It’s like a laugh track on bad sitcoms. It tells you what you’re supposed to do. It’s especially effective for those who’ve turned off their brain, like when watching other rotten TV.

I always wanted to sit in those seats and make disgusted and horrified expressions the entire time. Maybe agree with a few talking points to throw people off, of course.

Yes, I realize Trump doesn't have talking points but is rather prone to more of an oral diarrheal word cloud.

North Korea too

This is more of a 'running for office' thing in the US. It's not normal for a sitting president.

Very USA-based. In Australia, we'd be giving him the finger, shouting, and probably throwing Vegemite sandwiches at him. No, that wasn't an exaggeration. Someone once threw a vegemite sandwich at former Prime Minister Julia Gillard. And someone once hit professional dickhead, Fraser Anning, with an egg.

Also in Australia, it's usually a couple of noddies standing behind the politician as he or she waffles on. Often different people each time, the noddies stand and nod when the politician makes a point the politician wants people to see is right. Noddies probably influence a lot more elections in Australia than people think.

Completely staged. That’s why we don’t take it seriously in the US.

Cons in Canada have taken to doing this shit as well. It's fucking embarassing to see, but not surprising.

In Germany, we’d probably consider this “weird” in case our politicians did that.

This happens in Canada as well. The way I see it is it's supposed to show support for the candidate in question.

I know you asked for non-USA opinions, but as someone from the USA, I have always thought this was weird. Not only are they either fake or paid or self-centered extreme fans, but they got to sign away their "show up on TV and photos" rights, all for the privilege of looking at Trump's ass while he speaks. Worst seat in the house.

I can see why Germany would not be receptive of large political rallies based on recent history. The same should be the case in the US. But yet here we are.

I don't think I've ever seen a politician getting applauded regularily, outside maybe of a talkshow setting. And not during a speech, maybe at the end when they finished. They also don't really take center stage to give big speeches all that often. And having 7 presidents means less cult of personality.

It mostly looks like This is one of the presidents giving a press conference, with several experts/advisors next to him (and more experts in the front row, should more specific questions come up). The rest are journalists. I'd say press conferences make up the majority of appearances, so there's no crowds/"fans". Heck even the concept of a fan of one of the presidents sounds weird. Maybe for the parties, but I have never heard of anyone being a fan of one of the presidents.

Then there's other events, but even for national day celebration speeches, it's nothing crazy, this has some pictures of several of the presidents giving various national day speeches last year. No people in the background. But then I don't think most people really watch any of this, so why bother?

Not unique to USA, it's a cult thing and a load of hype.

These people are made to feel special, just for one day.

It's a cult thing.

Nah, North Korea do it

Heads up: we also clap when the plane lands.

This happens a lot in Prime Minister question time because the people sitting next and behind them are their own party people.

I'm in the UK, and politicians do this too at campaign rallies now, and have done so for some years. We certainly took this from US style electioneering.

It's all about optics - it supposedly looks good for a politician to be talking and people enthusiastically cheering on in the background. It kind of makes sense if you accept that all that will be shown on TV or social media is a clip from a speech, so you want to try and package that with as positive a spin on it as possible. The political party can control the background this way and it's impossible for the media companies to edit it out.

I can't speak for other European countries, but I have seen clips from other electioneering videos with a similar set up, so it's not just the US and the UK. For example: This article from SBS in Australia (one of their public service broadcasters) has a picture of exactly this phenomenon: https://www.sbs.com.au/language/gujarati/en/article/profile-of-australian-labor-party/ji29c0grz

But I'm pretty certain we in the UK took this from the US in the last 15-20 years maybe? I don't know if it came from somewhere else before? I wouldn't be surprised if it's older than we think!

Im not sure when it started and seems to be more vigourously done with republicans. It was not always so or at least rallies were not televised so much.

Couldn't they be paid actors?

In Germany they usually have a wall with a colorful curtain behind them. All the audience in front of them.

We also don't have / expect that many snipers.

Reminds me of those Japanese reaction shows.

I think I've seen a recording of exactly this scene and had similar thoughts. You can see similar things in Germany when elections are coming up and prominent people go up on a stage to make a speech or walk a few steps in public towards others or speak to the media. They tend to have their colleagues in the back, supporters are in front of them or within a little distance at the side.

When I look for footage in the archives it seems it was more of a thing in the past, especially when it comes to bigger events on the street. Also it looks like it is more of a thing from authoritarian propaganda playbooks. The Nazis used it aswell as the SED.

look dear viewer! regular Joe shmoes like you really like my back! clap together now!

I sometimes see this with public speakers, but it's rare that the audience is in the background. Creepy, I'd say.