Reports about “huge” crowds turning out to rallies by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may not be all they seem as “astroturfing” allegations surfaced.
CBS News claimed an “estimated” 34000 people at a Denver rally last week by the Vermont senator and the New York representative and The Guardian said the pair is “rallying huge crowds with a message to reshape the Democratic party.” Newsweek declared “Massive Crowd Shows Up For Bernie Sanders And AOC Rally In Denver” on YouTube while local ABC affiliate Denver 7 said the “Sanders and AOC rally in Denver draws tens of thousands.”
“It is the largest rally that I have ever had,” Sanders posted on social media.
Today, @AOC and I had 34,000 people come out in Denver.
It is the largest rally that I have ever had.
And it tells me that the American people will not allow Trump to move us into oligarchy and authoritarianism.
We will fight back. We will win. pic.twitter.com/g8ThlYwmlY
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 22, 2025
In another post about a town hall, Sanders claimed “The line for our town hall in Tucson is HUGE.”
But posts on X cited GPS data showing a different story on the “massive” Denver rally.
“That massive Bernie Sanders and AOC rally in Denver? Turns out it wasn’t as ‘grassroots’ as advertised,” Mario Nawfal posted. “Despite claims of 34,000 attendees, GPS data analysis reveals the real number was closer to 20,000—still big, but not record-breaking.”
Elon Musk reacted on X, writing, “The Dems just move around the same group of paid ‘protesters.'”
The Dems just move around the same group of paid “protesters” https://t.co/WjqovtSy7v
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 23, 2025
“More revealing? A whopping 84% of those devices had shown up at nine or more other protests, including Antifa/BLM events, pro-Hamas and pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and Kamala Harris campaign stops,” Nawfal added. “Over 30% had attended twenty or more.”
“Data analysts say the crowd was anything but organic—the majority were tied to activist networks like Disruption Project, Indivisible, Democratic Socialists of America, Rise & Resist, and Troublemakers—all reportedly funded by ActBlue and some receiving backing via USAID.” Nawful explained. “Optics over authenticity. The playbook hasn’t changed—just the targets.”
Data analyst Tony Seruga, who was cited as a source in the post, provided more details.
GPS—Here we go again, there were 20,189 devices. Still a large crowd but not even close to the 30,000 quoted in Denver newspapers nor the 34,000 quoted by Bernie Sanders and AOC.
84% of the devices present had attended 9 or more Kamala Harris rallies, antifa/blm, pro-Hamas,… https://t.co/zQuvc0ATx5
— Tony Seruga (@TonySeruga) March 23, 2025
GPS UPDATE: 20,189 is the number of devices present at ANY time between 7 am until 8:30 pm. That timeframe appears to have included set-up and breakdown. Devices, of course were arriving and departing the entire day.
However, the majority were arriving between 3 and 4 pm. The…
— Tony Seruga (@TonySeruga) March 23, 2025
Social media reactions poured in.
Our algorithm removes connected/redundant devices including watches, sports trackers, iPads, tablets, etc., etc.
— Tony Seruga (@TonySeruga) March 23, 2025
Wow, just wow. Think of all the money and time that could’ve been spent on doing good for the world versus what they’re doing.
— FloridaTropics (@TropicsFlorida) March 23, 2025
Been preaching this for year …. They’re all just the same “save the whales” from years ago.
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) March 23, 2025
So basically, paid rally goers.
Very organic. 😂— We are all Trolling 🤨 (@WeR_allTrolling) March 23, 2025
Democrats spent a lot of tax money on getting protesters to be on their side
— Freddie America ∆ (@Freddiellc) March 24, 2025
No one should be surprised by this.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) March 23, 2025
