President Donald Trump left several thousand of his supporters stranded at Eppley Airfield after his event in Omaha Tuesday night.
After the President boarded Air Force One and departed the state, many of the attendees, some of whom waited more than four hours to listen to him speak, stood in the freezing temperatures on a private road in the middle of the airport.
CNN’s Jeff Zeleny reported “thousands” of people were stuck in the cold more than an hour after Trump took off from the airport.
According to a Twitter account named “Omaha Scanner,” police officers located two groups of elderly Trump supporters shortly after the event ended who were struggling in the cold. One group was reportedly frozen in the cold and unable to move. At 11:35 p.m., Omaha Scanner reported seven people were transported to a hospital.
#MedicalBranch of #TACAirIC reports at least 30 patient contacts and 7 patient transports to hospital.
— Omaha Scanner (@omaha_scanner) October 28, 2020
Another complaint included a call for a medic to assist a 68 year-old man who complained of hypothermia and possibly had an altered mental status.
The event itself seemed poorly planned from the beginning.
Trump’s campaign told his rally-goers to arrive at Eppley at 4:30 p.m. By then, cars were lined up for miles trying to get into the airport, and the security team was directing people in circles.
At one point, security said the South Economy parking lot where the cars were being directed to was full, and pointed people toward the north lot. Security at the north lot then directed the cars of people, who had already waited in line once, back to the South Economy lot.
The security team then told people who started parking in a cell phone lot across the street from the South Economy lot that they may be towed.
Most ignored the warning and proceeded into the South Economy lot, where they found thousands of people standing in four separate lines to get onto charter buses.
A group of people in the cell phone lot gave up their place in the long line to go offer to move their cars somewhere else so they wouldn’t be towed, but the security team then said their cars wouldn’t be towed out of the nearby lot.
People were directed to stand in the long lines to get on charter buses that would drive them to the event. It took well over two hours to get through the line.
While thousands of people stood in the lines, the flow of buses was not at all constant.
At about 6:45 p.m. (the Trump event was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.) YouTubers Camille & Haley showed up to sing songs like “Back the Blue” and “Vote Trump 2020” for the people still the lines in the South Economy lot.
Once on the buses, people were transported more than 3.5 miles down a private road to another part of the airport. It took more than half-an-hour for the buses to get from the South Economy lot to the place where they could be unloaded.
Once at the event, people walked a few blocks toward tents where volunteers took everyone’s temperatures.
Attendees were led through another one- to two-hour long queue to get inside the event.
Trump landed at the airport and began speaking while thousands of people were still waiting in the queue to get in the event.
Some started shouting for the line to move faster, and some began saying they needed to use the restroom and threatened to relieve themselves while waiting in line.
While Trump left the event quickly in Air Force One, attendees were stuck for hours outside in freezing cold temperatures in the dark.
Trump was visiting Nebraska to secure his standing in the state’s 2nd congressional district (largely Omaha-based), which could flip to Joe Biden next week as Nebraska awards some of its electoral votes per congressional districts.
Some Iowa politicians were on hand for the rally, which was right over the Iowa border. Sen. Joni Ernst, however, did not get a chance to speak to the crowd despite being locked in a very tight reelection race.
by Paige Godden
Posted 10/28/20
Iowa Starting Line is an independently owned progressive news outlet devoted to providing unique, insightful coverage on Iowa news and politics. We need reader support to continue operating — please donate here. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more coverage.
35 Comments on "Trump Supporters Left Stranded At Freezing Omaha Airport"
You and the twitter feeds you link are the only places this is being covered. It’s unconscionable.
If this isn’t small portrait of what Trump’s planning and leadership is like, tell me what is.
Nebraska red hat freeze-a-thon
they talk about liberals being sheep but this takes the cake.
My Lord how can these people be this desperate to hear the disgusting linguistics of this pos. Dt is a super duper corrupt malignant narcissistic sociopath xenophobic misogynist racist alleged rapist lying insecure impeached bullying incompetent no empathy disgusting buffoon. ??♀️??♀️
When are you people gonna learn he could care less! If he aint making you sick and dying he is leaving you freezing to death! Idiots.
Sums up trump’s entire presidency.
NO PITY FOR THEIR STUPIDITY!!
It is what it is. Well deserved for supporting an idiot.
They deserve what they got. Idiots to stand in cold to see this clown.
Hard to feel sorry for people this clueless. This is what happens when you trust Trump. He will leave you high and dry. Or should I say he will leave you stranded and cold?
What I am not seeing anywhere is the REASON that no busses showed up after the rally.
Was this a matter of the Trump campaign not paying?
Dear Cultists and Lovers of Fascism
With Democracy at stake, many of you have chosen to back a candidate who clearly doesn’t like Democracy and prefers a fascist state like those he admires, Russia, North Korea, China, Philippines, etc. This disgusting man said, ““The only thing I can tell you for sure: President Xi from China, President Putin from Russia, Kim Jong-un, North Korea, and I could name 40 others, they’re sharp as a tack. They don’t want to deal with Sleepy Joe,” he said. “One of them said to me, one of the leaders said, ‘We don’t want to deal with somebody that sleeps all the time.’”
So, if you want a fascist state, vote for Trump. If you care about our democratic republic, vote Biden.
They voluntarily got on crowded buses with strangers. They voluntarily packed into long lines. They only wanted to be there to spew hate, because their simple little brains crave drama and their lives have no meaning without hate. They (trump Cult) are responsible for the ruin of our country. Now the attendees will probably further spread Covid and take up needed space in hospitals, due to their immature whims. I have no sympathy for them.
As Trump says, “It is what it is”.
Come for the Covid, stay for the hypothermia!
Hard to feel sorry for people who haven’t figured out yet that Trump doesn’t care about their safety or well-being, at all. He could give a flying F, he just wants their vote for his own selfish reasons. Trump is a con artist and carnival barker. The fact that some have not figured that out yet is astounding to me.
I feel sorry for these people. Trump is able to tap into ignorant people’s fear & ignite hate & suspicion & derision.
Nothing shows a lack of character more, then when you misconstrue the facts…while knowing the truth. Remember… ” You have to have a really good cause, if you are willing to sacrifice for it.”
What could be more Trumpian than busing in supporters to feed his ego, then abandoning them in the cold?
“Another complaint included a call for a medic to assist a 68 year-old man who complained of hypothermia and possibly had an altered mental status” If he was a Trump rally, he surely had an altered mental status…
To many people showed up for the rally? or maybe the bus company’s boss is not a Trump supporter? this should be checked and if so they should be thrown under the bus.
The Washington Post has picked this up and linked to this page. It seems the point of these maskless scrums (even without a fiasco like this attached) is for him to ask: “How much do you love me? Enough to die for me?”
What do you expect from a desperate white man running for re-election when he has NO future plan…except to continue to ‘screw people‘ who support him. Can’t help the stupid. Wonder how many of the stranded supporters will vote for him again. This shows how much he doesn’t care about you…only your vote. Truly, can’t help the stupid.
This is what four more years of the dictator will bring. Sheepare afraid of the wolf but the Shepard ends up eating thim.
This is funny. I went to see President O in Kansas City in 2008, and there were 100,000 people there, and it was a well-planned, fun, wonderful event. Sounds like this was the opposite. Too funny….
packed on buses for a long time, packed in the cold, crazy, to see who? the virus is next. what a mess, and why? again Why? and again Why?
So, there were more supporters for Trump than there were busses for?
That would never happen at a Bidden ralley. One half filled bus is all he can muster.
Get Over it! Jealousy is such an Ugly thing! Biden can’t get 50 people to come out for him! The Logistics are handled by his Trump’s Campaign Staffers, and he probably didn’t have any idea what was happening. Trump Loves his Base, and they Love him back! Try Hiden with Biden!
For one I don’t see where it’s Trump’s fault that the crowd was larger than anyone expected! It’s the organizer that failed to do their job it could have easily been Biden supporters if there were any.
There is so much of this article that is false. They had planned on around ten to twelve thousand supporters and it turned out to be more than 25000. I doubt the mileage around the entire Eppley Airfield is what he mileage
FAKE NEWS. LIES.
Imagine what Trump would have had to say (or, more accurately, what he would have bellowed) if something like this had happened after a Biden rally.
I don’t know what’s more troubling to me, that people are this ignorant or that so many of them STILL support Trump. Please God don’t let Trump be re-elected.