'Something's up' after Vance's right-wing event appearance falls apart: campaign advisor

The paltry turnout to see and hear Vice President JD Vance at a Turning Point USA event in Athens, Georgia on Tuesday amused longtime campaign consultant Mark McKinnon who, after smirking, observed to an MS NOW host that the Donald Trump White House should take note.

Earlier on MS NOW, scenes of the mostly empty arena on the campus on the University of Georgia led to laughter on “Morning Joe,” and McKinnon piled on when talking to host Chris Jansing in the afternoon by noting that no one apparently wanted to hear Vance’s defense of the war on Iran.

“So, Mark, when you see Vance making that kind of admission, frankly, at an event that's typically all in with this administration, and add to that the empty seats you see in the arena, does it tell us anything about how the war is impacting the ties between the president and his party?” the MS NOW host prompted her guest.

“Yeah, it says something's up, Chris,” McKinnon, who has worked for Republicans and Democrats alike, laughed.

“You know, I went to a Charlie Kirk rally in 2024 when, you know, a lot of media weren't paying attention to him because I'd been seeing some of his TikToks,” he recalled. “And I went to a rally in Athens, Georgia, and it was just a sea of red hats, and the square was so packed I couldn't even get through it.”

“So just to go from that, to see this vision yesterday of Vance at this at this rally, and it confirms in my mind one key thing, which is that for a lot of voters, but especially younger voters, the notion of no more conflicts, which is what and foreign entanglements, foreign wars, which is what Trump and Vance especially ran on –– I think that that's a pretty clear signal from that turnout yesterday; the trouble ahead, unless they get out of this fast,” he advised.

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