Trump Tweets Out Rally Photos That Pull Back the Curtain on his Campaign’s Stagecraft and Mask Deception

Sarah RumpfSep 25th, 2020, 12:08 am
 
trump rally

Screenshot via Twitter.

The crowd at President Donald Trump‘s Thursday evening rally in Jacksonville, Florida mostly eschewed wearing face masks, despite being packed together shoulder-to-shoulder, as was shown in living color by photos that Trump himself tweeted.

Just like previous campaign rallies the president has held during the pandemic, his supporters were seen mostly without masks, with the very notable exception of the people who were standing immediately behind him — and who comprised the backdrop for the scene on TV.

Trump’s own tweet illustrated the rarity of masks in the crowd.

For closer views of the tweeted photos, one is at the beginning of the post and the others are below:

trump rally jacksonville florida

Screenshot via Twitter.

trump rally jacksonville florida

Screenshot via Twitter.

trump rally jacksonville florida

Screenshot via Twitter.

In the last photo, showing the crowd behind Trump, people can be seen mostly wearing masks, and the vast majority of the masks are red or navy blue with “MAGA” printed on them in bold white letters, clearly all the same design. That uniformity of mask design is not seen in photos or videos of other sections of the Jacksonville crowd.

At other recent rallies, Trump campaign staffers have been spotted passing out masks for the supporters who will be behind Trump and in view of the cameras as he speaks. That is almost certainly what happened in Jacksonville.

To date, Florida has had nearly 700,000 coronavirus cases, roughly ten percent of the national total, and nearly 14,000 deaths, according to the statistics reported by the Florida Department of Health. Jacksonville and Duval County have had nearly 30,000 cases, with a median age of 38 years old, and 367 deaths.

Tags:
Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.