Thousands of former President Donald Trump’s supporters gathered hours before he was set to speak at his “Independence Day Spectacular” rally in Pickens, South Carolina, on Saturday.
Although Trump is slated to speak at 1:00 p.m. local time, hundreds were already gathered by 4:45 a.m., a local NBC affiliate reported:
Thousands are lined up in the dark of night to see President Trump speak later today at his "Independence Day Spectacular" in Pickens, South Carolina. pic.twitter.com/A4KGU2nhXR
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) July 1, 2023
As the day progressed, the crowd of Trump supporters grew from hundreds to thousands. Videos captured the Trump supporters chanting things such as “USA” and “Let’s go, Brandon!”
MASSIVE crowd lined up 5 hours before President Trump is set to speak at his rally in South Carolina 🇺🇸🚨 pic.twitter.com/Pml6FsBtnv
— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) July 1, 2023
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.#MAGA 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/UpwOlcUWxv
— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) July 1, 2023
Other Trump supporters were pictured waving “Trump 2024” flags.
NBC News’s Vaughn Hillyard, who was on the scene in South Carolina, noted he has seen “little evidence to suggest Trump’s hold is deteriorating in any noteworthy way.”
“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,” Hillyard tweeted. “This could be a quick 7 months”:
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. This could be a quick 7 months. pic.twitter.com/LF6uZJ1VK3
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) July 1, 2023
In NBC’s poll released this week, 49% of GOP voters nationally said Trump should remain the leader of the Republican Party. 51% pick him for the 2024 nomination.
And event to event, there’s, anecdotally, just as much energy at these rallies as years ago.https://t.co/L44canEpGH https://t.co/VRaEvlIEuF pic.twitter.com/iKA8by4qLW
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) July 1, 2023
The overflow crowd of attendees reportedly reached the thousands, just hours before Trump is set to take the stage:
JUST IN: Overflow crowd already in the thousands at South Carolina Trump rally schedule for 4:30pm..
MEDIA SILENT..
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) July 1, 2023
Other guest speakers set to take the stage before Trump include Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC).
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
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