President-elect Donald Trump promises “record numbers” at his inauguration, but that may just be wishful thinking.
As Gothamist reports, Trump is now running ads on Facebook in an attempt to draw more Americans to his swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20.
imagine being so disliked that 4 days before your inauguration you start paying to send desperate FB ad invites to "person, 27+" pic.twitter.com/UQ0m4D7vg4
— mah ree nah (@marinarachael) January 17, 2017
It’s unclear how many people will attend Trump’s inauguration, but the number may be lower than the crowd expected for the Women’s March on Washington protest, which is expecting some 200,000 people. The number of buses awarding permits for Trump’s inauguration is roughly a third of the number given for the Women’s March. Further, the New York Daily News reports that ticket scalpers are struggling to sell tickets to the inauguration.
Then again, both the D.C. Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and the U.S. Army expect around 800,000 people to attend the inauguration ceremony and parade, so all this talk of low turnout may be for naught. That would put him well above former President George W. Bush‘s 2001 inauguration, which saw 300,000 attendees.
Even if Trump’s inauguration has low turnout, you can expect the world will be watching.