CAPITOL PROTESTS FIZZLE AS SECURITY TIGHTENS
UNITED STATES GEARING UP FOR BIDEN INAUGURATION WHILE PREPARING FOR MORE CHAOS
Planned protests in support of U.S. President Donald Trump fizzled Sunday, as police and National Guard troops locked down the grounds of state capitols, a few protesters hosted small rallies in inclement weather, and America braced for further violence in advance of Wednesday's inauguration of Democratic president-elect Joe Biden.
There had been a mass call-out for proTrump protests on Sunday, on the last weekend of the Trump presidency, to promote the conspiracy theory that the November presidential election was rigged via vote counting machines, and the victory of Democrat Joe Biden was stolen with help from foreign actors including the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez.
In anticipation, state governors locked down their capitols, fearing a repeat of the violent and deadly insurrection that overran the national capitol just a few days previously, when Congress confirmed Biden's victory.
In Washington, D.C., Capitol Hill was locked down for blocks around. At a security checkpoint, police arrested a 22-year-old man, Guy Berry, carrying a gun without a licence and unregistered ammunition. The weapon was holstered and “clearly visible,” police said. Otherwise, the day was peaceful.
This was in stark contrast to earlier in the month when police on Capitol Hill were overrun by protesters who stormed the building and attacked police, some of them with murderous intent against lawmakers including Vice-President Mike Pence, according to legal filings in support of criminal charges.
Trump said nothing on Sunday. A spokesman, Hogan Gidley, claimed on Fox News that Trump “can't say anything because the platforms have removed him.”
Since calling for his supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol before the Jan. 6 riot, in which five people died including a police officer, Trump accounts have been suspended by large social media companies, including Facebook and Twitter.
Even with this ban in place, Trump has previously released video and written statements through the White House Press Office.
Trump was also impeached a second time by the House of Representatives, this time for inciting the insurrection.
That vote passed this week with limited Republican support, but Trump remains in office pending potential removal by the Senate in a trial that will reportedly not happen before Trump leaves Washington this week for his resort in Florida. He has already said he would break with presidential tradition and not attend the inauguration of his successor.
The fizzling of protests on Sunday is likely to ramp up anticipation of larger protests on Inauguration Day.
There had been rumours on social media that Sunday's planned rallies were somehow traps laid by Antifa, and they would become false flag operations designed to shame or entrap Trump supporters, including the Proud Boys movement, which announced it would sit out the Sunday rallies.
In Lansing, Mich., the protest was a small and sparsely attended affair in wet snow.
In Atlanta, Ga., where the state was flipped blue for Biden and the balance of Senate power shifted with a subsequent Democrat victory, dump trucks were positioned as makeshift barriers and National Guard troops patrolled the grounds.
In the national capital, The Washington Post reported on the disappointment of John Mastriano, a vendor who drove three hours to sell a load of shirts with gun rights logos on them, anticipating a hot market. Instead he found law enforcement officers, journalists, and few customers.
In Harrisburg, Penn., nearly 500 National Guard troops had been called up by mid-morning Sunday, but there was no one at the capitol grounds other than law enforcement and journalists with nothing to cover.
The scene was much the same in Tallahassee, Fla., where, as USA Today reported, “As many as three dozen people were outside the Capitol, of which half are law enforcement, 40 per cent are journalists and the rest are tourists.”