Donald Trump has long equated crowd size with success ― reportedly even bragging of the size of the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to block the certification of the election and keep him in power.
GOP strategist Susan Del Percio said Trump is now falling short by that measure as his rally crowds decrease in size.
“That’s what you saw there: a very shrinking base,” she told MSNBC’s Cori Coffin one day after Trump addressed a surprisingly sparse crowd in Selma, North Carolina.
Local newspaper The News & Observer reported that Trump spoke to about 1,000 to 2,000 people ― a far cry from the 15,000 who turned out for him at the same venue in 2016.
“Those crowds are getting smaller and people aren’t buying into it, mostly because Republicans want to move on. They don’t want to talk about the Big Lie,” Del Percio said in a clip posted by Raw Story, referring to the inaccurate talking point that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election from Trump. “The people of this country don’t want to hear about it anymore.”
The Selma event was the second in recent weeks marked by low turnout. In late March, the former president spoke at a rally in Georgia to a crowd local media called the smallest he has had in the area since the 2016 election.
Del Percio called it a sign that rank-and-file Republicans want to move on.
“They’re done with Donald Trump and his lies except for a small group that we see there,” she said.
See her full comments from MSNBC, posted by Raw Story, below: