Trump greets cheering fans
Supporters rally, claim race was stolen from him
By Julie Zauzmer, Katie Mettler, Marissa J. Lang, Rachel Chason, Emily Davies, Michael E. Miller, Peter Jamison, Fredrick Kunkle and John Woodrow Cox
A week after the election was called for Joe Biden, thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters gathered in the nation’s capital Saturday to falsely claim that the race had been stolen from the man they adore — who soon decided to welcome them in person.
Shortly after 10 a.m., Trump drove down Pennsylvania Avenue in his motorcade, greeting the cheering protesters —nearly all of them without masks — who ran to the side of Freedom Plaza to catch a glimpse. The president, who has refused to concede or allow a formal transition to begin, smiled and waved from a car window as people filled the street to follow behind him.
“He drove right past me. I saw him. He waved right past me,” one man said, squatting to collect himself.
A group of women huddled around their phone, looking at a video of Trump’s appearance near a Walt Whitman quote inscribed in the stone beneath them: “The President is there in the White House for you, it is not you who are here for him.”
As his most ardent fans remained in Washington to fight for what many of them considered to be among the most important causes of their lifetimes, the president headed to Trump National in the Virginia suburbs for a round of golf.
Then the appearance of counter-protesters sparked bursts of conflict. When a small group holding bright orange “Refuse Fascism” posters arrived at the corner of Freedom Plaza, they were almost immediately surrounded by Trump fans shouting “USA! USA!” into their faces.
The women leading the tiny march fought their way up 14th Street, repeatedly breaking out of the crowd only to be engulfed again. They yelled into their megaphone, “Trump pack your s—-. You’re illegitimate.”
One pro-trump man attempted to gouge the opposition with a flag bearing the president’s name. Another grabbed a woman’s neon orange poster and hit her with it.
When the women made it to the barrier set up by police across the street, Trump supporters filled the entire intersection, blocking them in. Police arrived on bikes and, after several minutes, moved the crowd back.
Shortly after, the proTrump crowd began singing the national anthem.
Soon after, on the street beside inscriptions from Abraham Lincoln recognizing the District as a place of freedom, people piled atop a U-haul truck with a flag of a gun and the words, “Come and take it.”
The president’s backers, who include white nationalists, conspiracy theorists and far-right activists from across the country, carried Trump flags and signs demanding action that was already being taken: “Count the legal
votes.”
After a week in which more than 750,000 Americans were diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, almost none of the Trump supporters was wearing masks.
On a day when the president’s supporters touted a vast array of falsehoods, his spokeswoman, Kayleigh Mcenany, offered perhaps the most ludicrous.
“More than one MILLION marchers for President @realdonaldtrump descend on the swamp in support,” she tweeted, exaggerating the crowd size by a factor of about 200.
Among the protesters were members of the Proud Boys, an extremist group known for their black and yellow colors and endorsements of violence. Some wore flak jackets and helmets. “Stand Back, Stand By,”
read some of their shirts, referencing the president’s directive to them at a September debate.
By early Saturday afternoon, as conservative speakers at Freedom Plaza derided the news media, including Fox News, the Proud Boys marched down Pennsylvania Avenue, leading hundreds in chants of “f—- antifa” and shouting down stray opponents who yelled “Black lives matter.”
“All lives matter!” they screamed back.
Marching with them was Washington D.C. resident Justin Anthony, who waved a satirical sign that read, “Sue anyone who did not vote for this great American.”
He led chants to the tune of “Count only Trump votes” and danced around in a large mock police uniform with the name “Officer Pudge” on its badge.
Almost no one got it, he said. They joined in, asked for pictures, cheered.
“It’s crazy,” he said.
“Like, they really don’t see how insane this is.”
The demonstrators had begun arriving Friday afternoon, where they found a White House surrounded by steel barricades adorned with a 15-foot-long, black and white sign declaring that he was not, in fact, the election’s winner. “LOSER,” it announced.
Just before sunrise Saturday, that and a matching sign — “FAILURE” —were taken down by federal officials from inside the fencing, according to two witnesses, including activist Nadine Seiler, who recorded the scene.
“Trump is still a loser!” she shouted.
The Trump believers began gathering Saturday morning at Freedom Plaza hours before the official rally.
“They think we’re stupid,” a young white man with a microphone told the crowd. “They’re underestimating the Donald. They’re underestimating the Donald’s supporters.”
After enduring months of protests over racial injustice that, in rare moments, exploded into fiery violence, Washington didn’t know what to expect from the day’s rallies. Would Trump supporters protest peacefully, as some had promised, or would they start a “bloody fight,” as one of their leaders had suggested?
Moments of tension — mostly shouting and profanity — between conservative groups and counter-demonstrators had already started Friday, ratcheting up the anxiety in a city where many stores and offices remained boarded up.
About 200 of the president’s backers had gathered Friday night at Harry’s Restaurant, a popular downtown gathering spot for Proud Boys and other right-wing groups.
It was later fined $1,000 for allowing patrons to go without masks and failing to space out its tables, according to the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration.
Trump called Saturday’s gatherings — which far-right influencers had promoted all week — “heartwarming.”