Secretary Clinton’s supporters relentlessly claim that the “illegitimate” President-elect Donald J. Trump won, thanks to the FBI, the KGB, “fake news,” Electoral College members who voted as they promised, and perhaps the Bermuda Triangle. These sorest of losers refuse to concede that if Hillary Clinton really wanted to be president of the United States, she should have worked harder for the job.
Trump out-stumped Clinton. He spoke much more often than she did, and to far larger crowds. And then his fans reached out to people they knew and told them all about it.
Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit meticulously tracked both nominees’ campaign rallies, from just after the conventions through Election Day. “I only included those events where the candidates themselves attended,” rather than surrogates like Bill Clinton or Rudolph W. Giuliani. Hoft excluded debates, TV interviews, fundraisers, and, he told me, “visits to companies or other small meetings, unless one gave a major speech.”
Hoft also developed crowd estimates that were “very difficult to put together,” due to what he considered often-biased news reports from establishment outlets. “The mainstream media almost always overstated Hillary’s crowds and understated Trump’s. I was forced many times to search at length to get numbers that looked reasonable…I believe these numbers are solid.”
Hoft’s carefully compiled data should make Clinton’s partisans aim their unbridled rage at her. His statistics yield an inescapable conclusion: Every single week between August 1 and November 8, Trump addressed more voters at more rallies than did Clinton.
Across these 15 weeks, Trump appeared at 132 rallies versus Clinton’s 63 — less than half as many. He addressed an estimated 963,155 people, compared to Clinton’s 109,220. Hoft calculates 7,297 guests at the average Trump rally. Just 1,734 reached the typical Clinton function. Participants averaged 9,729 per day for Trump and 1,103 for Clinton.
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Trump out-rallied Clinton in key swing states, which he captured. He held 25 in Florida to her 16. In Michigan, he organized eight to her four. Pennsylvania: Trump 15, Clinton 10.
In that period, Hoft also found that Clinton held no rallies in two states where Trump scored electoral votes. Clinton notoriously blew off Wisconsin. Trump held six rallies there and won. She also failed to rally in Maine. Trump did so thrice. He secured one electoral vote among the four that Maine awards by congressional district.
Hoft also counted 23 days where Trump held no rallies or took time off the trail. Amazingly enough, Clinton avoided rallies or relaxed on 57 days — nearly 60 percent of that crucial 99-day interval.
“Hillary’s performance was pathetic,” Hoft says. “She took weekends off and neglected the states where she eventually lost. I am not sure she neglected these states due to health issues or arrogance, but one of these two cost her the election.”
As for the faces in these crowds, they used social media to share with their friends and loved ones what they saw and heard. Here, too, Trump outpaced Clinton. By Election Day, according to audited reports that Hoft inspected, Trump had 12,512,841 Twitter followers versus 9,765,645 for Clinton. Trump’s 11,443,714 Facebook likes outshone Clinton’s 7,124,977. And Trump’s YouTube views, trounced Clinton’s more than three to one: 96,814,793 for him and 29,211,723 for her.
In letters rather than digits, the ubiquitous and indefatigable Trump inspired his supporters, and they carried his message forward via high-tech communications channels.
But Clinton enjoyed even more abundant advantages.
While the Right’s Never Trump crowd hounded the Republican standard bearer, Clinton boasted a generally unified Democrat Party. The Old Guard media loyally carried Clinton’s water in buckets, barefoot across shattered glass, and constantly slammed Trump with sadistic glee. The battle-scarred Clinton fought her second presidential campaign, atop two successful Senate bids and both of her husband’s winning White House contests. Trump never had been a candidate for so much as school board. The Clinton campaign outspent Trump on the trail, $521 million to $270 million — or $7.91 per vote for her and $4.29 per vote for him.
And yet, despite her many assets, Trump the tortoise walked past Hillary the hare — all the way to Friday’s inauguration.
Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News contributor. William de Wolff, a graduate of New York University’s Master of Arts Program in International Relations, contributed research for this article.
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