President-Elect Trump To Hold Huge DC Rally Before Inauguration: Let's Hope Security Is Dialed in
President-elect Donald Trump sure does seem to love his huge, trademark rallies. They were one of the key events in his presidential campaigns - all three of them - and he still seems to enjoy them, so much so that he's holding a victory rally in Washington, DC just prior to his inauguration.
The Associated Press places the rally on January 19th:
Donald Trump is expected to hold a big Washington rally the day before he’s sworn in as the nation’s 47th president.
The victory rally, as it’s being billed, will be held at the Capitol One Arena in the District of Columbia on Jan. 19. Trump has always preferred rally-style events where he can freewheel and joke with his supporters. He’ll be inaugurated in a formal ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20th.
“This is President Trump’s VICTORY RALLY the DAY before being sworn in as the 47th President — the crowd needs to be HUGE!” read an email to supporters advertising the event.
The rally is indoors — Trump’s big outdoor events were limited in the months following an assassination attempt. The arena seats roughly 20,000 people.
The event was scheduled as part of the overall inauguration event schedule; the program also includes a service and dinner on Sunday, January 19th, in addition to the alleged Capital One Arena event. The Capital One event is the one that really has to be making the Secret Service sweat.
Events on New Year's Day in New Orleans prompt the question: Given all that's going on in the country right now, is this the best time for a rally?
Look, a victory rally isn't a bad idea, and given all Donald Trump has endured to get to this point, it's understandable that he'd want to celebrate, and this isn't an unusual inaugural schedule, as I understand it. But boy, if there was ever a time to tighten down security, this is it.
An indoor venue is presumably more secure than an outdoor one; we need only look back at what very nearly happened in Butler, Pennsylvania last summer for a reminder of that. But the Capital One Arena is a pretty big venue, and screening 20,000 attendees seems like it would be quite a task. How is that possibility being handled? We can hope the Secret Service will do a better job securing that venue than they did in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Granted, Donald Trump has a flair for the dramatic. The McDonald's caper was, frankly, brilliant. Oh, the left whined because the restaurant was technically closed for his visit and the drive-through patrons screened by the Secret Service - because of course they were, this is a former (and now future) President of the United States! That "stunt" probably gained him some votes, as did the famous garbage truck ploy that followed Joe Biden's incoherent rant about Trump voters being "garbage."
Oh, and then his wearing the safety vest to his rally - classic Trump.
Those were brilliant campaign events. Those two stunts, and yes, they were stunts, which have a place in political campaigns, probably gained him votes. And then there were the two assassination attempts, especially the Butler, PA attempt; those may have gained votes, but more to the point, they serve to show the very real dangers in these kinds of public events.
It's not a bad idea to take a victory lap, and a big rally like this is the way to do it; it will have the legacy media and the left (but I repeat myself) spitting nails, and that's worth doing, every day and twice on Sunday. But the Secret Service and all the other associated agencies providing security have better have their web-footed fowl arranged in a linear fashion because events of the last few days make one just a bit nervous about all this.
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