Trump's MAGA rallies are getting an inflated boost from the press

Officials in Wildwood, New Jersey who were the source for the Associated Press’s reporting that former President Trump drew between 80,000 to 100,000 to a beachfront weekend rally now say it was not the number on the beach at the rally per se, but rather the number of people “in our town.” For the actual rally number “we defer to the Trump Campaign for the exact count on the beach,” the latest Wildwood statement asserts. Lisa Fagan, the Wildwood press spokesperson AP originally cited as the source for the original crowd estimate was quoted as saying the eye-popping estimate was “based off her own observations on the scene Saturday, having seen ‘dozens’ of other events in the same space.” Five days later, when asked to explain the wide variance between the AP reporting and the NJ.com video that reveals a crowd in the few thousands, Fagan provided a statement from Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano, a Republican, at odds with what the wire service initially attributed to Fagan. We defer to the Trump Campaign for the exact count on the beach.” Troiano told NJ Advance Media last week “the rally will be held between Schellenger and Spicer avenues, a stretch of beach between two amusement park piers” accommodating “a crowd size of between 30,000 and 40,000.” Troiano is under indictment on state corruption charges that he, along with former Wildwood Mayor Pete Byron and City Commissioner Steve Mikulski, fraudulently obtained coverage in the State Health Benefits Program as full time employees. Steve Peoples, AP’s chief political reporter, who was on the rally story byline, tweeted “Lisa Fagan, spokesperson for the city of Wildwood, told The Associated Press that she estimated the crowd represented between 80,000 and 100,000 attendees, based off her own observations on the scene Saturday, having seen ‘dozens’ of other events in the same space.” On May 11 before the rally, People tweeted “Trump’s team expects ‘tens of thousands’ of supporters to attend this afternoon’s Jersey Shore rally, which may be among the largest of his political career.” People’s X account phrase is “the other side is not the enemy.” But it just wasn’t the crowd size that AP used to boost the former president’s narrative.