Trump greeted by empty seats at Arizona rally leaving supporters 'totally shocked': report

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Raw Story

April 18, 2026 7:36AM ET


Donald Trump's ability to pack arenas is evaporating.The president who once filled sports venues across the country couldn't even come close to filling a 4,500-seat Arizona church on Friday night, exposing the dramatic erosion of his political momentum.

According to the Washington Post, Trump was the featured speaker at a Turning Point USA rally in Phoenix at Dream City Church. Despite his boast earlier in the day on Truth Social about addressing a "BIG CROWD," the turnout was sparse and underwhelming.

The attendance numbers tell the story. A Turning Point USA spokeperson claimed only about 3,000 people attended — meaning the church was roughly two-thirds full at best. For a president who once commanded arena-sized audiences, the half-empty megachurch represents a stunning reversal.

The demographic breakdown was equally telling, reports the Post. The megachurch was supposed to be a venue for Trump to drum up support among young voters. Instead, he found an audience whose members skewed older and were focused on divisions within their own party. Even longtime supporters were shocked by the sparse crowd. One Trump voter, Diane Niemann, a retired dental hygienist, told the Post she was "was not planning to come to the Friday event until she saw there was hardly a line to get in." "I'm totally shocked," Niemann said.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-rally-flop/

[magicarpet]

1. Yes,.. totally shocked that everyone is sick of listening to this fabricating prevaricating liar.

Except the hardcore MAGA Meatheads.

[FakeNoose]

42. Well yes, but also ... they're no longer PAYING people to attend the MAGA rallies

It's just a guess, but doesn't it look like THAT was the reason for all the people coming before his election?
They showed up to get paid, and then they left. Now they aren't even showing up.

And people are surprised?

[Skittles]

50. THANK YOU

JFC, why would anyone have to GO ANYWHERE to see and hear him, he's in our face EVERY FUCKING DAY

[Irish_Dem]

2. Totally shocked because she lives in a psychotic fantasy bubble.

[dalton99a]

3. But the camera didn't capture a crowd of 30,000 waiting outside

[Ponietz]

4. The dumbfucks needed 10 years to see what was obvious to us in 2016

[AZ8theist]

56. Some of us knew DECADES before that what an asshole he was.......

[Attilatheblond]

5. There are SOME rightwing-supporting young people in AZ, but it was Friday night

Whoever planned this shindig didn't think several things thru.

Also, there was a recall of a lot of F150 pickup trucks, so some of those baby boyz might have been without wheels.

[llmart]

7. Or maybe they can no longer afford to put gas in the tanks.

[Attilatheblond]

14. Some might be working on developing bone spurs too.

[ck4829]

6. Nice. K&R.

[electric_blue68]

8. Good.

[SergeStorms]

9. Wait.....

A 4,500 seat freaking church! And they're hosting a partisan political rally? WTF!

It's past the point where these "christian" nationalists should have their tax-exempt status revoked.

This is freaking sickening!

[Bayard]

10. That shocked me as well

That's a stadium--not a church. No way they should be tax-exempt. Wonder what they charged to get into this event? Maybe the crowd thought he would show up as Jesus.

[travelingthrulife]

37. We can report them to the IRS I suppose. But Trump controls that.

We need to expand the IRS again so they can go after these religious violations of their tax status.

[AverageOldGuy]

11. Was The Widow Erica What's-Her-Name there . . .

. . . in her skin-tight widow's leather pants, stiletto heels, and see-through blouse?

[enigmania]

13. She is disgusting!

[Amethyst Ring]

26. She ran off stage after announcing Trump

Leaving the Cheese standing alone.

[generalbetrayus]

12. Thank Darwin the megachurch in my town lies in a very progressive county in a blue state. An Orange Julius Caesar

appearance at our megachurch would have 50 times the number of people outside hurling epithets than the number of people inside praising their Lord and Savior Donald Trump.

[Scrivener7]

15. If they said 3000, it's probably 1000.

[TheRickles]

18. A photo or two would be nice.

[niyad]

22. google "##### supporters show up for red wall event in Phoenix"

on the AZ central web page. 24 images. creeeeepy.

[TheRickles]

32. Thanks. Creepy outside, but no good indoor views to see how big the crowd actually is.

Which I suppose suggests that it was a small crowd, too embarrassing to show.

[niyad]

38. That was my guess.

[3Hotdogs]

52. Sunno, church looks pretty full to me.

[TheRickles]

55. That link only had photos of people gathered outside.

Please share if you have a link with photos showing the crowd inside the church. Thanks.

[Bengus81]

25. Or a video like the one at the TP event that was litterly empty last week

So empty that grifter Kirk left JD to BS the few people.

[TheRickles]

31. Yes, I saw that one. Which is why I was surprised/pleased to see that Trump drew a similar crowd.

[niyad]

39. If you look at that jd video, there is no way there were 2,000 people there.

Barely 200, more like.

[niyad]

21. More like 300.

[odins folly]

16. This actually makes me smile more than most

We went to see Bruce on Thursday night, downtown Phoenix, venue has a 12k+ seating for concerts, can’t find out how many seats were sold but it looked packed from where we were. Didn’t see or hear any negative voices for his message, so that then the dismal turnout for the hitler youth turning point rally really makes me believe that AZ is actually turning the corner…

😃😅

[Cheezoholic]

17. Firts "4500 seat" churches scare the fuck out of me. 2nd, she didn't attend "because there was hardly a line"

That's all you need to know about these people. Vanity.

[niyad]

23. I think you misread. The woman quoted wasn't planning on going, until

she saw that there was hardly a line, which shocked her.

[Bengus81]

27. That Olsteen church in Houston seats over 16,000.

[AZ8theist]

57. Yup. The one that slimy prick Olsteen refused to open up to hurricane victims.

[Bengus81]

61. But...but...they had just installed new carpet! What would Jesus do?

[AZ8theist]

62. It would be a sin to have dirty brown and black people mess up the new carpet, right?

After all, that's in the Gospels. They had to move the Last Supper because new carpeting had been installed.

(Obviously sarcasm, but if that story was told, one wonders how many rubes would believe it....)

[paleotn]

41. It's the tribe of stupid.

[electric_blue68]

19. Awww...boo, hoo, hoo, hoo.....

NOT!!!

[Walleye]

20. It's not like he was gonna say anything they never heard before

Do you think they’re actually getting tired of the repetition. That would be nice

[Bengus81]

28. They acted like they were in 2024,walking out on his rallies early

Then...go vote for his orange ass anyway.

[SouthBayDem]

24. For one, he had to compete against the Phoenix Suns

whooping my Golden State Warriors. The Diamondbacks won last night too over Toronto.

[MIButterfly]

29. If it was, indeed, 3,000 people, that's still 3,000 people when it should be no more than 30 at this point

I understand that 3,000 in a room that holds 4,500 is not a large turnout, but 3,000 sounds like way too many that still believe in him.

What will it take for people to wake up? If they haven't by now, they never will. It must be a cult, only usually cult leaders are charismatic. DJT doesn't have a charismatic bone in his body.

Edited to add: I personally can't believe anyone would actually leave their house, get in their car and drive to see him. I don't even want to want to see him on my TV and that's just across the room.

[Grim Chieftain]

30. Oh! Oh! I haz a sad!

[BidenRocks]

33. Let me broad brush this.

How many (other than white) folk were in attendance.
Go to a rally, get deported!

Where was his private army? ICE had to be there for the chickenshit warhawk!

[RockRaven]

34. That MAGAt is a special kind of stupid.

If you don't understand that people, even MAGAts, are disillusioned then you are beyond reaching.

[twodogsbarking]

35. Biden's Fault.

[travelingthrulife]

36. How does this not violate their tax free status?

Rallies inside a church.

[niyad]

40. exactly!

[twodogsbarking]

43. They were all at Four Seasons Landscaping, with Rudy and Kash. A drunken bash.

[ananda]

44. Seriously? Totally shocked?

[Wonder Why]

45. You made a typo. it should be "the half-empty magachurch".

[BumRushDaShow]

46. With

tens of people.

[Cha]

47. "Church" my Democratic

Last edited Sun Apr 19, 2026, 12:49 AM - Edit history (1)

Promoting a PEDO, Homicidal Maniac, Rapist, Treasonous asshole.. what kind of "church" is that?

This is the WaPo? What will Greedy Zombie Bezos think about his Cult god getting racked with real reporting?

[flvegan]

48. Imagine deliberately showing up, in person, to a "rally" headlined by a child rapist* like

"that's my guy, right there, and I'm here for him" type of thing.

What utter shit people. I mean stupid is stupid, and that's unfortunate, but there's a line you have to cross to become an utterly useless, waste of humanity shit person.

*allegedly, of course

[Wednesdays]

49. 3000 in attendance, huh?

I've seen better attendance at junior high school basketball games.

[IcyPeas]

51. I hate seeing young people there.

Ask them why they're there.

Ask them a history question.

Ask them to name all the wars he's stopped.

[RainCaster]

53. I thought about moving to AZ

But then I visited this spring and saw way too many ugly people, as defined by the bumper stickers on their golf carts. Nope, not for me.

[Aussie105]

58. Promises made, promises broken will do that.

Most people are so sick of Trump and his destructive game playing that it isn't funny.

How many true believers are still out there?
Hopefully, fewer and fewer every day.

[DFW]

59. Maybe Trump still believes his own myths about Arizona and the stolen victory of the 2020 election

But that doesn't mean that the people of Arizona are obligated to believe it.

After all, Governor Katie Hobbs and both U.S. Senators (Kelly and Gallego) are all Democrats. Maybe Trump hasn't yet figured out the meaning of that, but that doesn't mean that the rest of the state is forced to walk around in the same fog.

[LilElf70]

60. It's finally

the beginning of the end.

There's hope for us after all. Now we have to win everything in November and shut him down for good.