On Tuesday, the line to attend Donald Trump’s rally snaked about a quarter-mile around the venue in Marietta, Georgia, an hour before the event began.
The hall, which can hold 2,700 people, has already begun to fill with supporters, with the first supporters arriving around 1 p.m. for the 7:30 p.m. event. Not everyone was in it.
There’s no shortage of political enthusiasm in Georgia. Early voting began on Tuesday, with 310,980 people voting in person, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. The previous record was about 130,000. Few Trump supporters were wearing “I voted” stickers.
The energy before the rally was high, but many in recent months, including Kamala Harris at last month’s presidential debate, have warned that Trump’s speech turned into a rambling, hours-long speech and the crowd at the rally. It is pointed out that the number is decreasing.
“I’m actually going to do something very unusual and invite Donald Trump to come to his rally, because it’s going to be very interesting to watch,” Harris said during the debate. “In the middle of the meeting you’ll find him talking about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He’s going to talk about windmills causing cancer. And you’ll also find him talking about windmills causing cancer out of fatigue and boredom.” You’ll also notice that people start leaving meetings early.
The Guardian tested that proposition on Tuesday.
Approximately 3 out of 10 attendees left the rally before Trump’s speech ended at 10:14 p.m. In their defense, Trump was an hour and a half late.
More than a dozen people had already left seven minutes into Trump’s speech, in which he ranted about inflation, schools, the quality of cars, cities, immigration and the prospect of World War III.
Twenty minutes later, as President Trump was explaining how illegal immigrant “murderers” pose a bigger threat to America than inflation, podcaster Ryan Taylor headed to his car.
“I live an hour away, but my son is waiting in the car,” she said. “He didn’t want to go in. He’s still a teenager.” He’s 15, she said.
Haley Lummus, a resident of Jasper, Georgia, left at 9:22 p.m., just as President Trump described Harris as a “tax queen” and questioned how much real estate she owns was worth after the attack on San Francisco. I was just about to complain about how things were going down.
“We had to wait a while to get him on stage,” she said. “Everyone was doing waves and he was so excited to see so many people cheering him on.” Why did she leave early? “I worked so I was tired.”
Probably about 50 people had gone home at that point.
A group of five young men wearing brand new red “Make America Great Again” baseball caps stepped out just before 9:30 a.m. as President Trump claimed that wars in Ukraine and Gaza would not have happened if he had been president. went. The five of them looked a little confused and just a little out of place even there.
“We are from Denmark and have no interest in American politics, but we wanted to experience American politics firsthand,” Gustave said. He and his friends were staying about 15 minutes away and heard about President Trump’s appearance and said why not join. They described the event as a “fever dream” and “kind of like The Bachelor” as they set out to avoid traffic.
Over the next 10 minutes, another 50 or so remained. Four of them were thrown outside.
“Some of us went in with flags to shout ‘Free Palestine,'” said one of the young men, who did not want to give his name. President Trump was talking about eliminating the tax on tips. “The flag was taken away from us. We were booed. We were kicked. But I still support Trump.” They accused the burly security guard in front of them of roughing up and taunting them. Minutes later, Secret Service agents arrested one of them.
By 9:50 a.m., a steady stream of people was rushing toward the exits as President Trump spoke about how an “invasion of immigrants” was “stealing American jobs.” Most said they had to work the next day or ask a babysitter to run an errand. Although Marietta is a large metropolitan area of Atlanta, Mr. Trump’s support base often lives in far-flung rural communities.
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Season Poole is a former Army diesel mechanic who lives in Social Circle, Georgia. This was her second gathering. She said she attended a rally in North Carolina two weeks ago. Poole, described by President Trump as “alien gang members and immigrant criminals from prison,” was thinking about schoolwork and the hour-long car ride.
At least 500 people had left by then. Voni Miller would have stayed if he could.
“He made me cry,” Miller said. “I cried when he was talking about making changes. You know, closing the borders, making changes. If Kamala wins, we’re going to be so bad. Because she can’t decide anything. I just cried because he’s giving up so much. He doesn’t have to do this for us. You know what I mean. You know, he has all the money and he still gets shot and people say horrible things about him, but he wants to make a difference in America. , and it was really moving.”
So. Why leave?
“Actually, I’m leaving work early. My cell phone isn’t working so I can’t get in the car because I have a Tesla. It’s really frustrating. It meant a lot to me to be here, but I can’t get in the car. is.”
By Oct. 5, when President Trump was talking about how important it is for police officers to be protected from civil misconduct lawsuits for “doing good things,” he had lost about a third of his audience.
At the time, Steven Rosenbaum was walking back to his car with his son. “I think I get more out of this gathering than anything else, and I hope others do too,” he said. “He shows a human side. You know, when the Butler rally happened, we were watching it live on TV. It was terrible,” the first assassination on President Trump. He talked about failure. “But, you know, right before all these things happened, he said, listen, we just want to make this country a better place.”
Rosenbaum said he has attended several rallies.
“We wanted to see it in action. We want to see it live,” he said. But isn’t it going to be there forever? “He has to go to school tomorrow, and he’s now gotten to the part where we’ve seen enough of these things. We kind of know how it ends.” We just wanted to see it live. You know?
