Hundreds of Trump fans stranded in cold at Georgia rally for 3rd time in a week after Omaha and Pennsylvania
Hundreds of President Donald J. Trump's supporters were left stranded in freezing temperatures once again after a Georgia rally, as increasing turnouts have led to significant logistical challenges for the Trump campaign. Attendees were left shaking in 46F cold for hours on Sunday night, the third such instance within a week wherein MAGA supporters were left in the cold looking for transportation after Nebraska and Pennsylvania Trump rallies.
Newsweek reported how Trump fans in Rome, Georgia, waited hours after Trump's departure for buses to transport them back to their cars. Hundreds of attendees were seen in a clip shared by NBC reporter Julie Tsirkin lining up for buses as they tried to head home. According to Tsirkin, the supporters were nearly a mile from where the President held the rally. In another tweet, she shared that some attendees were "older and disabled" while others tried to hitch rides amid the pandemic.
Some of the folks left stranded were older and disabled. Multiple people tried to hitch rides from strangers amid the pandemic.
— Julie Tsirkin (@JulieNBCNews) November 2, 2020
The single, narrow road to get in and out of the rally site was shared by pedestrians, cars, busses and emergency vehicles. pic.twitter.com/Fv3hQzVtW6
At least 30,000 of Trump's die-hard followers gathered at the Richard B. Russell Regional Airport to hear him speak in freezing 46F cold. Reporter Michael Tracey called the event a "logistical s**tshow." He tweeted that people were "melting down left and right" and that there were "screaming matches between people over who gets to board the returning buses..." "I heard variations of 'this is the biggest nightmare...' shouted in frustration several times," Tracey added.
I came to tonight’s Trump rally in Rome, GA over four hours early and only barely made it in because the lines were so long. The contrast with Biden events is just comical pic.twitter.com/ziu4f9x6ra
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) November 2, 2020
According to Newsweek, some attendees claimed they walked three or four miles to return to their cars.
The chaos ensued the same week Trump supporters in Nebraska were left waiting hours for transportation in the freezing cold at Eppley Airfield after buses failed to show. At least 30 people — including the elderly, a disabled wheelchair user, and a family with small children — required medical attention after hours of waiting in freezing cold at the rally, according to dispatches from the Omaha Police department, recorded by radio communications platform, Broadcastify. "There's an issue with a number of people unable to find their cars and wandering in the cold... see if we can't get everybody reunited with a car," the Omaha Police Dispatch 1129 recording stated, per Broadcastify, while audio on Omaha Police Dispatch 1100 said, "I've got an elderly male that's down ten blocks... having a hard time breathing right now."
Similar scenes were witnessed on Saturday at the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport in Butler, Pennsylvania where thousands of MAGA supporters were left stranded in the cold as the Trump campaign failed to plan for a sufficient number of buses to get people back to their parking spots. Hordes of MAGA fans waited in 41F degree cold for nearly two hours for shuttles to arrive. Shocking photos showed MAGA fans packed in, without masks or social distancing, and waiting in line for a sign of the shuttles they were told would take them back to their cars.
In a statement following the outrage, Trump campaign spokeswoman Samantha Zager said the crowding had occurred due to road closures put in place. That said, the transportation mayhem came as the President hit multiple battleground states with several rallies every day in the lead up to Election Day.