By now, Americans have grown accustomed to one of President Donald Trump’s most frequent refrains: “It was that other guy’s fault!”
To be sure, Trump leaned heavily on that excuse when trying to explain the lackluster crowd size this week at the GOP’s unprecedented midterm convention in Dallas. However, he managed to find a new and creative scapegoat: his supporters’ bladders.
During his Thursday speech at the American Airlines Center, the crowd size-obsessed president tried to head off his critics by claiming the media planned to air footage of vacant seats as attendees got up to relieve themselves, the Dallas Morning News reports.
“The fake news will go around and see that man up there? He’s leaving for the bathroom. He’ll be back in two minutes,” Trump said. “They’ll take a picture of his seat while he’s gone. And they’ll say, ‘Trump did not fill up the arena. The arena was not filled. Look at the seat.'”
The president proceeded to request that members of the audience hold it until he wrapped up his speech, the paper reports.
“So please, if you don’t mind, don’t anybody go to the bathroom,” he said.
Despite Trump bragging that the event was a “major, sold out hit,” the Republican National Committee reportedly to giving away tickets because it couldn’t sell enough. And, even then, multiple media outlets reported that the party had trouble filling the arena.
“Both days, there were thousands of empty seats, including almost all of the upper level, even as Trump insisted the arena was ‘packed’ with ‘thousands’ more waiting outside,” NPR reported.
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