Why aren't the Trumpers arguing that the crowd was smaller because of the bad weather? At least that probably is an explanation for some of it. Makes way more sense than blaming a CONSPIRACY!!1
Better yet they could have salvaged this by pointing out that D.C votes 90% Democrat.
They do. But they immediately spoil this by saying that the DC folk somehow prevented the crowds from gathering - rather than by making the obvious (and correct) observation that they just stayed home.
I mean, it is not merely DC: it is the entire core Washington-Baltimore area. Below I list a contigous block of counties around DC that voted for Clinton: arguably, Trump and his administration are no more popular there, then an actual Russian occupation army billeted in private homes would be.
DC: Clinton 90.8%, Trump 4.09%
Prince George's County, MD: C 88.13%, T 8.4%
City of Baltimore, MD: 84.66%, T 10.53%
Arlington County, VA: C 75.83%, T 16.64%
City of Alexandria, VA: C 75.56%, T 17.54%
City of Falls Church, VA C 75%, T 17.1%
Montgomery County, MD: C 74.72%, T 19.36%
Fairfax County, VA: C 64.63%, T 28.61%
Howard County, MD: C 63.26%, T 29.28%
Charles County, MD: C 63.01%, T 32.71%
City of Fairfax, VA: C 61.2%, T 30.8%
City of Manassas Park, VA: C 61.2%, T 33.1%
Prince William County, VA: C 57.6%, T 36.51%
Baltimore County, MD: C 55.91%, T 38.26%
Loudoun County, VA: C 55.06, T 38.21%
City of Manassas, VA: C 54.7%, T 38.6
Anne Arundel County, MD 47.55%, T 45.32% (it had not voted for a Dem since 1964)
The nearest large county in the immediate vicinity that went for Trump was Frederick, MD: and even there he only got 47.36%. Pretty much all others are not, really suburban. Overwhelmingly, anybody used to regularly coming to DC comes from solid Clinton areas.
So, the Trumpistas, actually, for once had a very solid argument for why a low turnout is nothing to be ashemed of: the city is really extremely hostile to them, but it is not representantive of the country. They could have said something about the "Beltway" - and, actually, for once they would have been right. But they cannot acknowledge a defeat, even in such a minor battle, inside the enemy territory. So, rather than staying with the facts (which, in this case, allow for an absolutely honorable interpretation), they have to invent them.
