On June 20, 2020,

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

held a rally for his 2020 presidential re-election campaign at the

BOK Center BOK Center, or Bank of Oklahoma Center, is a 19,199-seat multi-purpose arena and a primary indoor sports and event venue in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. The two current permanent tenants are the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL and the Tulsa Oiler ...

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

. Amidst the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the event marked his first public campaign event since March 2020. Critics and health officials warned that as a large public gathering in a confined indoor space, there was a high probability that new COVID-19 infections could occur at the event due to the lack of

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...

, amidst a recent spike in cases in Oklahoma; attendees were required to not hold the Trump campaign responsible for any COVID-19 exposure at the event. The original scheduling of the rally on June 19 was considered insensitive as it is a day of celebration honoring the

emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure Economic, social and cultural rights, economic and social rights, civil and political rights, po ...

of African Americans, and Tulsa was the site of a race massacre in 1921. Citing these concerns, the Trump campaign later delayed the rally to June 20. The rally attracted a smaller audience than projected by the Trump campaign, with an estimate of 6,200 by Tulsa's fire department—in comparison to the arena's capacity of around 19,000. An outdoor overflow stage (where Trump and Vice President

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

were also to make appearances) was scrapped due to the lack of turnout. President Trump and other campaign officials alleged that disruptions by "radical" protesters and negative coverage of the rally by news outlets had deterred attendance, although the former claim was disputed by

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

reporters on-scene. At least eight positive cases of COVID-19 were reported among campaign staff who worked the rally, with six of them reported prior to the event. Following the rally, Trump faced criticism for stating in his speech that he had asked the federal government to "slow down"

COVID-19 testing COVID-19 testing involves analyzing samples to assess the current or past presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that cases COVID-19 and is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The two main types of tests detect either the presence of the viru ...

, in order to reduce the number of new U.S. cases. Trump and his staff claimed that the remark was meant to be "

tongue-in-cheek Tongue-in-cheek is an idiom that describes a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walte ...

", while Trump stated in a June 22 interview that he "does not kid" and that he discussed it with officials but did not outright order the government to do so. The number of daily COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma tripled in the 30 days that followed the rally, while Republican politician

Herman Cain Herman Cain (December 13, 1945July 30, 2020) was an American businessman and Tea Party movement activist in the Republican Party. Cain graduated from Morehouse College with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. He then earned a master's degree ...

died from complications of COVID-19 after attending it.

Background and preparations

On June 10, President Donald Trump announced his intent to host a rally for his 2020 re-election campaign at the BOK Center in Tulsa on June 19, in his first public campaign event since the wider activation of the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States On December 31, 2019, China announced the discovery of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. The first American case was reported on January 20, and United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health and Human Services Secreta ...

in March 2020. Concerns were raised that as a large, public gathering held in a confined, indoor space, the rally could exacerbate spread of

Coronavirus disease 2019 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include f ...

(COVID-19). Trump stated that Oklahoma had done "a great job with COVID" (despite there having been a recent uptick in cases), while Mayor of Tulsa

G. T. Bynum George Theron Bynum IV (born August 28, 1977) is an American politician and lobbyist who served as the 40th mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, from 2016 to 2024. Bynum was first elected to the Tulsa City Council, representing the ninth district in 2008 a ...

stated that "Tulsans have managed one of the first successful re-openings in the nation, so we can only guess that may be the reason President Trump selected Tulsa as a rally site", but added that the campaign was being encouraged to provide "enhanced hygiene considerations" to comply with state guidelines. Oklahoma has recommended avoiding crowded gatherings, but does not currently enforce limits on their size. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' cited the rally as part of a growing de-emphasis of the pandemic by the Trump administration. Trump's campaign director Tim Murtaugh told

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

that there were plans for safety protocols, but that "I would point out to the national media that I don't remember them doing any

shaming when they were doing all the coverage of the eorge Floyddemonstrations that were going on." Attendees were required to accept a liability waiver, agreeing to not hold the Trump campaign liable for any exposure to COVID-19 that may occur at the rally, citing it as an inherent risk in any public gathering at this time. Trump's former

White House Communications Director The White House communications director or White House director of communications, also known officially as Assistant to the President for Communications, is part of the senior staff of the president of the United States. The officeholder is resp ...

Anthony Scaramucci Anthony Scaramucci ( ; born January 6, 1964) is an American financier and broadcaster who briefly served as the White House communications director from July 21 to July 31, 2017. Scaramucci worked at Goldman Sachs's investment banking, equitie ...

felt that the waiver was an example of "two of the great hallmarks of his presidency: Selfish and irresponsible." The campaign later announced plans to perform temperature checks, and to offer face masks and hand sanitizer to all attendees. Amidst increased support for the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

movement following the

murder of George Floyd On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black American man, was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old White police officer. Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk reported that he made a purchase using a c ...

, the site and scheduling of the rally also faced criticism; Tulsa's Greenwood district was the site of a major race massacre in 1921, while the rally fell on "

Juneteenth Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States, federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the End of slavery in the United States, ending of slavery in the United States. The holiday's n ...

"—a holiday celebrating the

of enslaved

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

. Trump's history of racially-charged statements was also noted. On June 13, Trump announced that the rally would be pushed back by one day to June 20. He later attempted to take credit for having made Juneteenth "very famous", claiming that "nobody had ever heard of t before. The campaign also announced plans for overflow capacity at the nearby

Cox Business Convention Center The Arvest Convention Center (formerly the Tulsa Assembly Center, Tulsa Convention Center, Maxwell Convention Center, and Cox Business Convention Center) is a 275,000 square foot convention center located in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Arvest ...

. On June 14, Oklahoma announced its largest single-day increase in cases, at 225.

Tulsa County Tulsa County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 669,279, making it the second-most populous county in the state, behind only Oklahoma C ...

also reported its largest single-day increase since March. On June 18, after initially experiencing technical difficulties preventing the release of COVID-19 totals in the state, the Oklahoma State Department of Health reported that Oklahoma had reached 9,354 cases, an increase of 450, which broke the previous record day-to-day case increase of 259. On June 15, Vice President

and Governor Stitt announced that they would also attend the rally, with Stitt to introduce Trump. Pence stated that the campaign chose to host the event in Oklahoma because they had flattened the curve "in a very real sense", claiming that "their hospital capacity is abundant, ndthe number of cases in Oklahoma has declined precipitously", despite Oklahoma (and several other states where the campaign planned to hold rallies) having seen a recent spike in new cases since they began lifting restrictions and quarantine measures. In a Q&A, Governor Stitt stated that he was exploring a switch to an outdoor venue, but that the event was currently planned to go on at BOK Center as scheduled, and that it was up to individuals (unless

immunocompromised Immunodeficiency, also known as immunocompromise, is a state in which the immune system's ability to fight infectious diseases and cancer is compromised or entirely absent. Most cases are acquired ("secondary") due to extrinsic factors that affe ...

) to choose whether they want to attend because they live in a "free society", but that "we have to learn how to deal with this." Mayor Bynum stated that he would not use his emergency powers to stop the rally. The city's health director Bruce Dart told the ''

Tulsa World The ''Tulsa World'' is an American daily newspaper. It serves the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is the primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of Oklahoma. The printed edition is the second-most circulated newspaper in the sta ...

'' that "I think it's an honor for Tulsa to have a sitting president want to come and visit our community, but not during a pandemic. I’m concerned about our ability to protect anyone who attends a large, indoor event, and I’m also concerned about our ability to ensure the president stays safe as well." On June 18, by request of the chief of police, a

curfew A curfew is an order that imposes certain regulations during specified hours. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to remain indoors during the evening and nighttime hours. Such an order is most often issued by public authorit ...

was implemented around the site of BOK Center, citing that "individuals from organized groups who have been involved in destructive and violent behavior in other States are planning to travel to the City of Tulsa for purposes of causing unrest in and around the rally." The next day, Mayor Bynum announced that he had rescinded the curfew, stating that it was "no longer necessary". A lawsuit was filed against BOK Center's management on behalf of businesses and immunocompromised plaintiffs, seeking that it enforce "government mandated social distancing protocols, including the required wearing of masks and reducing attendance so that at least six feet separates each rally-goer while in the arena." On June 19, the

Oklahoma Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Oklahoma is a court of appeal for non-criminal cases, one of the two highest judicial bodies in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and leads the judiciary of Oklahoma, the judicial branch of the government of Oklahoma.

rejected the suit. On the day of the rally, six Trump campaign staff members working the rally were tested positive for COVID-19. The Trump campaign paid more than $2.2 million to hold the rally.

Speech

Trump spoke for 1 hour and 41 minutes; he opened by praising the audience as "warriors" and criticized coverage of the event he perceived as negative. Trump's speech was replete with false claims and many falsehoods he had uttered on previous occasions.Daniel Dale, Tara Subramaniam, David Wright & Holmes Lybrand
Fact check: Trump's Tulsa rally littered with familiar false claims
, CNN (June 21, 2020). Trump said that

had "19 different names", including "kung flu", and that calling it COVID-19 "gets further and further away from China as opposed to calling it the Chinese virus.” Trump praised the country's response to the pandemic, and stated that he had asked officials to "slow the

testing Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

down", so the country's case numbers would not be high. One-eighth of Trump's speech was devoted to complaining about media coverage of his appearance of the commencement ceremony at the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

; Trump asserted that he walked down a stage ramp at West Point slowly because his leather-bottomed shoes were slippery. Trump also repeated false claims regarding his predecessor,

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

; his 2020 opponent,

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

, and Democrats; falsely claimed credit for establishing the VA Choice program (which was actually established by legislation sponsored by John McCain and Bernie Sanders and signed into law by Obama); and exaggerated the scope of the coronavirus-related travel restrictions imposed by his administration. During the speech, Trump criticized recent calls for the removal of Confederate monuments and contended that "the unhinged left-wing mob is trying to vandalize our history, desecrating our monuments, our beautiful monuments, tear down our statues and punish, cancel and persecute anyone who does not conform to their demands for absolute and total control, we're not conforming." He praised his Supreme Court appointees

Neil Gorsuch Neil McGill Gorsuch ( ; born August 29, 1967) is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was Neil Gorsuch Supreme Court ...

and

Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael Kavanaugh (; born February 12, 1965) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on July 9, 2018, and has served since Oct ...

, alleging that Biden would install "extremists" if elected.

Attendance and viewership

The total attendance of the rally would be much lower than was expected by the Trump campaign; roughly a week prior, Trump claimed that "almost one million" people had requested tickets. An outdoor overflow stage (which was also scheduled to have in-person appearances by Trump and Pence following the in-arena address) was scrapped just hours before the rally, while Tulsa's fire department and Trump's campaign each reported crowd estimates of 6,200 and 12,000, respectively — less than the arena's capacity of around 19,000. It was reported that

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

users and

members Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of K-pop fandoms had credited themselves with falsely requesting tickets for the rally, as part of a coordinated effort to "

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

" Trump; earlier, Mary Jo Laupp (who had worked for

Pete Buttigieg Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg ( ; born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former naval officer who served as the 19th United States Secretary of Transportation, United States secretary of transportation from 2021 to 2025. A me ...

's campaign for Democratic candidacy in the 2020 presidential election) uploaded a video on TikTok which encouraged viewers to request the Trump camp a ticket and not show up. TikTok users claimed his attempted ban of the social media platform in August 2020—which the administration cited alleged national security concerns related to its ownership by Chinese technology company

ByteDance ByteDance Ltd. is a Chinese internet technology company headquartered in Haidian, Beijing, and incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Founded by Zhang Yiming, Liang Rubo, and a team of others in 2012, ByteDance developed the video-sharing ap ...

as the basis, and was blocked in two separate lawsuits for violating the

Administrative Procedure Act The Administrative Procedure Act (APA), , is the United States federal statute that governs the way in which administrative agencies of the federal government of the United States may propose and establish regulations, and it grants U.S. fede ...

and

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

exemptions to the

International Emergency Economic Powers Act The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), Title II of , is a United States federal law authorizing the president to regulate international commerce after declaring a national emergency in response to any unusual and extraordinar ...

's sanctioning authority—was retaliation for the prank.

, and

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

all carried coverage of the rally, with Fox News being the only one among the three to carry Trump's address live. Fox News recorded an average of 7.7 million viewers that night (peaking at 8.2 near the 9:00 p.m. EDT hour), which it stated was its highest Saturday primetime viewership in network history.

Aftermath

COVID-19 impacts

Shortly before the rally, Trump campaign staffers, at the direction of the campaign, removed "Do Not Sit Here, Please!" stickers from arena seats; the stickers were intended to ensure social distancing between rally attendees. The removal of the stickers contradicted instructions from arena management. Few attendees at the rally practiced social distancing or wore face masks. Following the rally, two additional Trump campaign staffers, two Secret Service agents, ''

Oklahoma Watch Oklahoma Watch is a non-profit reporting project focused on public policy journalism in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Established in 2010 by former ''Tulsa World'' reporter Tom Lindley, and supported with an initial seed investment from the Knight ...

'' reporter Paul Monies (a journalist who attended the rally) and

(who also attended the rally and tested negative for the virus immediately before entering the rally); tested positive for COVID-19. Cain tested positive on June 29, was hospitalized on July 1, and died from complications of the virus on July 30, 2020. After two Secret Service agents who were at the rally tested positive, dozens of agents were asked to self-isolate; the Secret Service did not say how many of its employees were infected or isolating. On July 3, Trump campaign official

Kimberly Guilfoyle Kimberly Ann Guilfoyle ( ; born March 9, 1969) is an American television news personality and former prosecutor in San Francisco and Los Angeles. She served as an advisor and led the fundraising division of President Donald Trump's 2020 presid ...

, the girlfriend of

Donald Trump Jr. Donald John Trump Jr. (born December 31, 1977), often nicknamed Don Jr., is an American businessman and political activist. He is the eldest child of U.S. president Donald Trump and his first wife Ivana. Trump serves as a trustee and exec ...

, tested positive for COVID-19. She had attended the Tulsa rally and Trump's rally in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

on June 23, and then traveled to South Dakota intending to attend a Trump-related fireworks celebration at

Mount Rushmore The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a National Memorial (United States), national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (, or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dak ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

. Since she was diagnosed as infected earlier on the day of the South Dakota event, she did not attend it. In the 30-day period after the rally, the rate of new COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma more than tripled, to 513 cases per day.

Trump administration reactions

Trump was reportedly "furious" over the low attendance of the rally; campaign manager

Brad Parscale Brad Parscale (born January 3, 1976) is an American digital consultant, media executive, and political advisor. He served as the senior adviser for data and digital operations for Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2020, Donald Trump's 2020 pre ...

argued that "a week's worth of the fake news media warning people away from the rally because of COVID and protesters" had deterred attendance, while Murtaugh accused "radical protesters, coupled with a relentless onslaught from the media", of attempting to "frighten" Trump's supporters. On ''

Fox News Sunday ''Fox News Sunday'' is a Sunday morning talk show that has aired on the broadcast Fox network since 1996, as a presentation of Fox News Channel. It is the only regularly scheduled Fox News program carried on the main Fox broadcast network. Hos ...

'' the following morning, campaign advisor Mercedes Schlapp similarly accused protesters of having "blocked the paths" to the venue to deter attendance. However, besides a group of anti-Trump protesters near a security checkpoint, as well as one of the venue entrances being temporarily closed after an attempt to block it,

reporters on-scene observed relatively few disruptions. It was also reported that Trump had criticized the decision to publicize positive cases among his staff prior to the rally. Trump advisor

Peter Navarro Peter Kent Navarro (born July 15, 1949) is an American economist who has been the senior counselor for trade and manufacturing to U.S. president Donald Trump since January 2025. He previously served in the first Trump administration, first as ...

claimed that Trump's "slow the testing down" remark was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. When asked about the remarks by a reporter on June 22, Trump replied "I don't kid, let me just tell you." In an interview with

CBN News The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) is an American Christian media production and distribution organization. Founded in 1960 by Pat Robertson, it produces the long-running TV series ''The 700 Club'', co-produces the ongoing ''Superbook'' an ...

aired later that evening, Trump denied that he had directly ordered his administration to reduce testing (calling his remark in the speech "semi tongue-in-cheek"). Trump added, however, that he did suggest to " ispeople" that doing fewer tests would make the United States look like it was "doing much better", but that "I wouldn't do that, but I will say this: we do so much more

esting Olching (; Central Bavarian: ''Oiching'') is a town in the district of Fürstenfeldbruck, and suburb to Munich in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated approximately 20 km (12 mi) northwest of Munich. Geography Olching lies approximately h ...

than other countries it makes us, in a way, look bad but actually we're doing the right thing." In testimony to the House of Representatives following the rally, Director of the

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID's mis ...

(NIAID)

Anthony Fauci Anthony Stephen Fauci ( ; born December 24, 1940) is an American physician-scientist and immunologist who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022, and the chief medical ...

denied that Trump officials had asked them to "slow down" testing.

References

External links

President Trump Campaign Rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma at c-span.org
{{First presidency of Donald Trump 2020 in Oklahoma Controversies of the 2020 United States presidential election Tulsa rally Herman Cain History of Tulsa, Oklahoma June 2020 in the United States Republican Party (United States) events in Oklahoma Tulsa rally TikTok Tulsa rally