Trump supporters claim ‘fake news’ over crowd size

DONALD Trump supporters have accused the media of spreading “fake news” about the size of his inauguration crowd. They say this picture proves it.

IS THE widely circulated image comparing Donald Trump’s inauguration with Barack Obama’s in 2009 “fake news”?

It is, according to supporters of the now US President, who claim the right-hand image in the comparison, released by the Associated Press, was taken hours before the actual ceremony. According to AP, both images were taken “shortly before noon” from the top of the Washington Monument.

But Trump supporters claim CNN’s ultra hi-res “gigapixel” photo, taken from behind the President during his inaugural address, shows clear discrepancies from the overhead shot which shows large areas of white space.

Here is the image released by AP:

Picture: AP

And here is the version being circulated by Trump supporters:

Picture: Twitter

It comes amid heated debate over the size of the crowd at Mr Trump’s inauguration as the 45th President of the United States.

In 2009, an estimated 1.8 million people flooded the National Mall area in 2009 when Barack Obama was first sworn in as president, according to federal and local agencies at the time. Mr Trump claimed he drew a crowd of up to 1.5 million people — a figure widely disputed by US media outlets.

Washington authorities reportedly predicted 800,000 to 900,000 would attend Trump’s inauguration Friday, about half of the 2009 crowd.

“I made a speech. I looked out, the field was, it looked like a million, million-and-a-half people,” he told CIA staff at Langley, Virginia on Saturday. “They showed a field where there were practically nobody standing there. And they said, Donald Trump did not draw well.”

Mr Trump said one network estimated the turnout at 250,000. “Now, that’s not bad. But it’s a lie,” he said. “So we caught them and we caught them in a beauty and I think they’re going to pay a big price.”

White House press secretary Sean Spicer used his first press conference to attack the media over the crowd size claims, blasting assembled journalists for their “deliberately false reporting”. “These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong,” Mr Spicer said.

Users on Reddit’s 340,000-strong Donald Trump fan community claimed the CNN image was “proof” the original image was “fake news”, and also accused PBS of editing its time lapse video to “intentionally cut the footage which shows the biggest crowd”.

“I was in the National Mall area, got in about 5-10 minutes before 12pm,” wrote user MotorBoatMyGoats. “The place was a mad house, and was so much more full than the Fake News photos show it to be. Not to mention the maybe 100,000 people who were still waiting on the streets to get into the National Mall area.

“The difference now is we have a Republican president who won’t sit back and take abuse from the liberal media. Bush never combated the media’s lies like Trump will.”

They also pointed out that many people were prevented from entering security checkpoints by Black Lives Matter and Disrupt J20 protesters.

“Generally speaking, most intellectually honest political followers/researchers already anticipated a massive amount of DC-based hostility in all things related to President Trump,” the Conservative Treehouse blog wrote.

“After all, Hillary Clinton won the DC vote with 91 per cent, and only 4 per cent of DC residents supported Donald Trump.

“Despite the shenanigans Sean Spicer was correct. The crowd grew significantly just as the event began. Yes, this was mostly due to the crowd being intentionally delayed from attending. Yes, tens of thousands of people could not get through the screenings. Yes, the federal workers and DC Park and Security leadership made attendance more difficult than any previous inauguration.

Yes, every imaginable tool and technique was utilized last week to provide the maximum level of crisis and discomfort. And yet, given the history of DC doing this with other events, this somehow surprises people?”

— with AFP