An estimated 50,000 people descended on Pickens, South Carolina, on Saturday for former President Donald Trump’s rally, according to the city’s police chief.
The Spartanburg Herald-Journal’s Bob Montgomery first reported on Chief Randall Beach’s estimation on Sunday morning.
Attendees cheer former U.S. President Donald Trump during a campaign event in Pickens, South Carolina, on Saturday, July 1, 2023. Trump praised Supreme Court rulings that ended affirmative action in college admissions and a student debt-relief program, as well as limited LGBTQ protections, touting his role in installing the court’s conservative majority. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty)
Though estimates varied among different sources it quickly became apparent that a large crowd would build. Montgomery noted:
Pre-rally estimates of 10,000 to 30,000 were made. During his remarks, Trump claimed the turnout was 75,000. Beach said he needed to get an accurate count from the Secret Service before providing a final number. Around 11 a.m., a secret service agent told the News there are 5,000 inside the gate and approximately 10,000 still in line.
One America News Correspondent Daniel Baldwin tweeted Saturday he had heard 75,000 people had shown up to Pickens just before noon time.
Democrat Attorney Ron Filipkowski noted that lines were packed as early as 5:30 a.m., more than seven hours before Trump was slated to speak.
The lines had only gown by 8:00 a.m., according to a video that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) tweeted.
“Until there’s an actual decline of loyal backing like this for Trump or another candidate begins to build even a fraction of a similar counter movement, I’ve seen such little evidence to suggest Trump’s hold is deteriorating in any noteworthy way,” noted NBC News correspondent Vaughn Hillyard. “This could be a quick 7 months.”
More than 50 people needed medical attention for “heat-related illness,” Montgomery noted, citing Kenny McPeters, chairman of Pickens County Emergency Services Board.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures to the crowd at a campaign event on July 1, 2023 in Pickens, South Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
Supporters of former President Donald Trump pass a giant flag before a campaign event on July 1, 2023 in Pickens, South Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty)
During his remarks, Trump pledged to “appoint a real special prosecutor to investigate every detail of the Biden crime family of corruption” if he is elected back to the White House, adding:
And again, out of respect for the office of president, I would never be talking this way even knowing a lot of this stuff. I have too much respect for the office. But once they do what they did to me and to you, by doing what they did – so corrupt – I said, “Now the gloves are off from that standpoint.” What they’ve done is so terrible, so I’ll speak differently than I would have three weeks ago, because you’ve never heard me use this kind of language. I wouldn’t want to out of respect for our country and for the office, but we really have no choice. These people are sick.
Trump’s Pickens rally came a day after he detailed his education policy platform at the Moms for Liberty Joyful Warriors Summit Friday evening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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