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Kaitlan Collins Humiliates Trump With Video of Empty Seats

The president was suspiciously quiet on one usual bragging point.

CNN host Kaitlan Collins has humiliated Donald Trump by airing footage of hundreds of vacant seats at his latest rally.

The 80-year-old president is desperately trying to energize MAGA voters with campaign rallies across the country before the Nov. 3 midterms.

Trump appeared at the Covelli Center in Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday, his second rally this month in the bellwether state. His focus on Ohio comes as a CNN poll put Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown 6 points ahead of incumbent Republican—and Trump thirst-magnet—Jon Husted.

The same poll, conducted Sept. 29-Oct. 5, had Trump’s own approval with Ohio voters at a dismal 36 percent.

That brewing dissatisfaction saw around 3,000 people attend Monday’s rally, at a venue to which he drew around 7,000 supporters in 2017 and about 5,500 in 2022, according to estimates by the Tribune Chronicle.

Entire sections of the Covelli Center arena and upper levels were empty, according to the Washington Post. The publication also pointed out that Trump, who regularly brags about the size of his audiences at rallies, did not mention the topic of attendance on Monday.

Post reporter Emily Davies shared photos on X showing “entirely empty sections” in the arena, with the damning pictures taken as Trump walked on stage.

A quarter of the seats in the venue were covered in tarps, and only two-thirds of the available seats were ever filled, according to local station WFMJ.

Speaking on The Source on Monday, Collins aired embarrassing footage taken inside the center during Trump’s appearance.

“There were roughly.... 400 seats there in that arena, there were some empty seats, as you can see, when you look over the top of that,” Collins said.

The CNN host added, “There isn’t a question of, that’s an indication of whether or not there’s less momentum or fervor for the president, hard to know, but he is the one that’s saying there’s these big overflow rooms.”

Collins was referencing Trump previously claiming his rallies this year have been so popular screens were required to be erected outside of venues.

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Democratic strategist Karen Finney told Collins that Trump is “trying to play this off as though this were the 2016 campaign again, or the 2024 campaign...and the suggestion that there are all these people on the outside who are dying to get in.”

Finney added, “I say keep him out there, because he is mobilizing Democratic voters. He is doing more for our base, frankly, particularly given that our candidates are so dramatically outspent.”

She said the lack of MAGA supporters attending Trump’s rally may not translate into Republican voters supporting Democrats, but added, “It may mean that out of frustration, they decided to stay home, and it certainly reminds Independents, particularly, in the heartland, this guy is the reason that your prices are so high. This guy is the reason that your farm is struggling.”

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Ironically, Trump had talked up his Ohio rally with a Truth Social post on Sunday where he told supporters, “See you there!”

“My Rallies, legendary they have already become, have made a tremendous difference with the enthusiasm of the Republican Party,” the president wrote. “They have been waiting for them to happen, even though I never thought I’d have to be doing Rallies again.”

The octogenarian president had a meltdown last week after The New York Times reported empty seating sections at a rally in deep red Mobile, Alabama

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

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