Trump’s bragging gets fact-checked by Republicans: “You couldn’t pay me to go”

Donald Trump wanted more attention for his weekend campaign rallies.

Fox News, apparently, had not provided enough.

The president opened a fresh dispute with the conservative network on Sunday after complaining that Fox & Friends had failed to properly showcase his Saturday appearance in Vandalia, Ohio. Trump described the event as a packed and extraordinarily enthusiastic affair, arguing that thousands had also been unable to get into his recent rallies.

Critics quickly found an angle of their own.

Saturday’s “packed house” was the Butler-Vandalia Student Activity Center at Butler High School — a detail that soon supplied plenty of material for Trump’s political opponents and some disillusioned Republicans. Local reporting confirms the rally took place at the high school, while WYSO described the audience as an enthusiastic capacity crowd.

Trump wants Fox News to pay attention

Trump aired his frustration on Truth Social on Sunday morning.

“Sad to see that Fox & Friends (Sunday) is not covering our packed house and incredibly enthusiastic (beyond!) Rally that took place in Ohio last night, or the ones in Alabama, Texas, or Oklahoma over the past two days,” Trump wrote.

He added that the events “were all sold out, with thousands of people trying to get in.”

Trump’s complaint specifically targeted a network that remains an important platform for conservative audiences. The president has nevertheless repeatedly criticized Fox when he believes its coverage is insufficiently supportive or gives too much airtime to political opponents.

One supporter compares the mood to 2016

Lindell TV correspondent Cara Castronuova offered an enthusiastic assessment from inside the Ohio event.

“In a high school gymnasium in Vandalia, Ohio right now, MAGA fever is honestly at a level close to 2016,” she wrote.

Her comparison referred to the atmosphere rather than the size of the audience, something Castronuova later stressed after receiving pushback.

“Please don’t do this,” Texas Republican national delegate Trisha Hope replied.

Castronuova defended her original observation.

“I didn’t say crowd, it’s obviously a HS which is smaller venue,” she wrote. “I said the pure reactive emotion and Trump ecstasy in the room. It’s real.”

Photos and local coverage showed supporters gathering hours before Trump was scheduled to appear, and reports from inside described an enthusiastic crowd.

Critics seize on the high school venue

Trump’s opponents focused less on the enthusiasm and more on the address.

Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California used the choice of venue to question the president’s popularity.

“Want to know how popular trump is? He’s speaking in a high school gym in Ohio,” Lieu wrote.

Neal Williams, who describes himself as a “Reagan-Romney principled Republican,” joined the mockery.

“Butler high school gymnasium holds 5,000 people. LOL WEAK SAUCE,” he wrote. “Hilarious he even has to go out there because he knows he’s cooked.”

Those comments are political criticism rather than evidence that Trump could not have attracted a larger audience. Reporting from the event described the venue as being at capacity, so the mere fact that it was held at a high school does not establish the size of the crowd that might have attended at a larger location.

Former supporter says his enthusiasm is gone

Another response came from someone who said his own attitude toward Trump had changed.

Daniel Kinney described himself as a former supporter living roughly 30 minutes from the rally site.

“2 years ago I would have been there (well it would have been at a fairgrounds or arena because the demand would have been 10x this),” he wrote.

“Now you couldn’t pay me to go.”

Navy veteran and podcast host Hal For NY offered an even shorter response to Trump’s complaint about Fox.

“He was in a high school gymnasium.”

Social-media reactions cannot establish broader trends in Trump’s support on their own. Still, they provided an awkward counterpoint to the president’s insistence that the scale of his weekend crowds deserved greater television coverage.

This article is made and published by Nicolai H, who may have used AI in the preparation