Trump Supporters Left Stuck in the Cold After Nebraska Rally

There's surely a metaphor in here somewhere. And in addition to the bitter cold of the Omaha night, attendees were certainly not thinking of the pandemic.

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Image via Getty/Steve Pope

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Trump supporters were left to fend for themselves in the bitter cold following a failed steak salesman rally in Omaha, Nebraska on Tuesday night.

On-the-ground reports from CNN's Jeff Zeleny and others noted that—long after Trump had left the area in Air Force One—a swath of supporters remained "stranded" while they waited for buses to take them back to where their cars were parked. That location, notably, was miles from the site of the rally.

President Trump took off in Air Force One 1 hr 20 minutes ago, but thousands of his supporters remain stranded on a dark road outside the rally. “We need at least 30 more buses,” an Omaha police officer just said, shaking his head at the chaotic cluster that is unfolding.

— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) October 28, 2020

To be clear, this isn’t a reporter complaining about waiting for a bus. We only had to walk about a mile to press parking, which was easy. Thanks to the campaign for that. But it’s hundreds and hundreds of people who came on buses - forced to park miles away - who were stranded.

— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) October 28, 2020

The above video & this one were taken around 10:15pm. The #Trump rally ended around 8:45pm. Some just gave up and walked from the airfield, back to wherever they parked. It was about 32° out at the time. Many had already spent hours outside as they waited for POTUS to arrive. pic.twitter.com/JYXCLypTQl

— Jeff Paul (@Jeff_Paul) October 28, 2020

And as spotted by the Daily Beast, Omaha Scanner—a Twitter account dedicated to documenting regional radio traffic—reported that at least seven people were subsequently transported to nearby hospitals. Though no official updates have been given, it's widely believed that the bulk of those who struggled the most in the cold weather conditions were elderly.

Omaha World-Herald reporter Aaron Sanderford later said he had spoken with a rep for the Trump campaign. They blamed the apparent bus problem on "traffic flow."

Spoke just now to the @realDonaldTrump campaign re: the folks still trying to leave. They say they have the plenty of buses but are having trouble getting them to people still waiting because traffic flow on the small, two-lane airport access road is limited to one direction.

— Aaron Sanderford (@asanderford) October 28, 2020

As for the rally in question, Trump—per excerpts from the Lincoln Journal Star—Trump spoke for less than an hour and used a portion of his time to again make unsubstantiated claims about the U.S.  rounding the corner on the pandemic despite the numbers definitively showing no such thing.

The CDC is now reporting 8.7 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 225,000 deaths. The actual numbers, however, are widely expected by leading health experts to be much higher due to underreporting and other factors.

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