Trump Still Hung Up on Crowd Size Following Arizona Rally: ‘Packed House’

“Phoenix crowd last night was amazing,” tweets president

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Donald Trump seems pretty happy about his rally in Phoenix Tuesday night, taking to Twitter Wednesday morning to brag about the size of the crowd, call out Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican who is up for reelection in 2018, and complain some more about the “fake” news media.

“Phoenix crowd last night was amazing – a packed house,” Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning, lest anyone say the rally had a sparse crowd. “I love the Great State of Arizona. Not a fan of Jeff Flake, weak on crime & border!”

Thousands attended the rally, hundreds of whom lined up as early as 8 a.m., CNN reported Tuesday. While it’s unclear exactly how many people attended the rally, the Phoenix Convention Center, where the event was held, can hold up to 19,000 people.

Thousands more, though, also lined up outside the rally to protest, which began peaceful and turned chaotic as police sprayed tear gas into the crowd.

Trump also reminded viewers on Twitter Wednesday morning that he read sections from his initial response to the deadly Charlottesville, Virginia protests that he thinks “the Fake News Media didn’t cover fairly,” and said, “People got it!”

Trump did spend the first part of his Tuesday rally accusing the media for twisting his words and inflaming divisions following the deadly violence in Charlottesville. Missing from his rally speech, however, was his now infamous remark placing the blame “on many sides” rather than with the white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

“What happened in Charlottesville strikes at the core of America. And tonight, this entire arena stands united against the thugs who perpetrate hatred and violence,” Trump told a cheering crowd in Phoenix Tuesday night. “I strongly condemn neo-Nazis, white supremacists and the KKK.”

“The media can attack me, but where I draw the line is when they attack you, which is what they do,” he said. “It’s time to expose the crooked media deceptions and to challenge the media for their role in fomenting division.”As he read his second response in which he mentioned white supremacists and the KKK by name, he told the crowd: “I hit ’em with neo-Nazi, I hit ’em with everything. KKK? We have KKK. I got ’em all.”

Trump’s third tweet of the morning showed his anger at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s reluctance to end the filibuster rule, which required 60 votes to advance most legislation, saying they “are just wasting time.”

“If Republican Senate doesn’t get rid of the Filibuster Rule & go to a simple majority, which the Dems would do, they are just wasting time!,” he said.

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