Yes, ‘the Largest Audience to Ever Witness,’ Period
I’m too busy to spend my time countering everything that gets ginned up by the mainstream press against the Donald Trump presidency but I will say that as a member of the press, it is really getting to be embarrassing (and while I have, historically, worked in local, community journalism, and broadcasting and online commentary, not national media, I have been a part of the media now for about a quarter of a century).
This post is specifically going to focus on the comparison photos of the inauguration attendance that were circulated on Friday – and recirculated by nearly every media outlet on the planet – showing what appeared to be a paltry audience for Trump on Jan. 21, 2017, and catching the wrath of White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Saturday (along with the fake news that the MLK bust had been removed).
Here’s the original photo that was Tweeted out with a time stamp, sent out by PBS, the outlet where I saw it first.
My brother-in-law and one of his daughters were there and he said there were huge lines to get in due to the enhanced security and an expanded layout of the security fencing which was larger in area than both of Obama’s inaugurations – more room to move around, in other words. This was the first time this was done. This was confirmed by other people I know who were there. He’s been to a few of them and said there were thousands of people waiting to be cleared to get in but also acknowledged that the attendance wasn’t as big as Obama’s in 2009.
However, let’s look at some comparison photos from about 90 minutes after the PBS photo comparison. Here’s a up and down comparison from another angle taken during the middle of both Obama’s 2009 speech – at the top – and Trump’s speech. This photo was taken from the pool, like all of them.
As everyone can see from this angle, there are tons of people everywhere. Note in the Trump photo on the far left and far right, rows of people attempting to get into the area, something that isn’t in the Obama photo. Note the white space in the far reaches of the Trump photo is barely seen. Why? Because people are standing on the tarp that was put down to protect the lawns. It’s also clear from the photos that countless people extend far into the distance of both photos.
Now, there is no doubt in my mind that Obama’s 2009 actual, in-person attendance was larger than Trump’s; I don’t know for sure, I wasn’t there, but the historic nature of that moment makes it an easy presumption and I trust my brother-in-law’s opinion on this. But that’s not what Spicer said. Actually, his words were quite clear …
Spicer said that the Trump inauguration was “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in-person and around the globe,” and then noted that the comparison photo – again, taken before the event even started, with enhanced security – was a way of continuing to delegitimize the election.
Knowing all that we know, that’s a legit beef: The news media has done nothing but throw everything it could at delegitimizing the election in the wake of Trump’s historic, shocking, impossible win … from the recount nonsense, to the Russian’s hijacked voting machine conspiracy, to the Russian’s “hacked” Podesta’s email, on and on and on …
What did Spicer mean by “around the globe”? That means watching online … millions and millions and millions watching on YouTube … 16.9 million watching on CNN’s stream – that’s one single news outlet … on television? 30.6 million, according to Nielsen, the second largest audience in 36 years, according to Entertainment Weekly; the fifth highest audience ever (Obama had nearly 38M in 2009, Reagan had about 42M in 1981; Carter in 1977 and Nixon in 1973 were also higher).
And, on top of all those people, a very large crowd, in person, actually there, as everyone can see from the photos from the time the speech … with people still trying to get in.
Clearly, “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration …” Period.