A lot of Donald Trump’s MAGA rallies have been free events — like the one he held at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, in 2019 when he was first kicking off his official reelection campaign for the 2020 election — because I suppose he didn’t find the money near as important as all those broke, mostly toothless imbeciles foaming at the mouth while singing his praises at the top of their lungs. However, he lost the 2020 election, the legal fees are rapidly mounting from all those investigations he’s at the center of, and however devout those mouth-foaming imbeciles may be, they don’t pay the bills.
Now, Trump is reportedly slated to return to the Amway Center on Sunday, for another MAGA event, but according to a new report from the Orlando Sentinel, his supporters won’t be getting a seat at the proverbial table unless they “pay big.”
The event is advertised as the ex-president’s second stop on his “History Tour” with ousted former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, and the local publication reports that tickets for the shindig “start at $100 for upper deck seats and run into the thousands of dollars for VIP packages.” According to reports, this includes “floor seats, a 45-minute reception before the show, and photos with Trump and O’Reilly.”
Speaking with the Sentinel, University of Central Florida Political Science professor Aubrey Jewett said, “It’s interesting because one assumes that if Trump really does decide to run for office again, he will mostly hold free events as campaign rallies to try to get thousands and thousands of people to show up. But now he’s trying to cash in, I guess… And given the cost, it’s the intersection of two groups: people who are big Trump fans, and people who have some money.”
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Jewett noted that the prices for the event were pretty staggering, given Trump will likely spend the evening bashing and attacking the “elites.”
“I’m sure you’ll probably see some blue-collar people, because even people who are, quote, unquote, ‘blue collar’ make a great living if you’re in a trade like construction, electrical, plumbing,” he stated. “But for many blue-collar Trump fans, it’s probably outside their budget, and they’ll probably wait for a free event, assuming that Trump runs again.”
Back in July, a POLITICO report claimed that sales for the O’Reilly/Trump mashup tour weren’t going well. The disgraced former Fox host responded to the reporting by instantly threatening to sue the publication. According to the new report from the local Orlando publication, most of the floor and lower bowl seats have been marked sold or unavailable for Sunday’s event. However, the rear lower bowl and upper decks still featured several unsold/open seats.
“If it’s mobbed, I think that just reiterates that Trump’s popularity within the Republican Party and the conservative movement is still really strong. And it probably also would be an indication that it’s more likely that he’ll run again for president,” Jewett told the local publication. “But on the flip side, if not many people show, then I think Democratic and liberal critics will say that it shows that the Trump phenomenon has maybe hit its peak. And that there is a limit to what he can get away with.”
You can read the full report here.
Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
