‘This isn’t over!’: Trump supporters refuse to accept defeat
Chanting “This isn’t over! and “Stop the steal,” supporters of President Donald Trump protested at state capitols across the country Saturday, refusing to accept defeat and echoing Trump’s unsubstantiated allegations that the Democrats won the election by fraud.
From Atlanta and Tallahassee to Bismarck, Boise and Phoenix, crowds ranging in size from a few dozen to a few thousand — some of them openly carrying guns — decried the news of Joe Biden’s victory after more than three suspense-filled days of vote-counting put the Democrat over the top. Skirmishes broke out in some cities.
In Atlanta, outside the state Capitol in the longtime Republican stronghold of Georgia, chants of “Lock him up!” rang out among an estimated 1,000 Trump supporters. Others chanted, “This isn’t over! This isn’t over!” and “Fake news!” The streets were awash with American flags and Trump banners.
No immediate violence was reported, though at one point, police moved to separate Trump opponents from supporters. Biden held a slim lead in Georgia, which hasn’t gone for a Democrat since 1992.
Jordan Kelley, a 29- year- old from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, drove threeplus hours to Atlanta to attend the proTrump rally.
“There’s election fraud going on here,” said Kelley, claiming that voters in Georgia, a state with a GOP governor and sec
retary of state, had improperly counted the ballots to put Biden ahead. “Even though I live in Tennessee, I’m an American, and I want to make sure Americans have a voice in the election.”
He planned to make the 10-hour trip to Washington next week to demonstrate on the steps of the Supreme Court, where Trump and his lawyers have vowed to eventually make his case.
Underscoring the hard feelings on both sides of the nation’s deep political divide, anti-Trump protesters in Washington booed, yelled obscenities, shouted “Loser!
Loser!” and gave the finger to Trump’s motorcade as the president returned to the White House from a golf outing Saturday.
Two signs posted in front of Trump’s Washington hotel read “Don’t be a sore loser” and “Face Reality.”
Contrary to the claims of Trump supporters, there has been no evidence of any serious vote fraud. And some Republican elected o cials around the country began to distance themselves from Trump and urge him to accept the outcome gracefully.
A couple of thousand Trump supporters gathered at the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg. Pennsylvania played a crucial role in Biden’s victory.
“If we don’t stop this today, it’ll all be over,” Bruce Fields, 66, said of news organizations declaring Biden the winner. “Otherwise we can kiss freedom goodbye.”
About two dozen heavily armed men, some wearing camouflage, joined the rally.
At the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix, a crowd swelled to more than 1,000 within hours. Biden won Arizona on his way to victory in the Electoral College.
“It’s very suspicious that President Trump, with the red wave we’ve been seeing in Arizona, is struggling,” Kelli Ward, former state senator and chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, told boisterous pro-Trump demonstrators. “I want to know if there is any discrepancy with the numbers coming out of the machines.”
Even in a place that wasn’t close, Trump supporters gathered in droves to express support for him and vent frustration over the outcome of the election. Outside North Dakota’s Capitol in Bismarck, the state’s all-Republican congressional delegation joined chanting, sign-carrying protesters.
A few skirmishes broke out between Trump backers and pro-Biden and Black Lives Matters demonstrators, with one BLM supporter attempting to handcu himself to a Trump supporter. The two men began wrestling on the ground.