Trump's comfort zone this year: Smaller venues and enthusiastic fans in places where it remains popular

RICHMOND, Ky. – President Trump's quest to help Republican candidates in mid-term led him into an aircraft hangar in a remote Nevada county, which he won with 73% of the votes, a park of The exhibition located in a rural area of ​​Ohio can only hold 3,000 and 8,000 students. Arena in Kentucky – located about 25 miles south of Lexington, where Air Force One has landed and where are larger rooms.

As campaign chairman, he mostly avoided the suburbs which, according to the strategists, will be decisive for the mid-term decision. It is often less popular and may give energy to Democrats or hurt Republican candidates who have tried to stand out. In recent weeks, he has focused heavily on more rural areas where he is particularly popular and where his presence can encourage grassroots voters that Republican candidates need.

Trump held more than 27 rallies this year, more than three-quarters of which took place in the counties it won in 2016, with an average of 59.5%. The few times he has ventured into counties won by Democrat Hillary Clinton, these places are almost always surrounded on all sides by counties he has won. And more than a third of the rallies took place in or near the Appalachian Mountains, where its popularity remains high.

These areas and the event spaces that he finds there have become Trump's comfort zone and a sign of his belief that he remains convinced that his most loyal supporters can win a victory in 2018 as in 2016. ( A rare departure will happen Monday night, when Trump will try to fill his biggest room for almost two years: the Toyota Center, located in the heart of Houston, can accommodate 19,000 people and is located in a county that Clinton won in 2016 .)

"Most people have assumed that he would go to Lexington, in a big hall like Rupp Arena – and that President Trump would fill 24,000 in Rupp," said Rep. Garland "Andy" Barr (R-Ky .) At the rally. gathered October 13 at Eastern Kentucky University. "But when I thought about where the president would like to go, I thought. . . residents of Madison County who, nearly two years ago, won a huge victory for Donald Trump, who brought the county to 32 percentage points. "

Trump's decision to travel to Richmond – which he described as a "trip" he would not "normally" – delighted locals. While her motorcade was jamming the traffic, two women stopped at a local craft store to wait for the backup, and one exclaimed, "It's the coolest traffic I've ever been to !

"He understands that America really lies in the least populated, most labor-intensive places – that's what it does, and that's why it was elected," he said. said Aaron Pramuk, engineer, 33 years old. who lives in Richmond and came to the rally with his roommate. The two did not come in but watched Trump 's remarks on a video screen outside with hundreds of others, while a rogue salesman was driving through the crowd selling hats and cans. from Bud Light to $ 10.

Trump rallies played an important role in creating the image of the president.

The campaign often issues tickets for thousands more places than an event space can accommodate, thus guaranteeing a large crowd and guaranteeing that the president will be able to boast of having to refuse people – a number which, like the number of people entering, is often of the Trump type. wildly exaggerates.

Although Trump regularly claims that tens of thousands of supporters flock to see him, the average capacity of his gathering sites is around 8,000 this year. Until now, the biggest event was the Charleston Civic Center in West Virginia, which can seat 13,500 people, although Trump was unable to fill it by the end of the month. August.

The biggest rally ever organized by Trump – according to the accounts of independent officials – would have taken place in a stadium in Mobile, Alabama, in August 2015. Estimates for this crowd range from 20,000 to 30,000 people, although Trump claimed that there were 49,000 people.

One official said the campaign's favorite spots are the Rust Belt hockey arenas because of their modest size and their proximity to the type of voters wishing to attend Trump rallies. Of the 27 rallies at mid-term, 10 took place in hockey arenas and one in a former arena.

Texas Trump's Monday event was announced more than seven weeks ago when the president promised on Twitter that he would book "the largest Texas stadium we can find" for a rally with Senator Ted Cruz ( R-Tex). Some counselors told the Washington Post that they tried to dissuade the president from going there, because they expect that Cruz can win the race without the help of the president. In addition, Houston and its suburbs are exactly the kind of places where Trump could do more harm to local convention candidates than he helps.

Earlier last week, the Trump campaign announced that the president would hold a rally Monday at the NRG Arena in Houston, accommodating up to 8,000 people. This place is far from being the largest stadium in the state. At least 90 Texas sites claim to be bigger, and the Dallas Morning News noted that the NRG Arena "is not close to the biggest event site in Houston."

The choice of the venue prompted an online mockery, especially because Cruz's opponent, the representative Beto O'Rourke (D-Tex.), Recently organized an outdoor concert with musician Willie Nelson, who attracted more than 50,000 people.

However, on Thursday, Brad Parscale, head of the Trump campaign for 2020, announced that because of the "huge and unprecedented" demand, the event had been moved to Houston's Toyota Center, which can accommodate up to 19,000 people. Although the arena is much larger than the original choice, it is still not one of the 20 largest halls in the state – there is even a high school football stadium that can accommodate a few more people.

A campaign spokesman said Saturday that officials had initially reserved a smaller room because "we had a deadline to get a contract" but that they "had continued to lobby to negotiate the conditions of greater capacity ". The campaign refused to answer any other questions.

At Trump's October 13 rally at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, a few thousand people were turned away, often after waiting several hours. Most of those who did not come in are gone – after all, the temperature was about 47 degrees. A few hundred demonstrators gathered nearby but also left after the Trump Motorcade.

"We were so close!" Said a father to his young son when they learned that the doors were closed. "We tried," said a woman to his entourage.

"I would really love to have seen it," said Marilyn Staton, a 70-year-old real estate agent residing in the area and having queued for over three hours with her husband, Clinton, who teaches courses concealed carry permit.

The Statons wore matching red sweatshirts with glittering gold letters that they had ironed on themselves. His reads: "God bless Trump." And his said, "May God be with Trump."

"He knows that he has a lot of success here," said Staton. "There are a lot of people here who are fed up with what happened to the way the Democrats run our country. . . He is for the people, for everyone. "

During the rally, Trump said he made the trip because he wanted to support Barr, who faces Democrat Amy McGrath, a former Navy fighter pilot and central fundraiser.

"I saw the crowd. You know, outside, you have 25,000, 35,000 people – an incredible number of people – and we're setting up movie screens, "said Trump. "We are installing beautiful cinema screens."

Hundreds of people watching one screen outside burst out laughing at the exaggerated number of the president, most of whom thought it was a joke.

"And to those outside, we love you. We love you, "said Trump, to applaud both inside and out. "You have to see the lines, they go all the way, a lot of kilometers. But many of them stayed and watch screens outside.