US President Donald Trump held his first campaign rally in more than four months in Tulsa.
The much-hyped event was billed as a chance for Trump to signal to America that the country was reopening, despite concerning figures that showed spikes in coronavirus cases in some states.
Here's what went down in Oklahoma.
The crowd didn't live up to the hype. We'll find out why later
In the days before the rally, Trump's campaign manager Brad Parscale said 1 million tickets had been requested for the Tulsa rally.
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As the event moved closer, the Trump campaign said the 19,000-seat BOK Center in Tulsa would be full, and 40,000 extra supporters would be accommodated in an overflow area outside. Plans were made for Trump to give a speech outside once he finished the indoor rally.
But the outside crowd never showed. The outdoor stage was being dismantled before Trump took to the podium inside.
At the BOK Center, there were plenty of empty seats, and the standing area in front of the President was about half full.
Like most things in America in 2020, there's division over why the numbers didn't live up to the hype.
The Trump campaign is suggesting threats of violent protests kept crowds away (though there was little unrest in Tulsa on the day).
Trump critics have suggested that thanks to a campaign on TikTok helped along by K-Pop fans, teens flooded the Trump campaign website with ticket requests to inflate expectations.
Either way, for a President who made one of his first priorities in office a defiant stand about crowd numbers, it's made an easy target for his critics and is perhaps a worrying sign about the willingness of even his own supporters to return to normal life in the midst of coronavirus.
What was the rally like? Donald Trump said he was 'average'
About halfway through the speech Trump reflected on how he felt he was performing on stage.
It was partly in jest, but it felt like a fair descriptor of the two-hour speech he delivered.
In many ways it felt like a standard Trump rally. The same old enemies were mentioned (Nancy Pelosi? Check. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Check) and the same old topics got the most attention (defeating ISIS? Check. Immigration and the wall? Check and check).
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On another night, it would have been pretty unremarkable. But the Trump campaign itself framed this rally as a huge, historic event.
We'll see if this is just the President shaking off some rust after a long hiatus from his favourite political pastime, or if there's a deeper malaise his campaign will need to address.
Trump's comments about coronavirus testing will have an impact
The President didn't touch on coronavirus much in his nearly two-hour rally (though he explained at great length a viral controversy about his walk down a ramp).
But when he did, he hit out at the rate of testing in the US, calling it a "double-edged sword".
"When you do testing to that extent you're going to find more people," he said.
After the rally, the White House clarified the comments by saying Trump was "clearly speaking in jest to call out the media's absurd coverage".
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A Democratic political group had turned the comments into an attack ad less than an hour after Trump had left the stage.
To date, there have been more than 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the US, and more than 120,000 people have died.
Protesters showed up, but things stayed peaceful
Plans for protests in Tulsa were announced the moment the Trump campaign flagged the city as the destination for its first rally back.
And while the ABC's own reporters on the ground found tensions to be pretty high at points, there were no widespread arrests or significant violence.
Much like the reports over the crowd sizes expected at Trump's rally, the size of the protests fell similarly short.
It's a reflection of where the protest movement in America is at right now, as we approach the one-month anniversary of George Floyd's death.
The fires of rage that led to significant clashes with police across the country have been replaced by a smaller, but still flickering, movement determined to push for lasting change with passionate, but decidedly peaceful demonstrations.
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June 21, 2020 at 01:37PM
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Crowd numbers at Donald Trump's Tulsa rally fell short of expectations. Here's what else you need to know - ABC News
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