Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

honest.abe

(8,556 posts)
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 08:02 AM Jun 2020

K-Pop Fans Sabotaged Trump's Under-Attended Tulsa Rally

Source: consequenceofsound.net

Coming into Saturday’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Donald Trump proudly boasted that over one million people had signed up for tickets. But when the day actually came, there were plenty of empty seats to be found inside the arena, and literally not one person showed up for the outdoor events. Trump’s campaign blamed the low attendance on protestors who blocked the entrance to the arena. However, as the New York Times reports, the inflated ticket requests may have been the direct result of a prank carried out by K-pop fans.

K-pop fans, along with their allies on TikTok, worked together to register potentially hundreds of thousands of fake ticket requests as a prank. One of the organizers behind the prank, a YouTube host named Elijah Daniel, told the Times that “It spread mostly through Alt TikTok — we kept it on the quiet side where people do pranks and a lot of activism. K-pop Twitter and Alt TikTok have a good alliance where they spread information amongst each other very quickly. They all know the algorithms and how they can boost videos to get where they want.”

Several young activists created video encouraging other K-pop fans and TikTok users to request tickets using fake names and phone numbers, and even offered instructions on how to generate phone numbers using Google Voice and other internet-connected phone services.

“We all know the Trump campaign feeds on data, they are constantly mining these rallies for data,” Mary Jo Laupp, a former employee of Pete Buttigieg’s campaign for president, told the Times. “Feeding them false data was a bonus. The data they think they have, the data they are collecting from this rally, isn’t accurate.”

Read more: https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/06/k-pop-fans-may-have-sabotaged-trumps-under-attended-tulsa-rally/



I just love this! Well done!

65 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
K-Pop Fans Sabotaged Trump's Under-Attended Tulsa Rally (Original Post) honest.abe Jun 2020 OP
So Brad's "death star" got taken down by "the force." Botany Jun 2020 #1
Very good point about the data. honest.abe Jun 2020 #3
Use the force Joe B. Botany Jun 2020 #5
Must have been a fun trip Scarsdale Jun 2020 #7
Oh it would be such a shame zeusdogmom Jun 2020 #30
and i wonder how much it cost us ? ( the public) AllaN01Bear Jun 2020 #33
Probably the same as a golfing trip. ...nt 2naSalit Jun 2020 #40
Bravo! Vinca Jun 2020 #2
"Millions of tickets" DonaldsRump Jun 2020 #4
Oops Canoe52 Jun 2020 #42
The most impressive thing about this Cirque du So-What Jun 2020 #6
If anyone on Trump's team truly believed there were 1 million ticket requests for a rally in Tulsa, tanyev Jun 2020 #10
I bet a few people suspected Scarsdale Jun 2020 #12
Exactly. Amazing they pulled this off undetected. honest.abe Jun 2020 #18
Indeed! I wonder if the fake tickets blocked trumpers from obtaining one? mysteryowl Jun 2020 #55
How do they avoid getting bombarded by Trump campaign texts from now to eternity? hlthe2b Jun 2020 #8
Instructions were given... N_E_1 for Tennis Jun 2020 #13
Those go to burner accounts they'll never use again /nt localroger Jun 2020 #14
I'm getting bombarded and I don't even go to right wing web sites. mtngirl47 Jun 2020 #15
i feel so old! samnsara Jun 2020 #9
Exactly what I was thinking! Thank you! Lulu KC Jun 2020 #54
Best Saturday Night Live... ever! N_E_1 for Tennis Jun 2020 #11
I wonder if that really had that much effect on attendance. Arkansas Granny Jun 2020 #16
I think it turned off a lot of Tulsa people by originally scheduling it on of all days Juneteenth. LiberalArkie Jun 2020 #39
It didn't really drive attendance down, but what it did was stoke the idea.... George II Jun 2020 #17
Yep.. the best part was they built that stupid overflow area. honest.abe Jun 2020 #19
Local economy boost Boomer Jun 2020 #24
+1 dalton99a Jun 2020 #28
he won't pay scarytomcat Jun 2020 #63
....and the children shall lead us.... Happyhippychick Jun 2020 #20
Yes, I was thinking the same when I posted this. honest.abe Jun 2020 #21
Amazing and slightly terrifying Hip2bSquare Jun 2020 #22
Im deep in the fandom & happen to be Gen X leighbythesea2 Jun 2020 #51
Hmm..I don't know.. Maxheader Jun 2020 #23
I think it was phone number based and they were able to generate bogus numbers that appeared legit.. honest.abe Jun 2020 #25
The real story is magats stayed home. C_U_L8R Jun 2020 #26
Indeed, but this K-Pop story makes Trump and his campaign look like fools. honest.abe Jun 2020 #27
They may have stayed at home... sheepfarm Jun 2020 #31
It looks like the Trump campaign got a right dose of their own medicine! sheepfarm Jun 2020 #29
Somewhere, Dick Tuck is smiling mikeargo Jun 2020 #34
They didn't really "sabatage" the rally per se. ForgoTheConsequence Jun 2020 #32
Not buying it. Hulk Jun 2020 #35
This is not saying this reduced the number who attended. honest.abe Jun 2020 #38
We can't give K-Pop fans all or even most of the credit... Fiendish Thingy Jun 2020 #36
Right, I dont think anyone is saying this caused the reduced numbers.. honest.abe Jun 2020 #37
And... 2naSalit Jun 2020 #43
Yes.. exactly. honest.abe Jun 2020 #45
Indeed Thekaspervote Jun 2020 #49
There was a maximum number of 2 tix per phone number sobenji Jun 2020 #48
But no limit on total tickets available nt Fiendish Thingy Jun 2020 #56
The limit was is so they can collect more numbers for their database. ForgoTheConsequence Jun 2020 #62
This doesn't surprise me, I actually expected it to happen FakeNoose Jun 2020 #41
Love it! connecticut yankee Jun 2020 #44
God bless them. sinkingfeeling Jun 2020 #46
Teenage girls do love their secrets :) denem Jun 2020 #47
This from Twitter leighbythesea2 Jun 2020 #50
Cybersabotage! The New Political Guerilla War Tactic! panfluteman Jun 2020 #52
Trump team got punked. Lovely day for America riversedge Jun 2020 #53
I think this over-hype may have actually discouraged more to come LiberalLovinLug Jun 2020 #57
Dementia Donnie would've had a nice rally ... area51 Jun 2020 #58
This is IMO not a good thing. BadGimp Jun 2020 #59
The tickets were free and unlimited. ForgoTheConsequence Jun 2020 #61
They made Trump look stupid bragging about 1 million attendees, but they didn't keep people away. SunSeeker Jun 2020 #60
But you know Trump (and/or his surrogates) are going to lie about it though ... mr_lebowski Jun 2020 #65
The data set derived from this event is "slightly" skewed Zambero Jun 2020 #64

Botany

(70,291 posts)
1. So Brad's "death star" got taken down by "the force."
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 08:07 AM
Jun 2020

“We all know the Trump campaign feeds on data, they are constantly mining these rallies for data,” Mary Jo Laupp, a former employee of Pete Buttigieg’s campaign for president, told the Times. “Feeding them false data was a bonus. The data they think they have, the data they are collecting from this rally, isn’t accurate.”

honest.abe

(8,556 posts)
3. Very good point about the data.
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 08:10 AM
Jun 2020

They will have a hard time determining what is legit and what is bogus.

Excellent!

Scarsdale

(9,426 posts)
7. Must have been a fun trip
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 08:14 AM
Jun 2020

back home on AF1. I wonder how Gym Jordan enjoyed THAT? Little toady was strutting around, shaking hands, "spreading the joy". It would be a shame if he came down with the virus, wouldn't it?

zeusdogmom

(978 posts)
30. Oh it would be such a shame
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:23 AM
Jun 2020

But then he would be taking up valuable space and resources in the hospital which would be much better saved for others who actually add value to our society.

Cirque du So-What

(25,812 posts)
6. The most impressive thing about this
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 08:13 AM
Jun 2020

is that they managed to keep it on the down-low all the way to the shit show. Nobody suspected a thing.

tanyev

(42,359 posts)
10. If anyone on Trump's team truly believed there were 1 million ticket requests for a rally in Tulsa,
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 08:16 AM
Jun 2020

then they've fallen for their own bullshit.

Scarsdale

(9,426 posts)
12. I bet a few people suspected
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 08:19 AM
Jun 2020

something, but were afraid of tRump's explosive temper when he found out. Poor baby has to be protected from reality. Maybe that is why Ivanka, Jared and Mrs. tRomp were not there?

honest.abe

(8,556 posts)
18. Exactly. Amazing they pulled this off undetected.
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 08:52 AM
Jun 2020

Either they were very good or the Trump campaign is very stupid... or both!

mysteryowl

(7,323 posts)
55. Indeed! I wonder if the fake tickets blocked trumpers from obtaining one?
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 11:21 AM
Jun 2020

I guess there was no cap to them, so maybe not.

hlthe2b

(101,717 posts)
8. How do they avoid getting bombarded by Trump campaign texts from now to eternity?
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 08:14 AM
Jun 2020

Maybe some could register "throw-away" cell phones, but surely not all?

N_E_1 for Tennis

(9,593 posts)
13. Instructions were given...
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 08:20 AM
Jun 2020

on how to use Google phone to generate “fake” numbers. Saw that at a NYT article.

mtngirl47

(985 posts)
15. I'm getting bombarded and I don't even go to right wing web sites.
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 08:22 AM
Jun 2020

I figure they got my info from NC voter registrations and are trying for everyone...even a registered Democrat who has voted Democratic in every election.

Lulu KC

(2,547 posts)
54. Exactly what I was thinking! Thank you!
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 10:53 AM
Jun 2020

After I skim the thread, next stop is Google for WTHeck is KPop?

Arkansas Granny

(31,483 posts)
16. I wonder if that really had that much effect on attendance.
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 08:41 AM
Jun 2020

It makes Trump look foolish, but I don't know how many might have stayed home because of the inflated ticket numbers.

LiberalArkie

(15,686 posts)
39. I think it turned off a lot of Tulsa people by originally scheduling it on of all days Juneteenth.
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:50 AM
Jun 2020

Even for the racists in the Tulsa area that was a little over the top. They knew how racist Trump is and they did not want to be part of that cross burning.

George II

(67,782 posts)
17. It didn't really drive attendance down, but what it did was stoke the idea....
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 08:47 AM
Jun 2020

....that the event was going to be a huge success.

In reality, there were only going to be 6,200 there anyway.

On the other hand, it pissed away a LOT of money from the trump campaign in building the overflow area stage, the outdoor television screens, and the other things needed to handle 40,000-60,000 people rather than a mere 6,200.

And the embarrassment factor couldn't have been bought for $5 billion!!

Boomer

(4,159 posts)
24. Local economy boost
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:04 AM
Jun 2020

Assuming the Trump campaign pays its bills -- not a sound assumption, by any means -- their overflowing coffers just helped boost the local economy. The stage may not have been needed, but someone was paid to put it up and then take it down.

Hip2bSquare

(291 posts)
22. Amazing and slightly terrifying
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 08:57 AM
Jun 2020

Anything and everything that directly attacks chump's delicate ego, I'm all in, but I had NO idea the power of K-pop. I'm learning more and more about them lately. As a technology challenged, gen-Xer all that algorithms, Google Voice and internet phone services stuff is a foreign language to me.

These young people are brilliant and have my utmost respect and will make sure not to end up on their bad side!!

leighbythesea2

(1,200 posts)
51. Im deep in the fandom & happen to be Gen X
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 10:41 AM
Jun 2020

Its great. Probably could do a tiny "K-Pop for Novices". Lol. And I'm still no expert. But have been enamored for some time.

Maxheader

(4,366 posts)
23. Hmm..I don't know..
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:03 AM
Jun 2020

Seems most times I've tried mischief like that. An email was required,

and the system would look for that address?...

honest.abe

(8,556 posts)
25. I think it was phone number based and they were able to generate bogus numbers that appeared legit..
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:06 AM
Jun 2020

to the registration system. I supposed this flaw will be corrected in future registration systems.

C_U_L8R

(44,893 posts)
26. The real story is magats stayed home.
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:07 AM
Jun 2020

Just not enough passion for trump to leave the sofa. What's left of the magats, that is.

K-Pops story is amusing but it didn't keep magats away... trump did that all on his own.

honest.abe

(8,556 posts)
27. Indeed, but this K-Pop story makes Trump and his campaign look like fools.
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:12 AM
Jun 2020

They were pranked by a hoard of kids. This will dig Trump more than anything.

sheepfarm

(38 posts)
31. They may have stayed at home...
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:27 AM
Jun 2020

...but for all the claims of one million people going to show up, that number turned out to be less than one percent of that figure. That imaginary figure was with little doubt pushed up by these actions, even if the one million total was inflated by Drumpf's own campaign team. Egos no doubt got bruised after last night.

As a popular supermarket chain in the UK uses as their slogan, "Every little helps".

sheepfarm

(38 posts)
29. It looks like the Trump campaign got a right dose of their own medicine!
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:22 AM
Jun 2020

That write up suggests that tactics that would come right out of the /pol/ book of tricks were essentially used by these K-pop fans and their associates. If even a good bit of this was true, this would arguably be a big single piece of trolling that not even the sh*tlords have come close to achieving in terms of campaign disruption. While it didn't mean that more than 6500 or so were going to show up anyway, the inflated numbers meant that money was wasted by the Trump campaign team on the expectation of hundreds of thousands turning up - or someone in their team was too scared to tell the Drumpfenfuher what was really happening!

The alt-right and those that deny they're alt-right have just had a warning shot fired at them - screw around like you did in 2016 and we'll screw you back harder.

Fair play to them.

mikeargo

(675 posts)
34. Somewhere, Dick Tuck is smiling
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:36 AM
Jun 2020

Dick Tuck (yes, that's his real name) was a legendary political consultant that was famous for pranking another Dick (Nixon).

ForgoTheConsequence

(4,846 posts)
32. They didn't really "sabatage" the rally per se.
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:32 AM
Jun 2020

Those tickets are worthless and only used to gather data, there are an infinite amount of tickets.

It did, however, get their hopes up (1 million people, lol) and completely deflate their momentum.

 

Hulk

(6,699 posts)
35. Not buying it.
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:37 AM
Jun 2020

May have had an affect, but I'm guessing nat as much as his old schtick is wearing out, and the virus scared the more intelligent idiots away.

honest.abe

(8,556 posts)
38. This is not saying this reduced the number who attended.
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:46 AM
Jun 2020

It was about pranking the Trump campaign into thinking there were a million people coming.

Fiendish Thingy

(15,367 posts)
36. We can't give K-Pop fans all or even most of the credit...
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:38 AM
Jun 2020

Because apparently Parscale didn’t limit the Total number of tickets Available, since hundreds of thousands of tickets were reserved. If they had limited the number of tickets to the venue’s capacity, and only 6000 couldnt get in because K-Pop fans reserved the rest, THEN we could give them credit for suppressing the turnout numbers. This would mean thousands of MAGA’s who WANTED to see Trump, couldnt.

But this is not the case.

But since There apparently were essentially unlimited number of tickets available, we can only give the K-Pop fans credit for creating unreal expectations for attendance figures in the Trump campaign, who burned when they discovered only 6000 Trump voters were willing to risk their lives to see Trump.

So kudos to the K-Pop fans for pranking Trump, but the real story here is That Trump’s support is so soft he couldnt fill an arena In a deep red state- thousands of his supporters stayed home, even though they could have attended the rally if they wanted to, because there was no limit on ticket reservations.

I think this shows us that most folks have enough sense to heed public health warnings about large indoor gatherings...

honest.abe

(8,556 posts)
37. Right, I dont think anyone is saying this caused the reduced numbers..
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:43 AM
Jun 2020

it was about inflating the numbers and making the Trump campaign look like fools.

We need to do more of this kind of stuff. It works!

2naSalit

(86,054 posts)
43. And...
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 10:01 AM
Jun 2020

trashing their data collection. That is more important than anything else related to the rally.

FakeNoose

(32,351 posts)
41. This doesn't surprise me, I actually expected it to happen
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 09:53 AM
Jun 2020

When the Chump campaign bragged about how many people requested tickets (available FREE online) I knew a prank was in the offing.

It's hard to believe those fools made it so easy for people to prank them.

Let's not forget that the RWNJs did this several times to Hillary's campaign in 2016.


leighbythesea2

(1,200 posts)
50. This from Twitter
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 10:32 AM
Jun 2020

On my timeline was everything.

"Honestly jealous of the person who gets to explain to Donald Trump what a Kpop stan is".

panfluteman

(2,054 posts)
52. Cybersabotage! The New Political Guerilla War Tactic!
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 10:48 AM
Jun 2020

Hooray for the cyber-savvy young folks! Nice to see you doing something good for our country!

LiberalLovinLug

(14,154 posts)
57. I think this over-hype may have actually discouraged more to come
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 01:01 PM
Jun 2020

Imagining huge packed crowds, and like all cowards, for all their bravado, they secretly feared for their lives that they'd get the "Democratic hoax virus".

BadGimp

(4,009 posts)
59. This is IMO not a good thing.
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 02:52 PM
Jun 2020

The RatF@&kers on the right along with their Russian and other allies will step up their game in many ways and the net effect will be bad for Democracy.

I am curious to see if Trump and the campaign will admit they got played big time and that may have been a significant reason or the reason so many people did not show up.

ForgoTheConsequence

(4,846 posts)
61. The tickets were free and unlimited.
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 04:08 PM
Jun 2020

They didn't sabotage anything. "Tickets" are a way of getting voter information and a rough estimate of how many people to expect. It made Trump look like a fool.

SunSeeker

(51,368 posts)
60. They made Trump look stupid bragging about 1 million attendees, but they didn't keep people away.
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 04:05 PM
Jun 2020

The tickets were free, limitless and anyone could come. The MAGAts stayed away all on their own.

 

mr_lebowski

(33,643 posts)
65. But you know Trump (and/or his surrogates) are going to lie about it though ...
Mon Jun 22, 2020, 05:43 AM
Jun 2020

And claim that this prank was why so few people were there.

He won't be able to resist the allure of a face-saving storyline that has the added benefit (in his mind) of being an absolute lie. Esp. one he can blame on foreigners.

He knows his knuckle-dragging f***stain followers will lap his bullshit up like nectar.

By Tuesday the wingnutosphere will be ablaze with headlines like "Soros-Linked Korean Cyber-Terrorists Ruin Trump Rally" and "'We Hate America!' say K-Poppers"

Zambero

(8,954 posts)
64. The data set derived from this event is "slightly" skewed
Sun Jun 21, 2020, 07:09 PM
Jun 2020

And the Trump campaign is therefore screwed! Hopefully these crafty and savvy Millennials will actually show up to vote this time around. They're most certainly not all a bunch of high-schoolers short of voting age.

Latest Discussions»Latest Breaking News»K-Pop Fans Sabotaged Trum...