Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
No acknowledgement
Trump supporters maintained “it’s not over” for their candidate
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.
From Atlanta and Tallahassee to Bismarck, Boise and Phoenix, crowds ranging in size from a few dozen to a few thousand 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 “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 three-plus hours to Atlanta to attend the pro-Trump rally.
“There’s election fraud going on here,” said Kelley, claiming that voters in Georgia, a state with a GOP governor and secretary 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.”
Underscoring the hard feelings on both sides of the nation’s deep political divide, anti-Trump protesters in Washington booed, yelled obscenities, shouted “loser” and gave the finger to Trump’s motorcade as the president returned to the White House from a golf outing Saturday.
So far, there has been no evidence of any serious vote fraud. And some Republican elected officials 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. The Associated Press has called Arizona for Biden, but votes are still being counted and Trump has closed the deficit to fewer than 20,000 votes.
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.