Donald Trump literally left his supporters out in the cold following a rally in Omaha, Nebraska on Tuesday night. The president’s campaign bussed in hundreds of supporters for the event, but they apparently failed to arrange transportation to bus crowd back out, leaving the police to deal with a throng of confused Trump voters who were stranded in freezing temperatures until well after midnight. Some of the attendees were senior citizens and small children who suffered hypothermia and other ailments from the cold. Via NBC News:
“I’ve got an elderly male that’s down ten blocks…having a hard time breathing right now,” audio on Omaha Police Dispatch 1100 said. While another refers to: “Subject says he’s about to pass out.”
The recordings say there were about “30 patient contacts” and 20 buses backed-up and creating jams as rally-goers had to be shuttled back to busy parking lots and exits. The dispatches also reference patients being taken to Creighton University Medical Center, NBC News reached out to the hospital but did not yet receive a response.
Via tweets from the Omaha Scanner, the chaotic event unfolded in real time as avid Twitter users watched in disbelief that the Trump campaign would commit such a major blunder with the presidential election only a week away. Even the police seemed to be frustrated with the mess left behind.
Another officer advising they have an elderly male down.
— Omaha Scanner (@omaha_scanner) October 28, 2020
As the campaign blunder began to trend on social media, political observers couldn’t help but notice the very obvious metaphor. It was practically staring you right in the face.
He sees them as props. When a metaphor becomes a reality. https://t.co/Cqf6p0X9ie
— Dan Rather (@DanRather) October 28, 2020
https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1321333235020824577
siri give me a metaphor for the covid response https://t.co/BHGnJ3h51R
— John Whitehouse (@existentialfish) October 28, 2020
The metaphor meter has crashed
— Jennifer Truth Over Phony Balance Rubin 🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@JRubinBlogger) October 28, 2020
There is no greater metaphor for Trump's die hard supporters than a group of mid-western white voters seeking Trump, but nevertheless ending up stranded in the cold without a way home. Economic Anxiety is a serious drug https://t.co/D4b4mmXdDp
— Dr. Jason Johnson (@DrJasonJohnson) October 28, 2020
https://twitter.com/B52Malmet/status/1321461275361161216
This is a level of heavy handed metaphor I am not even questioning anymore. Reality just has very bad writing tbh https://t.co/qvuu4LGhID
— 10,000 Motivated Rats (@bombsfall) October 28, 2020
The Trump campaign has yet to respond to news outlets’ requests for comments.