Trump Reportedly Blamed Contract Employee For Lackluster Arizona Crowd

President Donald Trump gestures to the crowd while speaking at a rally at the Phoenix Convention Center, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
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After the crowd at the rally in Phoenix, Arizona, was less robust than expected, President Donald Trump took out his frustration on a former White House aide who organized the event as a contract worker for the Republican National Committee, Bloomberg News reported Monday night.

Once the rally had ended, Trump had an aide inform George Gigicos that he would never do work for the White House again, three unnamed sources told Bloomberg News. Gigicos formerly served as the White House director of scheduling and advance, and he also had worked for the Trump campaign planning rallies. He left the White House earlier in August to return to his consulting firm, and he was helping plan the Phoenix rally last week as a contractor for the RNC.

As Bloomberg News noted, the rally venue was not entirely full when Trump took the stage, an issue for a President obsessed with crowd size and who feeds off the energy of his most loyal supporters. And as Trump droned on through his speech, rallygoers began to filter out and appeared to be uninterested, according to the Washington Post.

The apparent disinterest in his rally—a comfort zone for the President whose White House is roiled by constant internal scandals—clearly bothered Trump. Following the event, Trump claimed that 15,000 people attended the rally, even though a local official estimated that just 10,000 came to the event. He mentioned the rally size again during a press conference Monday, claiming that a “massive crowd” turned out to watch him speak in Arizona.

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  1. Same old story. Blame someone else and fire him/her.

    No wonder Trump brought “The Apprentice” TV show concept to the US. It fits his personality to a T

  2. My, how very, um, Trumpian of him.

    We will see more of this appalling behavior, because, over time, the interest in and enthusiasm for repeated revivals will wane. By the time even his most rabid fans have attended a few there will be less willingness to (again) drive hours to hear the same old rah-rah, especially when The Wall hasn’t been built, Hillary hasn’t been locked up, Obamacare is still hanging in there, and the 0.1% get a lot of tax breaks while Grandma pays more.

    Enthusiasm for such la-dee-da is a finite quantity.

    Wonder what’s gonna happen on the day that Donnie hears from his advisors that he should shitcan the idea because they can’t whip up a big enough crowd. Or, if they are too cowardly to face his wrath ahead of time, they really do let him go to a venue with a few hundred stragglers milling about.

    My projection?

  3. We HAVE to figure out how a large number of us can get into one of these insane rallys. Then, w/o any violence, shouting, signs, etc. we get up an leave in droves right at the start of his speech. A few 1st, then 10-15 to catch his attention, then a fast-paced exit by the rest, then all gone in 90 seconds.

    This would drive him insanely nuts as he start shouting and goes off-script.

    We know your biggest weakness fat-boy and we intend to go for it!

  4. I have to wonder how long it’s going to take people to wise up. Working for Trump is always a losing proposition. You’ll get blamed for whatever Trump wants to off-load, you’ll be tarred with various epithets, and you’ll have trouble getting paid. And later, he’ll deny he’s ever laid eyes on you. Why would anyone put up with this?

    It certainly explains why he ran out of respectable attorneys several years ago.

  5. Oh, that would be fun! :slight_smile:

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