Trump falsely claims Harris used AI to fake rally image as his obsession with crowd size deepens

Former President Donald Trump has long been obsessed with numbers that signal dominance, like net worth, television ratings, poll results and the attendance figures at his political rallies.

In 2016, Trump pointed to the outsized attendance at his campaign stops to dispute the polls that showed Hillary Clinton leading him on the eve of the election. In 2017, he spent his first full day in office claiming his inauguration crowd was larger than that of former President Barack Obama. (It wasn’t.)

Now Trump is again obsessing over crowd size, inflating the number of supporters at his rallies while questioning the drawing power of his opponents, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, her running mate.

Trump falsely claims Harris used AI to fake crowd image

Over the weekend, Trump endorsed a fringe conspiracy theory that images of the crowd at a rally for Harris and Walz last week at Detroit’s Metropolitan Wayne County Airport — estimated to be 15,000 people, according to their campaign — were somehow manipulated.

“Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘A.I.’d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Never mind that the rally was attended by news organizations — like the New York Times and Washington Post, that could make their own estimates — and broadcast live on C-SPAN.

“There was nobody there, later confirmed by the reflection of the mirror like finish on the Vice Presidential Plane. She’s a CHEATER,” Trump continued. “She had NOBODY waiting, and the ‘crowd’ looked like 10,000 people! Same thing is happening with her fake ‘crowds’ at her speeches.”

He added: “She should be disqualified because the creation of a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE.”

Trump followed up by posting an image of the crowd he claimed was fake.

“Look, we caught her with a fake ‘crowd,’” he wrote. “There was nobody there!”

The Harris campaign responded on X, saying, “1) This is an actual photo of a 15,000-person crowd for Harris-Walz in Michigan. 2) Trump has still not campaigned in a swing state in over a week... Low energy?”

Trump fumes about coverage of Harris’s large crowd — and repeats false claim about his own

At a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., last week, Trump complained to reporters about media coverage of Harris’s recent crowds.

“What did she have yesterday, 2,000 people? If I ever had 2,000 people, you'd say my campaign is finished,” Trump said in reference to Harris’s rally in Eau Claire, Wis., which drew an estimated 12,000 people, according to her campaign.

“Listen, I had 107,000 people in New Jersey. You didn't report it,” Trump fumed while repeating a false claim about the size at his rally in Wildwood, N.J., in May.

But official estimates put the attendance figure at far less.

“It wasn't 100,000,” Fox News host Jesse Watters, who sent a reporter to cover the rally, said on "The Five." “It was closer to 30,000."

Watters added: "That's still a packed venue, and that's still, I would say, 29,500 more than Joe Biden's ever had."

Trump says Harris needs ‘entertainers’ to draw large crowds

Trump’s rallies routinely outdrew President Biden’s before Biden exited the race. But Harris’s crowds have been rivaling Trump’s.

At a recent rally before an estimated 10,000 people at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Trump told his supporters that Harris was able to draw the same amount to the same venue just days earlier “because she had entertainers,” including Megan Thee Stallion, perform before she took the stage.

“I don't need entertainers,” he added. “I fill the stadium because I’m making America great again.”

Attendance at recent Harris and Trump rallies

Harris/Walz:

• July 30, Georgia State University Convocation Center, Atlanta: 10,000^

• Aug. 6, Liacouras Center, Temple University, Philadelphia: 10,000^

• Aug. 7, Eau Claire Event District, Eau Claire, Wis.: 12,000^

• Aug. 7, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Detroit: 15,000^

• Aug. 9, Desert Diamond Arena, Glendale, Ariz.: 15,000^

• Aug. 10, University of Nevada at Las Vegas: 12,000^

^ Estimates from Harris campaign

Trump/Vance:

• Aug. 3, Georgia State University, Atlanta: 10,000*

• Aug. 9, Montana State University, Missoula, Mont.: 10,000#

* Estimate from the New York Times
# Estimate from the Cowboy State Daily

“It’s not as if anybody cares about crowd sizes or anything,” Walz joked during the rally in Glendale, Ariz., on Friday.

Trump falsely claims crowd on Jan. 6 rivaled MLK’s

Trump isn’t solely focused on comparing the size of his rallies to Harris’s — he’s also bent on rewriting history.

At Mar-a-Lago, Trump said the crowd at his speech at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, before the Capitol insurrection, rivaled the one that gathered for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.

“If you look at Martin Luther King, when he did his speech, his great speech. And you look at ours, same real estate, same everything, same number of people,” Trump said. “If not, we had more.”

“Dr. King’s speech drew an estimated 250,000 people,” the New York Times pointed out. “The House Select Committee responsible for investigating the events of Jan. 6 estimated that Mr. Trump’s speech drew 53,000 people.”