Eric Trump making a bid for Daddy's love with some rank racism: "Animals taking over cities. Burning down churches."

Tuning into Tulsa now. Has anyone commented on Eric Trump's new fashy haircut?

Better yet: This arena is looking nowhere near full. I've reported a lot of Trump rallies & the sad fact is they usually are capacity+. But I'm wondering if he overestimated his devotees' covid cluelessness? If he made a misstep by pretending antifa was going to attack?

Hey, there's Gym Jordan in the stands! Little wrestle-wrassle before the show?

Earlier I tweeted about the terrible dancing at Trump rallies & someone called me condescending. So I just want to admire the fellow in the "45" baseball shirt doing figure eight loop dances with his Trump hat. Graceful, powerful, so evocative.

I've reported a lot of Trump rallies. They are usually much more crowded than this one is now. They never let the crowd fill the floor, but even so, this is sparse.

Trump Tulsa: Heavy fella does a cartwheel! And then moonwalks. I guess I stand corrected about the terrible dancing at Trump rallies.

Mike Pence with the same kind of banal racist dog whistle -- "law and order" -- GOP's been peddling for half a century. Speaking to an under-capacity crowd. I'd call this "low energy."

When people most expect "shock" from Trump he tends to retreat -- I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't really do the Trump show tonight, if he sticks to the teleprompter.

I've long been doom-and-gloom about Trump's power, which the establishment has so often underestimated. But looking at this half-full rally--after having reported from so many packed ones--I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. Those empty seats, they're beautiful!

Woah, Pence -- "he heal this land" -- maybe refers to 2 Chronicles 7:14, a popular QAnon verse. There are "7:14 Prayer Meetings" at 7:14 am and pm at rallies.

I've covered a lot of Trump rallies. This appears to be one of the smallest crowds, in the reddest of states. "Small." Trump loves superlatives. Maybe it's *smallest.*

OMG, this is all so great -- CNN reports that campaign tells Secret Service to leave outdoor stage so they'd stop reporting on the total absence of crowds.

Trump opens with lies about “very bad people outside” to explain tiny crowd.

Weirdly, bearded dudes not so excited about “300 new judges.”

I’ve seen a lot of Trump speeches. His power is improv. Which means sometimes he misses, even with his followers. Right now he’s missing. I’m betting he’s distracted by fury over his small crowd.

“I called Russia. Right? I called Russia.” Yes. Yes you did.

Now he’s getting into his hate groove, imitating CNN reporters, delivering the boo lines — just the names AOC, Seattle.

Oh god close up of Jim Jordan cackling as Trump emphasizes “Chineeese virus.” It’s a horror show.

“I said to my people, ‘slow the testing down, please.’” ?? My 11 year old asks, Is he drunk? “He actually doesn’t drink.” “What??? He’s just like that?”

Trump all in for the Confederacy.

Look I’m just going to put this article of mine here again as he talks about bad “hombre” breaking into a woman’s bedroom. This image is central to his rallies. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/06/inside-the-cult-of-trump-his-rallies-are-church-and-he-is-the-gospel

“Kung flu.” Goddamn. We know this about him but he’s putting it ALL in the open tonight.

So, uh, now he’s making fun of West Point, and he sounds like Jackie Mason, but even less funny.

My god he must be 10 minutes in to this “comedy” routine about walking down the West Point ramp. Pandemic? National protests? Collapsing economy? Who cares? Somebody said he didn’t walk so well — that’s all that matters to this man.

The president of the United States is now showing off that he can drink a glass of water. And his followers are standing and applauding like it’s an act of bravery. Chanting four more years. I mean, he can drink water!

If you’re not watching Trump’s speech—and I hope you’re not, really—it’s hard to convey the *depth* with which he went into defending his ability to drink a glass of water. Was that 15 minutes? 20?

Just saw this t-shirt in the crowd.

Trump keeps promising he can shut down any protest in “less than an hour.” He’s talking about full press violence.

Trump: "If the Democrats gain power, then the rioters will be in charge, and no one will be safe." This is civil war rhetoric.

Now Trump is suggesting protesters "aren't even from our nation." Again claiming against all evidence that Tulsa was under "attack."

Trump: "Our people aren't nearly so violent, but if they ever were, it'd be a terrible terrible day for the other side." More civil war rhetoric.

Trump's working his fascist bellows tonight, back & forth, "comedy" & barely veiled threat. Which is how racism works at a Trump rally—signal, disavowal, repeat; ugly words followed by the claim that it was just a joke followed by repetition of the ugly words. Joking! Not joking.

Trump was drifting into the weeds on government bidding, losing his audience, then he says "you dumb son-of-a-bitch," and the crowd, no clue what he's talking about, cheers. This is what they're here for, the president who curses, who calls people names.

By the way, as Trump is speaking, mocking "kung flu," joking about "co-VED," the daily case count is again climbing to numbers not seen since the May 1.

Trump has talked endlessly about protecting statues. Not a word -- not a WORD -- for the actual dead, those killed by covid-19, those killed by the police, about whom he says only "they never complain."

Now Trump is claiming Democrats are pro-church burning. The history of church burning in America is that of white supremacy, those who bomb and burn and open fire in Black churches, from Birmingham to Dylann Roof.

Trump: "They cut up a young woman, they cut up a young woman and her friend, with a knife, because it's more painful" -- this is the Trump horror show, "Faces of Death" as rhetoric. It's not "politics," it's a revenge fantasy, a fever dream.

"We have to go to the polls on November 3rd -- and the rest, you know what to do. You know what to do." This is dog whistle civil war talk.

I was thrilled to see the empty seats in Tulsa, but this speech is bad news. I'd hoped that Trump, furious, would be subdued. This is his fully nasty, this is Trump cornered, this is a man molting into his full fascist form.

Rally goer collapses and Trump seizes the moment to make it, of course, about himself, bragging that people have been waiting five days, his followers will collapse for him.

"If Joe Biden were to become president they'd launch a full assault on American life... they want to crush religion."

Trump just claimed that if Biden becomes president he'll subsidize "after birth execution." This is a gift to QAnon, which is built around the idea that Democrats are killing -- and possibly eating -- babies and kids.

Trump just said he's better than Democrats because he has "nicer apartments."

"We actually won on DACA yesterday." What's 2+2? You know the answer. You know what it equals in Trumpland.

Now Trump is attacking Rep. Ilhan Omar, whose father just died of covid-19. Saying she wants to make America into Somalia. An utter grotesque.

Oh, there it is -- Trump doing the OK symbol. QAnon. I doubt it's deliberate, but Q believers thrill to this kind of thing.

Now he's praising Sen. Jim Inhofe, who once brought a picture of his extended family to the senate floor to "prove" there no "homosexuals" in his bloodline.

As I watch this Trump speech my wife is squeezing a fat tick out of our dog's haunch beside me and I don't know what's more stomach churning.

"Dictators would come and say, 'Congratulations on the economy." No praise matters more to him than that of a strongman.