President Donald Trump’s campaign on Saturday postponed its planned rally at MAGS in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, citing the threat of severe weather from Tropical Storm Fay.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the rally, scheduled for an airplane hangar, would be delayed for a week or two due to the “big storm”. And campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh blamed “security reasons because of Tropical Storm Fay.”
The president himself wrote about Twitter“With Tropical Storm Fay heading into the Great State of New Hampshire this weekend, we are forced to reschedule our rally from Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Portsmouth International Airport at Pease. Stay safe, we’ll be here soon! #MAGA2020. ”
However, weather forecasts and other reports were quick to cast doubt that the cancellation was caused by the storm, with many suggesting Trump was simply trying to avoid another low turnout annoyance.
From New York Times: The current weather forecast for Portsmouth indicates that the rain should end there around noon on Saturday; the rally was scheduled for 8 p.m. … It was unclear whether the New Hampshire rally was about to fill out. The aides were adamant they would fill the room. But people familiar with the registrations said interest in the rally was significantly lower than at rallies that took place before the coronavirus halted campaigning. … The postponement comes as a series of new polls show Americans are growing more cautious about the coronavirus as cases across the country, particularly in the South and West, have spiked.
More from Mediaite: According to weather.com, the chance of rain is no more than 25 percent at any time after noon in Portsmouth, NH on Saturday. The rally was to take place in the evening. New Hampshire TV station WMUR notes that Tropical Storm Fay is on track to track west of Granite State, with Vermont on track to be hit hardest by the system. … washington post Journalist Paul Farhi noted that President Trump has held rallies in the rain and snow before — including in New Hampshire.
the Los Angeles Times On Friday, the Trump campaign had been worried for weeks about whether he could draw a large crowd to New Hampshire — or, if not, whether they could make the rally full.
“The danger, all agree, was a repeat of Trump’s last disastrous rally three weeks ago in Tulsa, Okla., where TV cameras showed two-thirds of the indoor arena as a sea of blue seats. empty, and the huge crowds predicted outside failed to materialize,” LA Times reported. Worse still, health officials later said President Tulsa’s rally ‘likely contributed’ to a sharp rise in coronavirus infections in the state, with one of three dozen now battling a record rise in 19 cases of COVID.The White House abruptly ended the planned rally in New Hampshire on Friday, citing weather concerns even though forecasts said morning thunderstorms were clearing mostly in the evening.”
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