections looked light on camera. According to Trump, it’s because of the “migration effect,” where attendees move down from upper seats to the main floor. “The ‘migration’ process always happens! The Times knows this, and so does everyone else. I never have empty seats, never have, and never will!” he wrote. You’d think professional journalists covering political rallies for decades would know this, but here we are.
The Trump New York Times feud fits neatly into a broader war the White House has been waging with several major news organizations, which have sued to have their press access restored. Fox News Media, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, and NBC News put out a joint statement saying they would stop all pool reporting duties unless access was returned to the locked-out outlets. That’s a lot of networks coordinating, which is almost impressive if you ignore how they got there. You can follow the ongoing press access battle through Trump media access dispute reporting that has tracked every twist.
Trump also announced in his posts that he was heading to Grand Island, Nebraska for a rally on the first day of early in-person voting. Nothing like a packed house to punctuate the point.
The mainstream media has spent years insisting their rally attendance math is correct and everyone else is wrong. Trump has spent years filling arenas and telling them so. That debate does not appear to be ending anytime soon. Drop your thoughts in the comments or share this on social media.
