Teens, TikTok users and K-Pop fans might have tricked Trump into expecting a huge turnout for his widely-hyped Tulsa rally

President Donald Trump’s campaign geared up for a massive crowd at his Tulsa, Okla., rally on Saturday and things don’t seem to have turned out as planned. While many factors, including a recent spike in coronavirus cases within the state, might have actually led to the event’s sparse turnout, many suggest that young people could be behind the overstated hype.
Since the rally’s announcement on June 10, the campaign had promised a huge turnout. Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted last week that more than 1 million people had requested tickets for the event, which had initially been planned for Juneteenth and rescheduled after a swift backlash.

Anticipating an overflowing crowd, the campaign had even prepared a stage outside Tulsa’s BOK Center where the President could address supporters. President Donald Trump himself had said earlier in the week that he expected a “record-setting crowd” despite the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve never had an empty seat, and we certainly won’t in Oklahoma,” said Trump.
But ultimately, the turnout did not stand up to the campaign’s expectations. The outdoor events did not materialize, presumably as it became clear that there weren’t even enough supporters to fill all of the empty seats in the arena, let alone a sizable overflowing crowd. A Tulsa Fire Department spokesperson told Forbes that only 6,200 people attended the rally — less than half the venue’s 19,200 seating capacity.
After the rally, Parscale claimed that “radical protesters” had blocked Trump supporters from entering the venue. However, police officers on-site told the LA Times that the entryway had not been blocked for long, and that no one had been prevented from entering the space.