Did seven people show up for former President Donald Trump in Iowa as the 2024 election season began? No, that's missing context: The video of Trump with seven people was taken inside a radio station office where he was recording an interview -- it was not an event open to the public. He spoke at public events in Iowa that had large crowds but the video shows an event that was in a private business.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Twitter on June 1, 2023. It opened:
7 people showed up for Trump in Iowa
This is what the post looked like on Twitter at the time of writing:
(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Thu Jun 1 20:18:27 2023 UTC)
Trump did a live interview with 1040 WHO-AM host Simon Conway on May 31, 2023, as the station's Facebook page noted:
The video posted on Twitter shows Trump in the NEWSRADIO 1040-WHO office, in Des Moines, Iowa, with the station's logo clearly visible on the wall in the studio. This was not a public event but in a private office, with Trump appearing at the radio station for an on-air interview, not at a political rally. The image the radio station posted of Trump and Conway shows the former president wearing the same blue-and-white-striped tie he is wearing in the video.
Trump drew a crowd when he spoke at the Machine Shed in Des Moines to the Westside Conservative Club on June 1, 2023. Video and images posted on social media show the large number of supporters who turned out to see him at the event, which was open to the public. Galen Bacharier, politics reporter for the Des Moines Register, posted a video and photo from the Westside Conservative Club event, calling the turnout a "packed house in a small venue":
Donald Trump is back in Iowa. Just arrived at the Machine Shed in Urbandale to address the Westside Conservative Club. Packed house in a small venue. pic.twitter.com/Yyi1sIN1n0
-- Galen Bacharier (@galenbacharier) June 1, 2023
