Donald Trump’s 66-minute speech announcing his third consecutive run for president was thoroughly panned Tuesday night by experts and critics but one reporter’s video appears to redefine the term “captive audience.”
“A crowd has formed by the exit of the ballroom as some try to leave Trump’s announcement speech before he has finished,” tweeted ABC News’ Olivia Rubin. “But security won’t let them.”
The video was posted minutes after Trump’s speech ended, but it clearly was taken during his speech as the audio makes clear he was still addressing the crowd at Mar-a-Lago.
MSNBC’s Katie S. Phang, an attorney, anchor, and legal contributor responded: “‘Captive’ audience there.”
“The speech attendees shown on the video weren’t the only ones who appeared to grow weary at Mr Trump’s low-energy remarks,” The Independent notes. “Several networks – including his once-beloved Fox News – cut away from the speech before it was over, while many of his once-loyal supporters – including family members – chose not to attend at all.”
Meanwhile, the Lincoln Project looked at the bigger pictured and concluded, “Trump holding hostages during his speech is certainly a metaphor for his grip on the GOP. It’s his party.”
They added: “When The Eagles sang ‘you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave’ they were talking about Mar-A-Lago.”
Journalist Victoria Brownworth tweeted, “The Mar-a-Lago crowd was so disenchanted with Donald Trump’s announcement that he was running for president for a third time that they tried to leave. Trump’s security team blocked the exits so they could not. Quite the metaphor for the GOP.”
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Democratic strategist Max Burns wrote, “It has a certain Hugo Chavez vibe to it.”
Tennis great Martina Navratilova mocked: “Lol- the land of the free…”
Priorities USA’s Chris Strider observed, “He tried to hold the country hostage. Now he’s trying to hold his own supporters hostage.”
Watch the video above or at this link.