Truth behind viral Democrats crowd picture

Crowd pictures of the Democratic National Convention are making the rounds on social media, but there’s more to them than meets the eye.

It wouldn’t be a US presidential election without a row over crowd sizes — as, every four years, both sides of the two-party establishment claim to draw more people to their rallies.

At the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, the issue came to the fore once again as pictures showing large numbers of empty seats surfaced from the United Center.

“There are more people protesting at the DNC than at the DNC,” one commenter wryly observed of the image on social media.

It ignited conspiracy theories from the MAGA faithful that the image would soon be doctored by AI to make the venue look full.

Conservative social media users have shared pictures of the crowd while people were still filtering in.

However, a source from the convention told news.com.au the image was taken while people were still filtering in and finding their seats — and that the same thing happened at the Republican Convention in Milwaukee in July.

There was also added disruption outside the Democrats’ event in Chicago.

Protests against Israel’s war in Gaza had earlier shadowed the opening, underscoring what remains a potential vote-loser for Democrats among left-wingers and Arab Americans.

A group of demonstrators broke through the outer security fence of the convention after splitting off from a larger protest of thousands of people.

Police in blue helmets with shields and carrying black batons prevented them from getting to the inner cordon.

Despite the drama, a source told news.com.au it didn’t take long for the United Center to fill out – and videos from the event show every seat at the venue occupied.

In case there are questions about crowd sizes…This is the last row at the United Center in Chicago. The Democratic National Convention is literally packed to the rafters.#DNCConvention2024pic.twitter.com/IYtcLOd3DA

— Chris Sheridan (@ChrisSheridan34) August 20, 2024

Holy sh*t look at that crowd at the DNC pic.twitter.com/lyBqxvtouQ

— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) August 20, 2024

Trump rages over images of Kamala Harris’s rally crowd

This all comes a week after Donald Trump claimed the crowd at a rally held by his opponent Kamala Harris did “not exist”, adding that she “cheated” and should be “disqualified” from the upcoming election.

The rally in question happened in Detroit, Michigan, on August 7. Ms Harris and her chosen nominee for the vice presidency Tim Walz disembarked the Vice President’s plane, Air Force Two, and then spoke to an audience in a hangar in Romulus, a suburb of the city.

Mr Trump appears to have picked up on an internet theory which claims images of the event and also, somehow, video footage faked the crowd using artificial intelligence.

Kamala Harris and her pick for vice president, Tim Walz, disembarking Air Force Two in Michigan. Picture: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP

Part of the crowd that greeted them. Picture: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP

“Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport?” Mr Trump asked on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday, US time.

“There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘AI’d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST!

“She was turned in by a maintenance worker at the airport when he noticed the fake crowd picture, but there was nobody there, later confirmed by the reflection of the mirror like finish on the Vice Presidential Plane.

“She’s a CHEATER. She had NOBODY waiting, and the ‘crowd’ looked like 10,000 people! Same thing is happening with her fake ‘crowds’ at her speeches.

“She should be disqualified because the creation of a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE. Anyone who does that will cheat at ANYTHING!”

“We caught her with a fake ‘crowd’. There was nobody there!” he said in a subsequent post, accompanied by an image that did appear to have been generated by AI.

Donald Trump's post (left), and Kamala Harris’s crowd (right).

Ms Harris after her speech. Picture: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP

Ms Harris’s speech to the crowd was broadcast live on several TV networks, and images taken by media photographers confirm there was, in fact, a real audience.

Local news stations estimated there were about 15,000 people in attendance, enough to spill over from the hangar onto the tarmac.

“These are not conspiratorial rantings from the deepest recesses of the internet,” a Harris campaign adviser David Plouffe wrote on Twitter.

“The author could have the nuclear codes and be responsible for decisions that will affect us all for decades.”

With more than a hint of sarcasm, a Harris campaign spokesman, Ammar Moussa, said: “Donald Trump is definitely not mad. Do not say Donald Trump is mad.”

Fixation on crowd size

At a press conference earlier this month, held at his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago, Mr Trump repeatedly fixated on the size of his rally crowds, and expressed annoyance at the press for reporting on the relatively large crowds being drawn by Ms Harris.

“I’ve spoken to the biggest crowds. No one has spoken to crowds bigger than me,” he said.

“If you look at Martin Luther King, when he did his speech, his great speech. And you look at ours. Same real estate, same everything. Same number of people, if not we had more. And they said he had a million people, I had 25,000.

“You look at the pictures of his crowd, my crowd, we actually had more people.”

Mr Trump speaking at a rally in Montana last week. Picture: Natalie Behring/AFP

Mr Trump was specifically talking about his crowd at the “Stop the Steal” rally, held at the Ellipse in front of the White House just before the Capitol Riot on January 6, 2021.

Estimates put that gathering at about 10,000 people. There were an estimated 250,000 people for Dr King’s famous speech in 1963, delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Mr Walz, the Governor of Minnesota, unleashed a jab at Mr Trump’s obsession with crowd sizes at another rally in Arizona on August 8.

“But Arizona, you just couldn’t leave it alone, could you?” Mr Walz said, poking at the crowd for rivalling the one in Michigan.

“It’s not as if anybody cares about crowd sizes or anything.”

During his press conference last week, Mr Trump was asked whether the size of his opponent’s audiences made him concerned.

“Listen, I had 107,000 people in New Jersey. You didn’t report it,” he said.

“I’m so glad you asked. What did she have yesterday, 2000 people? If I ever had 2000 people, you’d say my campaign is finished.”

Media estimates put the New Jersey rally in question at about 60,000 people – about half of Mr Trump’s claimed crowd size, but still an unusually large audience for a political rally.