An October 2018 Craigslist advert solicited paid attendees to President Trump’s rally in Erie, Pennsylvania.
President Trump is thought for boasting concerning the measurement of the crowds at his rallies, typically exaggerating the variety of individuals in attendance, in line with press reviews.
Trump has additionally accused Democrats of hiring paid protesters to disrupt Congressional hearings, albeit with none proof to show it.
So, when a Craigslist ad appeared the day earlier than a ten October 2018 occasion in Erie, Pennsylvania, soliciting “quite a few individuals to face in line to get into [the] Trump rally,” anti-Trump social media customers had been throughout it:
Discovered on Craigslist:
“We want quite a few individuals to face in line for Trump Rally, Erie Insurance coverage Area. $100 per individual. Wednesday, October 10 solely, from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.”— Mollie Katzen (@MollieKatzen) October 10, 2018
He is paying them to face in line to get into his rally. The one disappointment might be when they do not get paid.
Thanks @th3j35t3r for the display seize from Craigslist pic.twitter.com/wK9OdHXEIl
— Each Vote Issues (@_blueselina) October 10, 2018
Trump at the moment bragging concerning the quantity of individuals standing in line in Erie as a result of they wish to see him. And, they have been in line since final night time. He could not allow them to down, he stated.
This advert asking for line standers at present says that may be a lie. pic.twitter.com/bdROVl1dD0
— ?Koko ✊?✊?✊?? (@Kokomothegreat) October 10, 2018
Trump supporters responded to the declare that the advert proved Trump was paying individuals to attend his rally by floating a principle on Reddit that the advert was faux. They famous that Craigslist had deleted the advert after it was flagged (though it was restored intact later the identical day), and pointed to a contact cellphone quantity within the advert not traceable to Trump nor to any Trump-related organizations, however fairly to a person named Mike Oles, who appeared to have connections to left-leaning activist teams together with one referred to as Good Jobs Nation.
Oles’ private Fb page lists him as a subject director for that group, whose mission assertion says they’re out “to carry the president and all politicians — whether or not Democrat or Republican — accountable to America’s employees.”
And it simply so occurred that Good Jobs Nation was planning an illustration at Trump’s 10 October rally:
We dialed the contact quantity within the Craigslist advert hoping to succeed in Mike Oles (or any occasion prepared to assert accountability for the advert), solely to come across a generic voicemail greeting. We left a message, however nobody referred to as again. We additionally e-mailed the contact tackle supplied within the Craigslist advert. We acquired no reply.
We then e-mailed Good Jobs Nation and requested to be put in contact with Mike Oles, prompting a response from the group’s communications director, Paco Fabian, who agreed to talk to us by cellphone. He started by confirming that Oles had certainly positioned the advert and that Oles did so on behalf of Good Jobs Nation, however Fabian stated the advert was neither faux nor supposed to mislead.
“Good Jobs Nation has been doing a tour across the Midwest,” Fabian defined, “going to Trump rallies with laid-off employees and retirees and people which are calling on President Trump to cease the off-shoring of jobs and guarantee that corporations with enormous federal contracts pay their employees a dwelling wage.”
A few of the individuals had been retired Honeywell workers who lack healthcare protection as a result of the corporate did not make good on its promise of lifetime advantages, he stated.
“So, in Erie, we put up an advert on Craigslist searching for individuals to face in line so the Honeywell retirees would not have to face in line for eight hours earlier than with the ability to go into the Trump rally,” Fabian stated. “It is a fairly widespread observe.”
In accordance with the Ellwood Metropolis Ledger, hundreds of individuals spent a lot of the day ready in line to get into the Erie Insurance coverage Area the place the rally came about. Fabian stated his group paid between 12 and 15 individuals $100 apiece to carry spots so the identical variety of employees and retirees, all carrying “Good Jobs Nation” t-shirts, might attend — albeit not for lengthy.
“Finally, we had been all kicked out,” Fabian stated. Their t-shirts gave them away. “We’ve not been disruptive or something. We’ve not been yelling on the president. However we do inform our tales to the press. I believe they lastly had it with us going to the rallies.”
In any case, native press reports stated the 9,000-seat venue was crammed to capability for the occasion (no exaggeration required).
