On Monday night, Donald Trump and Beto O’Rourke held dueling rallies in El Paso, and it appears that Beto’s success in drawing a crowd and making a name for himself is driving Trump nuts.
From NBC News:
Referring to the protest that former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, and other El Paso leaders had organized, Trump said: “A young man who’s got very little going for himself, except he’s got a great first name… He challenged us. So we have let's, say, 35,000 people tonight. And he has 200 people, 300 people. Not too good.”
[...]
Later in the speech, Trump once again brought up the former congressman. “Well, how about Beto? Beto was defeated too, right? But he suffered a great defeat. Watch what the news does tomorrow, though, they won’t mention the disparity [in crowd size], they won’t mention the disparity tomorrow. They’ll say “Beto O’Rourke” – that’s his last name, right, O’Rourke? – “Beto O’Rourke had a wonderful rally, although about 15 people…”
We’re news people, so we’ll mention the crowd estimates, per NBC’s and others’ reporting: About 7,000 to 8,000 attended O’Rourke’s protest, while 6,500 attended Trump’s rally (that’s the capacity per the Fire Department) and several thousands more Trump supporters assembled outside the arena.
Sounds like Trump thinks Beto has some good name recognition/branding going on— just like Trump himself did when he entered the 2016 race.
It also sounds like he’s worried about Beto’s ability to draw a crowd, which is why Trump is trying to preemptively diminish interest in him by playing the “lie about crowd size” card.
This stuff seems stupid, but for as much of an idiot as Trump is, he’s right. And Trump’s response to Beto should tell progressives something important about how a race might play out if Beto chooses to run.
Beto has become a household name, certainly for a lot of progressives who aren’t hyper-engaged in politics, and who don’t spend every hour of every day scrutinizing political news, but who will be voting in primaries and caucusing in 2020. A high level of name recognition is what Trump accomplished with all his tabloid press and “The Apprentice” and it helped him when he entered the GOP primary in 2016. Marco Rubio would have killed for the name recognition and branding Trump had, even if 60% of the country thinks Trump is a total douche.
It’s also what Obama accomplished thanks to the support and attention he got early on from Oprah, his 2004 Democratic Convention speech, and general celebrity appeal, which Beto also shares.
Everyone knew the name Trump. Everyone knew the name Obama. And now it sounds like Trump is admitting that everyone knows the name Beto, and that it’ll work to Beto’s advantage. Trump’s a clown, but he does know about branding and how to raise your name ID.
And while the media likes to pretend that crowd size doesn’t matter and this is just a weird Trump obsession (OK, clearly, Trump is way too obsessed with it— remember all Sean Spicer’s strange lying about inauguration crowd size from the podium in the first days of the Trump administration in 2017?), actually, crowd size is kind of important in politics. Big crowds tend to equal big media attention. And big media attention often ends up meaning big election results. Just ask Trump. Or ask Obama.
The point here is, Beto has some advantages he can work over and above other candidates already in the race if he chooses to run for President. And if he does, whether or not he’s anyone’s first choice candidate, he might end up getting a lot of progressive love just because he obviously bothers Trump— maybe even scares him— so very, very much.
No one else seems to have gotten under Trump’s skin the way Beto has, except for Elizabeth Warren. And that seems notable, even if it’s not a reason to support him in and of itself.
