In a bold move, the campaign team of Kamala Harris took to Truth Social, a platform created by former President Donald Trump, to compare the attendance at their respective political rallies.
The platform, which was launched in February 2022 after Trump was barred from mainstream platforms like Facebook and Twitter, now known as X, following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, was promoted by Trump as a bastion of free speech.
According to Newsweek, Harris' campaign has a verified account on Truth Social and used it to take a swipe at Trump. "Harris rally vs. @realDonaldTrump rally. Same arena in Philly," the campaign posted on Tuesday, accompanied by two images of Temple University's Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This venue has been the site of recent rallies for both presidential candidates.
The first image depicts Harris and her newly announced running mate, Tim Waltz, on stage with a crowd filling the blue-decorated space. The second image, noticeably blurrier, seems to show Trump on stage during his rally with the top tier of seats noticeably vacant, a sight that sparked queries at the time.
The Harris campaign also shared the post on X on Wednesday, quoting the post and stating, "Yes, we posted this on Truth Social." The post has since garnered over 1.7 million views and 61,000 likes.
On Tuesday, Harris announced her Vice Presidential pick, Tim Walz, and later that day, the Harris-Walz ticket made their inaugural campaign stop in Philadelphia. The Harris campaign reported a turnout of 14,000 people at Temple, either watching the rally at the Liacouras Center or in an overflow room at nearby McGonigle Hall. The venue reportedly has a seating capacity of 10,000.
In contrast, Trump's rally in the same area on June 22 reportedly drew a crowd of nearly 4,000 people.
The Harris campaign didn't stop there. Three days prior on Truth Social, they posted similar comparisons of the crowds at the rallies held by both parties in Atlanta, Georgia. One post showcased two videos, one captioned, "GSU Center in Atlanta Harris, 7/30," the other labeled, "GSU Center in Atlanta Trump, 8/3." The first video showed a crowd that appeared to fill most of the seats, while the second video showed a significant number of vacant seats. @KamalaHQ commented on the post, "Sad, @realDonaldTrump."
Both candidates reportedly drew similar-sized crowds at their Atlanta rallies, although Trump suggested that the presence of entertainers Megan Thee Stallion and Quavo at Harris' event was the reason for her crowd size.
The Harris campaign made at least two other posts on Truth Social referencing the crowd sizes at the Atlanta rally, implying that Trump's were smaller.
Trump has often bragged about the size of his event crowds, though his claims have been met with skepticism. One of his earliest controversies as President involved his assertion that 1.5 million people attended his inauguration and that it was the most-watched inauguration in history; both claims were widely disputed by fact-checkers.
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