Gen Z, TikTokers — including Park City teen — claim 'we did it' after curtailed turnout at Tulsa rally

THE INTERNET — The tweet wasn’t a press release, but in some ways, it was taken as such.

Five days before President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma — his first campaign rally since the COVID-19 pandemic began and one that has been criticized for a number of reasons, including the rally’s original date of June 19, or the Juneteenth holiday celebrated widely in the black community — the president’s campaign manager boasted a major milestone for the event on Twitter.

“Over 1M (1 million) ticket requests for (Trump’s) #MAGA Rally in Tulsa on Saturday,” Trump campaign manager Brad Pascale tweeted on June 15. “Before entering, each guest will get: temperature check, hand sanitizer, (and) mask. There will be precautions for the heat and bottled water as well.”

What the campaign and its supporters found, however, was a less-than-capacity crowd at the BOK Center, which holds between 13-19,000 people, depending on the configuration of the building used for basketball, hockey, arena football and concerts.

Almost immediately, Generation Z began claiming the victory – including one family from Park City.

“My 16 year old daughter and her friends in Park City, Utah have hundreds of tickets,” tweeted Steve Schmidt, a former Republican strategist who worked on Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign and who made headlines in 2018 when he “renounced” his affiliation with the GOP. “You have been rolled by America’s teens.”

He continued, tagging President Trump in the tweet: “You have been failed by your team. You have been deserted by your faithful. No one likes to root for the losing team.”

The president inculpated the lower-than-expected crowd at the rally on media reports of a spike in COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma and the threat of protesters in the area.

Officials expected more than 100,000 attendees, according to the Associated Press. They got several thousand, and those who came were loud and enthusiastic, according to most reports.

Hundreds of thousands more watched the rally via live stream on YouTube, like upwards of 400,000 through NBC News.

“You are warriors. Thank you,” Trump told the crowd inside the arena. “We had some very bad people outside, some very bad people outside doing bad things.”

Trump later tweeted photos from the event from his personal Twitter account, along with the message, “The silent majority is stronger than ever before,” and the hashtag #MAGA for Make America Great Again.

Meanwhile, across the nation and on social media, thousands of Gen Z faithful — those often called “the TikTok generation,” too young to cast a vote — were claiming they had made their voices heard in a significant way. Many took credit, like TikTok user @trevorslack, who posted a video of the news alongside footage from inside the arena with the caption, “I love the internet,” and the popular TikTok trend, “We did it” from the Dora the Explorer cartoon.

Others tweeted four words that expressed hyperbole, but also satisfaction: "best senior prank ever."

They began organizing several weeks ago, using alternative channels on newer social media like TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram to claim free tickets to Trump’s rally in Tulsa that they never intended to use, according to posts now deleted on social media.

Some used fake phone numbers, according to the New York Times. At least a few even convinced their parents to order tickets that they wouldn’t use, either, the newspaper reported.

By the end of the Saturday night, they felt their plan had worked, a plan that was aided through large masses of fan — or stan — accounts for Korean pop music, often called K-pop.

“It spread mostly through Alt TikTok — we kept it on the quiet side where people do pranks and a lot of activism,” popular YouTuber Elijah Daniel, 26, told the Times. “K-pop Twitter and Alt TikTok have a good alliance where they spread information amongst each other very quickly. They all know the algorithm and how they can boost videos to get where they want.”

Whatever the case and whatever the final turnout was, President Trump acknowledged the low numbers. The president and Vice President Mike Pence canceled previously scheduled plans to address the overflow crowd outside the rally, which was to take place inside the BOK Center.

But the arena never filled up, and the “overflow” area was largely empty, as well.

“The Coalition of the Decent is attacking and winning,” Schmidt posted in a tweet that has garnered more than 8,000 retweets and upwards of 50,000 likes. “Trump has been stripped bare. He stands naked and exposed for all to see. He is a failure. He is going down.

“This is what happened tonight. I’m dead serious when I say this. The teens of America have struck a savage blow against (Trump). All across America teens ordered tickets to this event. The fools on the campaign bragged about a million tickets. lol.”

Many of these American teenagers will not be eligible to vote in November. But on Saturday, they claimed their mark on the election.

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