Ohio loves Donald Trump. Or, you know, something like that. When Trump arrived in Ohio for the Patriot Games, he was greeted with cheers and excitement from apparent supporters, or fans.
It’s hard to tell the difference at this point. But in a TikTok posted by CBS News, you can certainly hear someone, or a group of someones, cheering for Trump as he stands just inside of Air Force One and waves at them.
The only thing is, critics are all but convinced that the cheers are totally fake. Or, that the people cheering aren’t supporters, but instead part of Trump’s team. They might also be part of the press that gathered to greet Trump upon his arrival in Ohio for the first ever event of its kind. But not everyone is so ready to believe the footage or the cheers heard in the video.
Donald Trump’s Ohio arrival was met with a chorus of cheers that people are now questioning.
@cbsnews President Trump arrived in Ohio on Tuesday to attend the 2026 Patriot Games in Geneva. The president stepped off Air Force One to cheers and chants of "USA" from a crowd of supporters waiting in the rain. He was greeted by ESPN's Pat McAfee. #trump #ohio #patriotgames #sports #airforceone ♬ original sound – cbsnews
In the video, Trump waves at people cheering for him off-camera. He is still inside Air Force One but, because of rain, he waits for an umbrella. Then, as he walks down the steps to the tarmac, he holds up a fist out of celebration while the cheers continue. There is no direct shot of the people cheering for him, however, which is where the confusion and the theories come in.
“Who is cheering?” One user questioned in the comments. “Paid actors or fake audio. I bet [nobody’s] there.”
Someone else agreed, “why don’t they show ‘the crowd’?”
Another wrote, “Ohio does not claim the people cheering.”
Towards the end of the clip, ESPN analyst Pat McAfee greets Trump and, together, they walk from the plane to what is likely a waiting car. McAfee looks plenty happy to see Trump, so his cheers are legitimate. As for the other people cheering for Trump and his arrival in Ohio? That’s a little less clear, at least from this particular clip from his arrival.
Some joked about Ohio’s inclement weather not welcoming Trump.
🚨 JUST IN: President Trump pumps his fist in the pouring rain storm as patriots chant "USA! USA!" after deplaning Air Force One, boarding Marine One
— Mr. Pool (@MrPoolQ1) August 12, 2026
It seriously doesn't get any better than this 🔥
Ohio LOVES TRUMP!
FOLLOW ME THE NEXT DROP WILL BE SHOCKING pic.twitter.com/yl6y2JX8Ub
The day Trump arrived in Ohio to see the teen athletes in the Patriot Games, there were widespread torrential downpours. And yes, those storms impacted Ashtabula County, where Marine One traveled from Cleveland, which is where Air Force one landed. For some who aren’t Trump fans, the weather was an indicator of Mother Nature’s own opinion of the president.
One person wrote, “I love how Mother Nature ruins all events for him.”
“Even the weather said, ‘oh hell naw,'” another joked.
“Oh that explains the weather,” an apparent critic also wrote. “Mother Nature is even protesting.”
Trump was accused of having fake applause before.
This isn’t the first time people have accused Trump, or news outlets, of faking cheers for the president. There was a rumor in 2025 that Fox News inserted fake cheers into one of Trump’s televised speeches. Snopes reported that the rumor was false, but it was another example of cheers sounding forced, or fake, when it comes to Trump.
When Trump attended the Super Bowl in early 2025, critics once again speculated that there were fake cheers from game attendees meant to drown out boos from people in the stands. It’s hard to prove which theories are accurate in regards to alleged boos and supposedly fake cheers, but Trump continues to face those allegations.
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