Thousands gather in D.C. for pro-Trump demonstrations as city braces for clashes
THE WHITE OPIOID CLASS
With waving flags, air horns and chants of “four more years,” protesters who refuse to accept that President-elect Joe Biden won the election are rallying Saturday in the streets of Washington. Thousands of people gathered in downtown D.C. to show support for the president, two days before the electoral college votes to cement his 306-to-232 loss.
There were no official crowd estimates, but the Saturday gathering seemed to attract far fewer of the president’s supporters than pro-Trump demonstrations one month earlier.
Saturday’s crowd was energized by visits from recently pardoned national security adviser Michael Flynn, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and around midday, a flyover from what appeared to be Marine One.[Election results under attack: Here are the facts]
“There he is! There is our guy!” a woman exclaimed, reaching toward the sky.
A few hours earlier, Trump had indicated on Twitter he was surprised to learn people were gathering in his honor once again.
“Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them! #MAGA,” he wrote.
With waving flags, air horns and chants of “four more years,” protesters who refuse to accept that President-elect Joe Biden won the election are rallying Saturday in the streets of Washington. Thousands of people gathered in downtown D.C. to show support for the president, two days before the electoral college votes to cement his 306-to-232 loss.
© Evelyn Hockstein/for The Washington Post
Supporters of President Trump rally in Washington on Saturday.
Emily Davies, Rachel Weiner, Clarence Williams, Justin Wm. Moyer, Jessica Contrera for The Washington Post
There were no official crowd estimates, but the Saturday gathering seemed to attract far fewer of the president’s supporters than pro-Trump demonstrations one month earlier.
Saturday’s crowd was energized by visits from recently pardoned national security adviser Michael Flynn, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and around midday, a flyover from what appeared to be Marine One.[Election results under attack: Here are the facts]
“There he is! There is our guy!” a woman exclaimed, reaching toward the sky.
A few hours earlier, Trump had indicated on Twitter he was surprised to learn people were gathering in his honor once again.
“Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them! #MAGA,” he wrote.
© Evelyn Hockstein/for The Washington Post
Proud Boys march during a rally for President Trump on Saturday in Washington.
By midafternoon, the crowd’s attention was focused not on the president but on a group he once told to “stand back and stand by”: the Proud Boys, a male-chauvinist organization with ties to white nationalism. In helmets and bulletproof vests, hundreds of men in their ranks marched through downtown in militarylike rows, shouting “Move out” and “1776!”
They seemed intent on intimidating onlookers, and adopted a chant popular with counterprotesters: “Who’s streets? Our streets.”
They were blocked from going near Black Lives Matter Plaza, which has been the site of both peaceful protests and combative moments for months. For much of the day, police largely fenced off the area, then made various formations on bikes to form human barricades, hoping to keep the Proud Boys from going near counterprotesters gathered there.
But tension still escalated in fits and starts. Shortly before midnight Friday, a brawl between a dozen Trump supporters and counterprotesters resulted in the arrest of at least four people. Around 11 a.m. Saturday, a police officer was hit in the eyes by pepper spray during a confrontation between two groups of demonstrators at 10th and H streets NW. Soon after, another person was injured during an altercation on 3rd Street NW near Constitution Avenue.
By midafternoon, the crowd’s attention was focused not on the president but on a group he once told to “stand back and stand by”: the Proud Boys, a male-chauvinist organization with ties to white nationalism. In helmets and bulletproof vests, hundreds of men in their ranks marched through downtown in militarylike rows, shouting “Move out” and “1776!”
They seemed intent on intimidating onlookers, and adopted a chant popular with counterprotesters: “Who’s streets? Our streets.”
They were blocked from going near Black Lives Matter Plaza, which has been the site of both peaceful protests and combative moments for months. For much of the day, police largely fenced off the area, then made various formations on bikes to form human barricades, hoping to keep the Proud Boys from going near counterprotesters gathered there.
But tension still escalated in fits and starts. Shortly before midnight Friday, a brawl between a dozen Trump supporters and counterprotesters resulted in the arrest of at least four people. Around 11 a.m. Saturday, a police officer was hit in the eyes by pepper spray during a confrontation between two groups of demonstrators at 10th and H streets NW. Soon after, another person was injured during an altercation on 3rd Street NW near Constitution Avenue.
© Craig Hudson/For the Washington Post
A supporter of President Trump eyes counterprotesters in Black Lives Matter Plaza on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, the Proud Boys were among the crowds at larger demonstrations spread across the city, where thousands of people came to listen to speakers that included clergy and newly elected members of Congress, all of whom spoke of election fraud claims that have been disputed or debunked.
The majority-White crowds ranged from gray-haired men and women in red hats to children in wagons, one of whom chanted “100 more years!”
Much of the nation has turned its attention to Biden’s transition, rising coronavirus cases and the vaccine development while looking forward to the holidays, largely tuning out Trump’s attempts to maintain power. But to his most dedicated supporters, the president’s megaphone is as loud as ever. He has continued to falsely claim the election was stolen from him, prompting his faithful to return to the nation’s capital, where speakers promised, falsely, that Trump still had a chance of remaining president.[Policing protests: Demonstrators say officers are taking sides as D.C. hosts pro-Trump rallies Saturday]
Flynn appeared on the steps of the Supreme Court to encourage them to keep hope, despite the justices’ dismissal Friday night of Trump’s long-shot bid to overturn election results.
“Don’t get bent out of shape,” Flynn said. “There are still avenues … We’re fighting with faith, and we’re fighting with courage.”
Earlier in the day, the Proud Boys were among the crowds at larger demonstrations spread across the city, where thousands of people came to listen to speakers that included clergy and newly elected members of Congress, all of whom spoke of election fraud claims that have been disputed or debunked.
The majority-White crowds ranged from gray-haired men and women in red hats to children in wagons, one of whom chanted “100 more years!”
Much of the nation has turned its attention to Biden’s transition, rising coronavirus cases and the vaccine development while looking forward to the holidays, largely tuning out Trump’s attempts to maintain power. But to his most dedicated supporters, the president’s megaphone is as loud as ever. He has continued to falsely claim the election was stolen from him, prompting his faithful to return to the nation’s capital, where speakers promised, falsely, that Trump still had a chance of remaining president.[Policing protests: Demonstrators say officers are taking sides as D.C. hosts pro-Trump rallies Saturday]
Flynn appeared on the steps of the Supreme Court to encourage them to keep hope, despite the justices’ dismissal Friday night of Trump’s long-shot bid to overturn election results.
“Don’t get bent out of shape,” Flynn said. “There are still avenues … We’re fighting with faith, and we’re fighting with courage.”
© Evelyn Hockstein/for The Washington Post
A Trump impersonator during a rally on Saturday in support of the president.
After Flynn finished speaking, he was chased by shouting admirers who cheered, “We love you, general!” Bodyguards tried to keep the fans at bay as Flynn kept smiling.
The speakers painted a picture of a country in a battle between good and evil, in which God himself would ultimately ensure Trump remained in power. Sebastian Gorka, a former foreign policy adviser to Trump, said that when he heard the Supreme Court had dismissed an election case from Texas Friday night, he told himself to “Stop, take a deep breath, count to 10, read the Bible and pray.”
“We, thanks to our lord and savior, have already won,” he said.
A priest featured on a JumboTron prayed to “Place thyself at the heaf of this army of thy children.”
Ruth Hillary, a 58-year-old pastor from California, listened while holding up her “Stop the Steal” sign. She said she will continue to protest as long as the president and vice president believe she should.
“If President Trump accepts it and Vice President Pence accepts it, then we will accept it,” she said. “But right now, this is a Godly protest.”
After Flynn finished speaking, he was chased by shouting admirers who cheered, “We love you, general!” Bodyguards tried to keep the fans at bay as Flynn kept smiling.
The speakers painted a picture of a country in a battle between good and evil, in which God himself would ultimately ensure Trump remained in power. Sebastian Gorka, a former foreign policy adviser to Trump, said that when he heard the Supreme Court had dismissed an election case from Texas Friday night, he told himself to “Stop, take a deep breath, count to 10, read the Bible and pray.”
“We, thanks to our lord and savior, have already won,” he said.
A priest featured on a JumboTron prayed to “Place thyself at the heaf of this army of thy children.”
Ruth Hillary, a 58-year-old pastor from California, listened while holding up her “Stop the Steal” sign. She said she will continue to protest as long as the president and vice president believe she should.
“If President Trump accepts it and Vice President Pence accepts it, then we will accept it,” she said. “But right now, this is a Godly protest.”
© Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post
Alex Jones joins supporters of President Trump on Saturday.
Jones, the Infowars host and conspiracy theorist known for his denial of the Sandy Hook massacre, alternated between speaking about God and the future president: “Joe Biden is a globalist and Joe Biden will be removed one way or another,” he said from a stage on the Mall.
Trump backer and My Pillow founder Mike Lindell argued that “Fox (News) was in on it,” while podcaster David Harris Jr. riled the crowd by suggesting there might be a civil war.
“We’re the ones with all the guns,” he said.
All day, the masses nodded along to falsehoods, prayed for the country and cheered beside each other without masks.[A gallery of pain and protest: Demonstrators turn White House fence into gallery of signs]
D.C. police are not enforcing mask rules or issuing fines to those who ignore social distancing guidelines, even as the region faces an unprecedented spike in coronavirus cases. Dozens of D.C. police officers have tested positive in the weeks since the November rally. As of Thursday, 74 remained in quarantine. Police have declined to draw a direct link between demonstrations and the spike in infections among officers.
Local activists were frustrated Saturday with the police tactics aimed at maintaining peace. Officers formed intermittent blockades at the perimiter of Black Lives Matter Plaza, essentially penning in counterprotesters while Trump supporters were free to roam.
“They can move around however they please,” said Constance Young, 37. “We’re not the ones not wearing masks and spreading covid.”
D.C. residents have expressed concern that the influx of maskless protesters puts the entire city at risk, especially workers in restaurants and hotels. Activists flooded the inboxes of city officials, asking them to shut down businesses that allow people to congregate without masks. They called hotels to ask that they refuse to host those planning to attend Saturday’s rallies, with little success
Jones, the Infowars host and conspiracy theorist known for his denial of the Sandy Hook massacre, alternated between speaking about God and the future president: “Joe Biden is a globalist and Joe Biden will be removed one way or another,” he said from a stage on the Mall.
Trump backer and My Pillow founder Mike Lindell argued that “Fox (News) was in on it,” while podcaster David Harris Jr. riled the crowd by suggesting there might be a civil war.
“We’re the ones with all the guns,” he said.
All day, the masses nodded along to falsehoods, prayed for the country and cheered beside each other without masks.[A gallery of pain and protest: Demonstrators turn White House fence into gallery of signs]
D.C. police are not enforcing mask rules or issuing fines to those who ignore social distancing guidelines, even as the region faces an unprecedented spike in coronavirus cases. Dozens of D.C. police officers have tested positive in the weeks since the November rally. As of Thursday, 74 remained in quarantine. Police have declined to draw a direct link between demonstrations and the spike in infections among officers.
Local activists were frustrated Saturday with the police tactics aimed at maintaining peace. Officers formed intermittent blockades at the perimiter of Black Lives Matter Plaza, essentially penning in counterprotesters while Trump supporters were free to roam.
“They can move around however they please,” said Constance Young, 37. “We’re not the ones not wearing masks and spreading covid.”
D.C. residents have expressed concern that the influx of maskless protesters puts the entire city at risk, especially workers in restaurants and hotels. Activists flooded the inboxes of city officials, asking them to shut down businesses that allow people to congregate without masks. They called hotels to ask that they refuse to host those planning to attend Saturday’s rallies, with little success
.
© Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post
A Trump supporter dressed as Santa Claus joins others Saturday at the Freedom Plaza in Washington.
Protesters still came in from around the country, with family, friends and flags in tow.
David Dumiter, 33, and his niece Monica Stanciu drove eight hours from Dearborn, Mich., to be at the Washington Monument on Saturday.
Dumiter, an airplane mechanic who said he has been unemployed since the coronavirus pandemic decimated air travel, said he knew the Supreme Court had blocked any legal path to reverse the results the election. That didn’t change his mind about showing up Saturday. The president was still pushing, so he would, too.
“We’re not going to cave in,” Dumiter said. He walked down the mall in his Trump hat, Trump sunglasses and Trump jumpsuit, still gripping his flag.
Joe Heim, Meagan Flynn, Marissa J. Lang, Paul Schwartzman, Kyle Swenson, and Peter Hermann contributed to this report.
Protesters still came in from around the country, with family, friends and flags in tow.
David Dumiter, 33, and his niece Monica Stanciu drove eight hours from Dearborn, Mich., to be at the Washington Monument on Saturday.
Dumiter, an airplane mechanic who said he has been unemployed since the coronavirus pandemic decimated air travel, said he knew the Supreme Court had blocked any legal path to reverse the results the election. That didn’t change his mind about showing up Saturday. The president was still pushing, so he would, too.
“We’re not going to cave in,” Dumiter said. He walked down the mall in his Trump hat, Trump sunglasses and Trump jumpsuit, still gripping his flag.
Joe Heim, Meagan Flynn, Marissa J. Lang, Paul Schwartzman, Kyle Swenson, and Peter Hermann contributed to this report.
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