Donald Trump falsely claimed in social media posts that nobody attended Vice President Kamala Harris’ Michigan rally and accused her of using a fake crowd picture. Despite Trump’s claims, photos and videos from attendees and media showed thousands of supporters at the event. Trump has long been fixated on audience size and has made exaggerated boasts about turnout at his own rallies. The false claims about Harris’ event come as the former president navigates a changed presidential race, with Harris riding a wave of new Democratic enthusiasm as she replaced President Joe Biden atop the ticket.
These allegations of a fake crowd picture being used by Harris at her rally were made by Trump on his social media website Truth Social. Trump claimed that an airport maintenance worker “turned in” Harris after noticing the fake crowd picture and called for her disqualification from the 2024 election. However, photos and videos of the event clearly show a sizable audience at the rally, with a large hangar filled with supporters and giant screens for those outside to view the event. A digital forensics expert found no evidence of AI generation or manipulation in the images, refuting Trump’s claims of a fake crowd.
David Plouffe, a senior adviser for the Harris campaign, pushed back against the conspiracy theories spread by Trump, emphasizing the importance of responsible leadership in decision-making. Trump shared a screenshot of a post that featured two photos from the event, with one showing a large crowd greeting Harris’ plane and another zoomed in photo allegedly showing a lack of people. Trump accused Harris of cheating and creating a fake image to misrepresent the size of her audience. Despite Trump’s false claims, rally attendees and Harris staffers shared their own photos from the event to refute the allegations.
Trump’s continued false claims about the attendance at Harris’ rally are part of a pattern of baseless attacks and conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 election. The former president has previously been indicted over alleged efforts to overturn the election results. In response to Trump’s claims, rally attendees and Harris staffers shared their own pictures from the event to show the true size of the audience. Lavora Barnes, chairwoman of the Michigan Democratic Party, joked about being included in the alleged AI-generated image of the large crowd that Trump claimed did not exist. Despite Trump’s attempts to discredit Harris, the photos and videos from the event contradict his claims of a fake crowd.
