President Trump ripped the “fake news media” on Friday for not showing the crowds at a rally in Alabama, while CNN was showing a live shot of the crowd.
“Fake news. They won’t show this,” Trump said. “They’ll say ‘Donald Trump spoke before a small crowd in Alabama last night. It was a small crowd. A very unenthusiastic crowd. It was a terrible evening.’ ”
As Trump made the remarks, CNN was showing live video of the rally’s crowd.
Trump has previously attacked the media for not showing the sizes of crowds at his rallies.
Trump was appearing at the rally Friday to support Republican Sen. Luther Strange ahead of the upcoming Alabama Senate primary.
Strange, who was endorsed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), is facing off against ex-Alabama Supreme Court justice Roy Moore, who has the support of former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon.
Trump says the fake news media won't show the crowd at his rally — while CNN is literally running a split screen of the crowd. pic.twitter.com/mRtPaAr38Z
President Donald Trump slammed Sen. John McCain for opposing efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, vowing at a Friday campaign rally for an Alabama Senate candidate that Republicans would succeed on health care “eventually.”
The crowd booed as Trump said the opposition from McCain, R-Ariz., who announced on Friday that he would vote against the latest GOP health care bill, was “terrible, honestly, terrible” when he cast the deciding vote against an earlier measure.
“That was a totally unexpected thing,” Trump told the crowd.
The president went on to say that McCain’s opposition was “sad.”
“It was sad,” Trump said. “We had a couple of other senators, but at least we knew where they stood. That was really a horrible thing, honestly. That was a horrible thing that happened to the Republican Party.”
“It’s a little tougher without McCain’s vote, but we’ve got some time,” Trump said, acknowledging the difficulty in passing the Senate health care bill before a critical September 30 deadline. “We are going to do it, eventually.”
The boisterous arena rally recalled the heady days of Trump’s insurgent 2016 campaign. Thousands of supporters in the stands reprised chants of “lock her up” about Hillary Clinton and “build the wall,” and erupted in cheers when the president called North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un “little Rocket Man.”
But this time, Trump came as the president, using his first big endorsement trip outside of the Beltway to tout the establishment’s favored candidate in the heated special election to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Trump’s all-out support for interim Sen. Luther Strange, R-Ala., who is trying to close his gap in polls ahead of Tuesday’s GOP runoff election, is a political gambit, which the president acknowledged.
“I’m taking a big risk,” Trump said. “Luther Strange is our man.”
Challenger Roy Moore is an anti-establishment favorite, backed by many of Trump’s most prominent supporters — including Ben Carson, Trump’s HUD Secretary.
Trump said critics had given Strange “a bum rap.” And he praised the senator’s loyalty in the health care battle, recalling that Strange asked for nothing in return for his support to repeal Obamacare — unlike McCain and other unhelpful GOP senators.
“They are not doing a service to the people that they represent,” Trump said.
Democrats are as rare in Alabama as Louisiana State fans, but Trump warned that Moore, a controversial religious fundamentalist, would have “a very good chance of not winning in the general election” later this year.
If Strange pulls off a come-from-behind-win, Trump will get the credit and an infusion of political capital with elected Republicans when he needs it most.
“Our research indicates that he is the decisive factor,” said Steven Law, the president of the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC tied to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that has spent almost $8 million backing Strange.
Trump is hugely popular in deep-red Alabama, gushing, “It’s nice to go places where people love you.”
Richard “Gator” Payne, the former commander of the local Purple Heart chapter, acknowledged he didn’t know much about Strange, but said Trump’s endorsement was enough for him. “I’m for Trump, and if Trump’s for Strange, then I’m for Strange,” he said.
President Trump appeared at a campaign rally in Huntsville, Ala., on Friday night, ostensibly to support the senatorial bid of fellow Republican Luther Strange. But the speech veered off topic, eventually landing on a few points regarding the NFL.
Without mentioning him by name, Trump made reference to Colin Kaepernick and the protests against injustice toward African Americans the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback led last NFL season by taking a knee during the national anthem.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners,” wondered the president, “when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out. He’s fired. He’s fired!’ ” The hypothetical was met with cheers from the assembled crowd.
Trump also said such an owner would “be the most popular person in this country. Because that’s a total disrespect of our heritage. That’s a total disrespect for everything we stand for.” He added that if fans were to “leave the stadium” in response to a protest, “I guarantee things will stop.”
Continuing with the NFL, Trump also discussed the league’s television ratings, saying they are down “massively,” and partially claiming credit for the drop.
“Now the No. 1 reason happens to be, they like watching what’s happening with yours truly,” he said. He also added that the amount of big hits called as penalties are a factor as well.
“Today, if you hit too hard, 15 yards, throw him out of the game,” he said while mimicking the act of an official throwing a penalty flag. “They’re ruining the game, right? They’re ruining the game. It’s hurting the game.”
Trump’s comments on how the game is being ruined by an attempt to cut down on big hits came a day after former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was diagnosed posthumously with the second-most-severe form of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Hernandez committed suicide in April while serving a life sentence for murder.
Trump’s remarks regarding national anthem protests also spurred a reaction on social media, from both players and observers.
