Donald Trump's ability to draw a crowd has flabbergasted even one of left-leaning MSNBC's talk-show hosts, Joe Scarborough, who took to national airwaves to say the billionaire is beating all records – that his ability to pack a room with eager listeners exceeds anything even much-loved Ronald Reagan could do.
"I was at George W. Bush's campaign rally in 2004 at the final stages of that unbelievable race in early November," the "Morning Joe" host said, Breitbart reported. "I saw Reagan come to Pensacola twice in 1980. I saw the crowds. I never saw anything like that in my hometown before."
Scarborough was referencing Trump's recent appearance in Pensacola, Florida, and the thousands who assembled to hear him speak and show him support. Scarborough once represented a portion of Florida that included Pensacola when he served in Congress as a legislator.
"It's absolutely staggering. Here we are, in early January. I'll be honest with you. I guess seeing it in your own hometown, I don't get it as far as the size of these crowds go," he said. "It's like nothing I saw with Reagan. It's like nothing I saw with Bush. It's nothing I saw with any political candidate, what I saw come out of Pensacola."
Scarborough said Trump's rivals weren't likely to draw that size of crowd – that Sen. Marco Rubio "would get 150 people at an event" and Sen. Ted Cruz, "probably get double, probably get 300 to 400 people at an event," he said, Breitbart reported.
Other media outlets have commented with awe on the size of crowds Trump has drawn on his campaign trail. In early January, the Washington Post published a piece on Trump's Lowell, Massachusetts, rally with the headline: "This crowd shot from Donald Trump's Massachusetts rally is absolutely mind-boggling."
It contained a tweeted message that summed up the scene: "Thousands and thousands packed into arena in Lowell, MA, for Donald Trump's rally."
The building at that rally held 8,000 people, and "local officials were estimating that it was filled to capacity or beyond," the Washington Post reported. "That is a MASSIVE amount of people, especially considering that the high temperature in Lowell yesterday was 29 degrees and Trump's rally didn't start until the evening."