President Donald Trump returned on Thursday to his familiar focus on crowd size, falsely claiming there were “no empty seats” in the crowd at the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Texas, even though news photographers captured a largely empty upper section inside the roughly 19,000-seat American Airlines Center.
“Everybody said if you have a midterm convention, it's going to be a disaster,” the president told the crowd on Thursday in his closing speech. “No, but look at that, the highest rafter, no empty seats.”
“Every box is loaded up,” Trump added. “Every box, every corner.”
The president accused the “fake news” media of focusing on his crowd size, alleging journalists comb the crowd waiting for attendees to use the bathroom so they can take photos that claim empty audiences at Trump events.
Footage from earlier Thursday captured a similar turnout for Vice President JD Vance, who spoke to a mostly full arena, but for the upper section.
Vance’s speech was less focused on the crowd size, though the vice president sharply criticized a protester who interrupted him while waving a Mexican flag.
“What the people at home missed is that we just had a protester interrupting us and waving the Mexican flag,” Vance said in response. “Well, my friend, if you love Mexico so much, get your a** over there. I'll buy you the plane ticket.”
President Trump has long made exaggerated claims about the crowds at his events and rallies.
Over the summer, he alleged his speech at the Great American State Fair was “packed to the brim” with 45,000 attendees, despite photographs from the event undermining the claim.
MUST WATCH! @VP responds to a protestor waiving a Mexican flag 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/PcBpGG41nb
— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) September 11, 2026
During the 2024 campaign, he claimed photos of a Kamala Harris-Tim Walz rally were “fake” and artificial intelligence-generated.
Elsewhere, the Republican has falsely suggested his January 6, 2021, rally was larger than Martin Luther King’s 1963 March on Washington.
Most famously, the first Trump administration repeatedly and falsely claimed the president’s inauguration had the largest-ever crowd, in spite of photos showing a much larger crowd for the inauguration of Trump rival President Barack Obama.
Read MoreJD Vance offers to buy protester who interrupted speech a plane ticket to Mexico
