Donald Trump's Tulsa rally

On June 10, President Donald Trump announced his intent to host a rally for his 2020 re-election campaign at the BOK Center in Tulsa on June 19, in his first public campaign event since the wider activation of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in March 2020.[1][2][3]

Concerns were raised that as a large, public gathering held in a confined, indoor space, the rally could exacerbate spread of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).[1] Trump stated that Oklahoma had done "a great job with COVID" (despite there having been a recent uptick in cases), while Mayor of Tulsa G. T. Bynum stated that "Tulsans have managed one of the first successful re-openings in the nation, so we can only guess that may be the reason President Trump selected Tulsa as a rally site", but added that the campaign was being encouraged to provide "enhanced hygiene considerations" to comply with state guidelines.[4] Oklahoma has recommended avoiding crowded gatherings, but does not currently enforce limits on their size.[1][5] The Washington Post cited the rally as part of a growing de-emphasis of the pandemic by the Trump administration.[6]

Trump's campaign director Tim Murtaugh told Fox News that there were plans for safety protocols, but that "I would point out to the national media that I don't remember them doing any social distancing shaming when they were doing all the coverage of the [George Floyd] demonstrations that were going on."[1] Attendees were required to accept a liability waiver, agreeing to not hold the Trump campaign liable for any exposure to COVID-19 that may occur at the rally, citing it as an inherent risk in any public gathering at this time.[7][3][8][4] Trump's former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci felt that the waiver was an example of "two of the great hallmarks of his presidency: Selfish and irresponsible." The campaign later announced plans to perform temperature checks, and to offer face masks and hand sanitizer to all attendees.[8][4]

Amidst increased support for the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd, the site and scheduling of the rally also faced criticism; Tulsa's Greenwood district was the site of a major race massacre in 1921, while the rally fell on "Juneteenth"—a holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans.[9] Trump's history of racially-charged statements was also noted.[7] On June 13, Trump announced that the rally would be pushed back by one day to June 20. He later attempted to take credit for having made Juneteenth "very famous", claiming that "nobody had ever heard of [it]" before.[10][11][9] The campaign also announced plans for overflow capacity at the nearby Cox Business Convention Center.[12]

On June 14, Oklahoma announced its largest single-day increase in cases, at 225. Tulsa County also reported its largest single-day increase since March.[13][6] On June 18, after initially experiencing technical difficulties preventing the release of COVID-19 totals in the state, the Oklahoma State Department of Health reported that Oklahoma had reached 9,354 cases, an increase of 450, which broke the previous record day-to-day case increase of 259.[14]

On June 15, Vice President Mike Pence and Governor Stitt announced that they would also attend the rally, with Stitt to introduce Trump. Pence stated that the campaign chose to host the event in Oklahoma because they had flattened the curve "in a very real sense", claiming that "their hospital capacity is abundant, [and] the number of cases in Oklahoma has declined precipitously", despite Oklahoma (and several other states where the campaign planned to hold rallies) having seen a recent spike in new cases since they began lifting restrictions and quarantine measures.[13][6]

In a Q&A, Governor Stitt stated that he was exploring a switch to an outdoor venue, but that the event was currently planned to go on at BOK Center as scheduled, and that it was up to individuals (unless immunocompromised) to choose whether they want to attend because they live in a "free society", but that "we have to learn how to deal with this."[12] Mayor Bynum stated that he would not use his emergency powers to stop the rally.[15] The city's health director Bruce Dart told the Tulsa World that "I think it's an honor for Tulsa to have a sitting president want to come and visit our community, but not during a pandemic. I’m concerned about our ability to protect anyone who attends a large, indoor event, and I’m also concerned about our ability to ensure the president stays safe as well."[6]

On June 18, by request of the chief of police, a curfew was implemented around the site of BOK Center, citing that "individuals from organized groups who have been involved in destructive and violent behavior in other States are planning to travel to the City of Tulsa for purposes of causing unrest in and around the rally."[16] The next day, Mayor Bynum announced that he had rescinded the curfew, stating that it was "no longer necessary".[16]

A lawsuit was filed against BOK Center's management on behalf of businesses and immunocompromised plaintiffs, seeking that it enforce "government mandated social distancing protocols, including the required wearing of masks and reducing attendance so that at least six feet separates each rally-goer while in the arena." On June 19, the Oklahoma Supreme Court rejected the suit.[17] On the day of the rally, six Trump campaign staff members working the rally were tested positive for COVID-19.[18]

Trump spoke for 1 hour and 41 minutes; he opened by praising the audience as "warriors" and criticized coverage of the event he perceived as negative. Trump remarked that Coronavirus disease 2019 had "19 different names", including "kung flu", and that calling it COVID-19 "gets further and further away from China as opposed to calling it the Chinese virus.” Trump praised the country's response to the pandemic, and stated that he had asked officials to "slow the testing down", so the country's case numbers would not be high. He then told an anecdote about his recent attendance of the commencement ceremony at the United States Military Academy, including having walked down a stage ramp slowly because his leather-bottomed shoes were slippery.[20]

He criticized recent calls for the removal of Confederate monuments, commenting that "the unhinged left-wing mob is trying to vandalize our history, desecrating our monuments, our beautiful monuments, tear down our statues and punish, cancel and persecute anyone who does not conform to their demands for absolute and total control, we're not conforming." He praised his Supreme Court appointees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, alleging that Joe Biden would install "extremists" if elected.[20]

The total attendance of the rally would be lower than was expected by the Trump campaign; roughly a week prior, Trump claimed that "almost one million" people had requested tickets.[21] An outdoor overflow stage (which was also scheduled to have in-person appearances by Trump and Pence following the in-arena address) was scrapped just hours before the rally,[22] while Tulsa's fire department and Trump's campaign each reported crowd estimates of 6,200 and 12,000, respectively — less than the arena's capacity of around 19,000.[23][24][22] It was reported that TikTok users and members of the K-pop fandom had credited themselves with falsely requesting tickets for the rally, as part of a coordinated effort to "troll" Trump.[25][26]

CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC all carried coverage of the rally, with Fox being the only one among the three to carry Trump's address live. Fox News recorded an average of 6.7 million viewers that night (peaking at 8.2 near the 9:00 p.m. ET hour), which it stated was its highest Saturday primetime viewership in network history.[27]

Few attendees of the rally practiced social distancing or the wearing of face masks.[28][29] Following the rally, two additional Trump campaign staff members, two secret service members and Oklahoma Watch reporter Paul Monies (a journalist who attended the rally) tested positive for COVID-19.[30][31] [32] After two secret service agents who were at the rally tested positive, dozens of agents were asked to self-isolate, however the secret service did not say how many employees were infected or isolating.[32]

Trump was reportedly "furious" over the low attendance of the rally;[33][34][22] campaign manager Brad Parscale argued that "a week's worth of the fake news media warning people away from the rally because of Covid and protesters" had deterred attendance, while Murtaugh accused "radical protesters, coupled with a relentless onslaught from the media", of attempting to "frighten" Trump's supporters. On Fox News Sunday the following morning, campaign advisor Mercedes Schlapp similarly accused protesters of having "blocked the paths" to the venue to deter attendance. However, besides a group of anti-Trump protesters near a security checkpoint, as well as one of the venue entrances being temporarily closed after an attempt to block it, CNN reporters on-scene observed relatively few disruptions.[35][24] It was also reported that Trump had criticized the decision to publicize positive cases among his staff prior to the rally.[22]

White House advisor Peter Navarro claimed that Trump's "slow the testing down" remark was meant to be tongue-in-cheek.[36] When asked about the remarks by a reporter on June 22, Trump replied "I don't kid, let me just tell you." In an interview with CBN News aired later that evening, Trump denied that he had directly ordered his administration to reduce testing (calling his remark in the speech "semi tongue-in-cheek"). Trump added, however, that he did suggest to "[his] people" that doing fewer tests would make the United States look like it was "doing much better", but that "I wouldn't do that, but I will say this: we do so much more [testing] than other countries it makes us, in a way, look bad but actually we're doing the right thing."[37]

• Salute to America

• President Trump Campaign Rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma at c-span.org