‘Stop the steal’ protest grows as the faithful stand by their man
To chants of “this isn’t over” and “stop the steal”, supporters of Donald Trump gathered across the US to cast doubt on the result of the presidential election.
In scenes that showed just how divided the country is over last Tuesday’s vote, supporters of the president turned up outside state capitol buildings in their thousands, some armed and many insisting that they would not accept the result.
Mr Trump has himself refused to concede, arguing that the electoral process was compromised by rampant fraud, leading thousands of his supporters to call for a recount.
Many have taken his comments as a rallying cry and are using social media to organise mass protests in the most closely fought states.
One Facebook group, “Stop the Steal”, attracted more than 35,000 members intent on organising events to delegitimise the electoral process before it was shut down by Facebook over “worrying calls for violence”.
In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, around 2,000 people, some armed and wearing camouflage gear, gathered outside the capitol after the state was called for Mr Biden.
“If we don’t stop this today, it’ll all be over,” said 66-year-old Bruce Fields. “Otherwise we can kiss freedom goodbye.” At the Arizona capitol in
Phoenix, a crowd of more than 1,000 expressed doubts that their state had tipped to Mr Biden, as the official vote count suggested.
“It’s very suspicious that president Trump, with the red wave we’ve been seeing in Arizona, is struggling,” Kelli Ward, a former state senator and chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, said. “I want to know if there is any discrepancy with the numbers coming out of the machines.”
In Lansing, Michigan, about 50 Trump supporters and a smaller group of marchers carrying Black Lives Matter flags converged on the capitol, where several tense standoffs ensued.
In Atlanta, Georgia, several hundred protesters gathered to question the razor-thin result that has given Mr Biden a surprise lead in the deeply conservative state. Addressing the crowd, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a newly elected congresswoman and a supporter of the Qanon conspiracy theory, declared “Georgia is not a blue state” as she vowed to fight to overturn the election results.
Mrs Greene cited social media and Fox News reports in support of her stance, repeating a conspiracy theory about the use of Sharpie pens on ballots in Arizona and allegations that Republican poll watchers had been barred from counts in Philadelphia.
A few hundred yards away, crowds gathered in their thousands to celebrate the news that Mr Biden had become the president-elect.
“Welcome to Joe-rgia,” read one sign, in reference to Mr Biden’s lead in the state, where he looked set to be the first Democrat to capture it in almost 30 years.
But while Mr Biden’s success in battleground states such as Georgia and Pennsylvania was built on the Democrats’ dominance in urban areas, the election results made clear that Mr Trump holds significant support in the country’s rural areas. The deepening divide is clear to see just an hour’s drive from deeply Democratic Atlanta, in places such as Haralson County, where Mr Trump not only won 74 per cent of the vote, but improved on his 2016 performance.
In the town of Buchanan, many voters remained convinced that the election was not fought fairly.
“Trump should be president again, he had a lot more support,” said Cory Frost, a 27-year-old mechanic. “Biden hid in a basement and didn’t even campaign, how could he have won?”
Mr Frost echoed Mr Trump’s talking points about his opponent, expressing doubts over the 77-year-old’s ability to govern. “You can see from watching him on TV and stuff that he’s in the early stages of dementia,” he said.
Jamie Sanders, a 23-year-old who works for a manufacturing company, believed a more sinister motive was at play, predicting that Mr Biden would not last the gruelling four years in the White House, and his deputy Kamala Harris, whom Republicans have branded a “radical”, would take over. He added: “She’s the dangerous one.”
Bob Smith, the mayor of Watkinsville, another heavily pro-Trump town in Georgia, also believed the election process was plagued with issues. “I’m not going to name names but I’ve seen where people vote and they don’t live here,” he said.
He predicted that Mr Trump would ultimately prevail when his legal challenges were heard. “I happen to think he’s going to succeed in this and be the next president,” he said.
Regardless of the final outcome, Mr Trump’s supporters do not intend to silently fade away.