Trump's Tiny Crowd and His Big Tantrum

Trump failed miserably on his way into office Friday, getting only a small crowd for his inauguration. Nobody much cares, but he sure does. He's gone on an angry tear ever since, screetchng about the media "lying" about his size of crowd. (His size of things matters a lot to him apparently).

He had predicted a "record-breaking" turnout. In reality, it was pathetic. The latest estimates run about 200,000 to 300,000. CNN, 7 p.m. EST, 7-21-17.

By contrast President Obama's inauguration filled the entire Mall between the White House and the Washington Monument with an estimated 1.8 million people. Even George W got about 500,000 at his inaugurations.

As photos show, Trump couldn't even fill the first few squares of the Mall nearest the ceremonies. And he can't blame the weather. Trump Day was a mild 40 degrees in D.C. with occasional rain, but it was a frigid 20 degrees for Obama's big day.

Oblivious to the fact that we can see with our own eyes the enormous difference in crowd sizes, Trump is insiting that the media is lying and that he actually had a bigger crowd than Obama. The man is now president of the United States and he is arguing about the size of his crowd! There is no bottom to how far this guy can sink

Note: Both photos were taken at the same point in time at each proceeding. For more, see  Inauguration crowd comparison: Trump's crowd size smaller ...


Obama's Inauguration 2009 v. Trump's in 2017                                                          



The white plastic stuff has been used before by the Park Department to protect the soggy grass from trampling by a crowd, e.g. 2013 for Obama's second inauguration. But on Friday the crowd didn't show up in sufficient numbers to cover the plastic as it did for Obama's event. A side effect of the white stuff is to make clear that the crowd is very, very small for Trump. Now he will probably attack the Park Department!

He's the Rube Waddell of politics. Waddell was baseball's wild man, a pitcher who was terrific but could be distracted by people waving teddy bears at him while he was pitching or by a fire engine going past. He'd even leave the field to run after a fire engine.

Well, better a distracted Trump than one who focuses on making bad policy. Unless his bad temper  and his childish defensivness suddenly involves striking back with nuclear weapons!

Yikes!