(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/21/us/politics/trump-tulsa-rally.html)

President Trump and several staff members stood backstage and gazed at the empty Bank of Oklahoma Center in horror.

Mr. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence had canceled plans at the last minute to speak at an outdoor overflow rally that was almost entirely empty, despite claims of nearly one million people registering for tickets to attend the event in Tulsa, Okla., and the president's false boast of never having an empty seat at one of his events.

The president, who had been warned aboard Air Force One that the crowds at the arena were smaller than expected, was stunned, and he yelled at aides backstage while looking at the endless rows of empty blue seats in the upper bowl of the stadium, according to four people familiar with what took place. Brad Parscale, the campaign manager who had put the event together, was not present.

Mr. Pence spoke just after 6:30 p.m. in Tulsa and then left, the cue for Mr. Trump to come on. But there was a delay. Mr. Trump's deputy chief of staff, Dan Scavino, peeked out from behind black curtains to scan the fan-free seats in the top rows.

Mr. Trump eventually entered the arena for a meandering performance in which he excoriated the “fake news” for reporting on health concerns before his event, used racist language to describe the coronavirus as the “Kung Flu” and spent more than 15 minutes explaining away an unflattering video clip of him gingerly descending a ramp after his commencement speech at West Point.

By the end of the rally, Mr. Trump's mood had improved, advisers said. But after he left the stage, the fight seemed to have left him, at least temporarily. Leaving the arena, he wasn't yelling. Instead, he was mostly muted.

When he landed back at the White House and walked off Marine One, his tie hung untied around his neck. He waved to reporters, with a defeated expression on his face, holding a crumpled red campaign hat in one hand.
[...]

(https://www.tmz.com/2020/06/22/nypd-shake-shack-poisoned-milkshake-made-up-theory-conspiracy-fake/)

NYPD brass reportedly cooked up a story about officers getting poisoned at Shake Shack ... because the trio of cops who complained about a funny taste in their milkshakes never even got sick.

The cops in the middle of the "poisoned" milkshake conspiracy were not targeted by rogue, police-hating Shake Shack workers as the NYC Detectives' Endowment Association would have you believe.

According to the NY Post ... the 3 officers from the Bronx were on protest duty in Lower Manhattan when they ordered the shakes. Mind you, the cops used a MOBILE APP to order the drinks, which were packaged and awaiting pickup -- so employees wouldn't even have known the shakes were for cops.

The worst thing that happened to the cops was reportedly a bad taste in their mouths after gorging on the shakes. So, they tossed 'em and alerted a Shake Shack manager, who said sorry and made good with vouchers for free food and drink, which the officers accepted.

Would you accept free food and drink from a burger joint you thought "poisoned" your order on purpose?!? Didn't think so.

According to the report, things got hairy when the cops told their sergeant about the shakes, and the sergeant sent the Emergency Service Unit to set up a crime scene at Shake Shake for an evidence search, some 2 hours after the cops' first sip.

Meanwhile, the cops were rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where they were reportedly examined and sent on their merry way without ever showing the slightest of symptoms.

At the same time, a lieutenant from the Bronx fired off an email to the police unions falsely claiming 6 officers "started throwing up after drinking beverages they got from shake shack on 200 Broadway."

Detectives were put on the case, but it was apparently pretty easy to solve after reviewing surveillance footage and interviewing 5 employees. The report says video showed the shakes were normally made. No poison or funny business.

The reason for the bad taste seems to have been from a commonly used cleaning solution that wasn't thoroughly rinsed off the milkshake machine.

But, for some reason, the mounting evidence of a big nothing-burger didn't stop the NYC Detectives' Endowment Association from declaring cops were "intentionally poisoned by one or more workers at the Shake Shack" and fell "ill."

And, the evidence, or lack thereof, didn't stop Police Benevolent Association president Pat Lynch from making a show of visiting the cops in the hospital at the same time his union claimed police were "under attack" from a "toxic substance, believed to be bleach."
[...]