Donald Trump Rally Videos Show Hundreds of Empty Seats

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly boasted of the crowds his rallies attract.
“We do a lot of these beautiful rallies, and it’s so great,” Trump said while speaking in Reading, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday. “We never have an empty seat, never have. Look at it.”
But the Republican nominee’s claim was fact-checked in real time by reporters who shared videos from inside the Santander Arena, showing what appeared to be hundreds of empty seats in the venue during the former president’s speech. Newsweek contacted the Trump campaign for comment via email.
Dana Milbank, a columnist for The Washington Post, shared videos and photos on X, formerly Twitter, that showed mostly empty sections of seats toward the back of the venue.
“Lot of empty seats at Trump rally in Reading, Pa. Arena has 7,200 seats,” Milbank wrote in one post.
The arena has a capacity of up to 7,200 people for hockey games and up to 8,800 for concerts, according to its website.
Libbey Dean, a campaign reporter for NewsNation, also posted a video on X, writing that there were “a lot of open seats in the back.”
NBC News reporter Jake Traylor shared a video showing the empty seats, adding, “Though most of the arena is full here, a few sections in the back are not (and are not just sectioned off for press either).”
Traylor said it was “notable and unusual” for a Trump rally.
However, there have been reports not only of empty seats at Trump’s rallies but also of people leaving early.
Last month, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, goaded Trump during a debate by saying that anyone who attends a Trump rally will notice that people leave early.
“You will see during the course of his rallies, he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter,” she said. “He will talk about windmills cause cancer, and what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.”
Trump said in response: “People don’t leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.”
Trump has been boasting about the number of people his events attract ever since. At Wednesday’s rally in Reading, he said that 100,000 people had attended his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. However, local news station KDKA reported that about 24,000 people were in attendance, citing the Secret Service.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump held a rally at the Riverfront Sports Complex in Scranton. Local news outlet PAHomepage reported that Trump supporters began lining up early outside the venue, which seats 3,400, but not everyone made it inside.
On Wednesday evening, Harris’ campaign posted footage of Trump’s boast in Reading about never having an empty seat at his events alongside a photo showing empty seats in the arena.
“Trump: We do these rallies, we never have an empty seat,” the Kamala HQ account posted. “(The room he is speaking to is full of empty seats).” The vice president’s campaign also mocked Trump for having empty seats at a rally in Michigan last week.
On X, the Republicans Against Trump account also mocked the former president’s crowd size, writing: “So many empty seats at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania tonight. SAD!”
“OMG!!! Look at all of the empty seats at Trump’s rally in Reading, Pennsylvania!” Harry Sisson, a Democrat and content creator, wrote on X. “This is so humiliating for the Trump campaign. Nobody shows up to his rallies anymore!”
Jon Cooper, a Democratic fundraiser, wrote: “Wow—there were a LOT of empty seats at the start of Trump’s rally today in Reading, Pennsylvania. The arena has 7,200 seats, and it looks like nearly half of those were empty. Sad!!!”