By the time Trump finished speaking to thousands of supporters at Omaha's Eppley Airfield on Tuesday night and jetted away on Air Force One, the temperature had plunged to nearly freezing.
But as long lines of MAGA-clad attendees queued up for buses to take them to distant parking lots, it quickly became clear something was wrong.
For hours, attendees—including many elderly Trump supporters—stood in the cold, as police scrambled to help those most at-risk get to warmth.
Thirty people needed medical attention over the course of the rally, Omaha police spokesman Michael Pecha reported on Wednesday. Seven were taken to local hospitals "with a variety of medical conditions."
The confusion and the freezing weather added to the health risks that accompany every Trump rally during the novel coronavirus pandemic. In Omaha, buses carried about 25,000 people to the airport for the event, Pecha said. Though the campaign checked temperatures and provided masks, many of those who crowded the risers outside the airport did not wear them.
The crowds did not fully clear the rally site until after 12:30 a.m.—more than 3½ hours after Trump departed.