Does a photo on social media show people crowding the street outside Madison Square Garden in New York in 2024 for a Trump rally? No, that's not true: Images from the street scene first appeared in 2011, showing people in Dublin lined up for an event attended by then-President Barack Obama. Actual photos from Trump's Madison Square Garden rally in 2024 do not match the street scene in the social media post, where the Irish flag is visible.
The image appeared in a post (archived here) on Instagram on October 27, 2024. White text above the image of a large crowd read:
You'd think Trump was having a concert. He isn't. He doesn't need celebrities to carry his rally for people to show up.
This is what the claim looked like on Instagram at the time of writing:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Thu Oct 31 15:08:59 2024 UTC)
A Google reverse image search (archived here) revealed that the image in the post was a scene in Dublin in 2011, as shown in a photo on the Getty Images website. Above this image on Getty, the caption and photo description reads:
US President Barack Obama Visits Ireland
DUBLIN, IRELAND - MAY 23: People line up for a security check before a concert at which US President Obama will appear on May 23, 2011 in Dublin, Ireland. U.S. President Obama is visiting Ireland for one day. He will meet with distant relatives in Moneygall and speak at a rally in central Dublin after a concert. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
The Getty Images photo also appeared in this May 23, 2011, Guardian article titled, "Barack Obama visits Ireland - in pictures." The caption beside this photo, taken by photographer Peter Macdiarmid, read:
People line up at a security check in Dublin before a concert to be attended by the US president
A May 23, 2011, blog post published on the White House archives website titled, "President Obama in Dublin: 'Never Has a Nation So Small Inspired So Much in Another'" confirmed the event.
An October 27, 2024, New York Times article titled "Trump Supporters Line Up Early to Fill Madison Square Garden" featured authentic images from Trump's 2024 presidential campaign rally in New York. However, these images differ from the one in the post, as they display U.S. flags and flags that read "MAGA," while the image on Instagram displayed U.S. flags and the flag of Ireland.
At the time this was written, PolitiFact had reviewed the same claim.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks mentioning Donald Trump and the 2024 U.S. election can be read here and here.
