South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
South Florida remains split over Biden’s election
Portions of South Florida erupted in celebration Saturday over the election of Joe Biden as president. But supporters of President Donald Trump continued to wave their flags on street corners and insist the election was a sham.
From Miami to West Palm Beach — and across the country— people maintained their divided allegiances, highlighting the challenge of healing America after a brutal presidential campaign.
Some 150 Biden supporters danced in the streets in Wilton Manors, thronging both sides of Wilton Drive near City Hall. They cheered and waved flags at passing drivers honking in support.
“I feel just great, awesome, a change has come,” Verna Johnson said. The 60-yearold retired deputy clerk from Lauder hill held a Bid en Harris sign. Although she is concerned about Trump’s refusal to concede the race, she said she is confident he will ultimately be removed from office.
“He has to get out of there. I mean, he is out of there,” she said.
Kyle Richardson, an accountant and Wilton Manors resident, said he wasn’t concerned with the suspicions of many Trump supporters about the legitimacy of the election. “We just have to trust the process and believe in Democracy.”
In the Brickell section of Miami, cheers rose fromthe streets as celebrators banged pots and pans. A throng of Biden supporters gathered near the Miami Freedom Tower, many with Biden and Harris flags and the flags of their homelands in Puerto Rico, Cuba and Haiti.
Thomas Kennedy, 29, said he left his home in the Little Havana section of Miami to buy a bottle of champagne to celebrate immediately after the election was called.
“We got him out!” he said of Trump. “The people spoke.”
Kennedy is the Florida director for United We Dream, a youth-led group that fights for the rights of immigrants. Throughout the presidential campaign, he and his staff spent hours calling and texting voters in support of Biden and other Democratic candidates.
Kennedy said he believes the results prove that people are tired of Trump’ s brand of leadership. “They are tired of the constant division, the immaturity, the racism,” he said.
He hopes that a Biden presidency will finally bring people together, but that could be a difficult task, judging from the reaction of people in others parts of South Florida.
At a La Carreta restaurant in the Westchester neighborhood of Miami, which hosted a pro-Trump rally on Thursday, a small gathering of about 20 Trump supporters waved flags at passing cars.
Some drivers honked in agreementwith them, while others proudly displayed pro-Biden flags, including one that read “Cubanos con Biden.”
Richard Gonzalez stood among the Trump supporters holding a flag that read “Socialism Sucks.” He was not pleased about the Biden announcement.
“It was completely stolen,” he said of the election. He echoed Trump’s claims, debunked by most, that votes appeared “out of nowhere” after election day, giving Biden a victory in states like Michigan and Wisconsin where Trump was leading early on.
Trump’s lead was built on votes fromin-person balloting, but Biden pulled ahead as those states counted mail-in ballots, most often cast by Democrats.
Gonzalez said he would “go along with” the results of Biden’s win. But he predicted that Biden’s intention to heal and unite the country will be anuphill battle.
“He’s not going to be able to do that,” he said. Theway that Biden won the election will leave a sour taste in many people’s mouths, he said, and the country could become even more divided.
Just before 2 p.m. in Delray Beach, a group of about 50 Stop the Steal demonstrators marched east on Atlantic Avenue waving giant Trump flags.
“It’s not over yet!” some of them chanted. One man carried a flag with a thin blue police line and a “Don’t tread on me” flag. A man beside him chanted “stop the steal.”
David Wojnicz said he came out to the rally from where he lives in west Boca to show support for the president. He said that Biden’s win isn’t official yet. But if it becomes official, he will accept it.
“If Biden is our president, we’re gonna still support him. That’s the beauty of liberty in America. We’ll move forward and hope for the best.”
When asked what president-elect Joe Biden should do to unify the country, Wojnicz said he doesn’t think that’s something one man can do on his own. “I think you just need to do right by this country,” he said. “President Trump’s America First agenda is working.”
In Oakland Park, more Trump supporters vented their disgust at the election results.
“It’s not over yet” said Matthew Dorffman, as he leaned out the window of his large blue pickup truck parked at the corner of Federal Highway and Oakland Park Boulevard. An array of Trump flags fluttered from poles in the truck bed. Passing drivers honked in support or raised middle fingers and yelled obscenities.
“I don’t believe the polls, I don’t believe the votes,” Dorffman said. When asked why he questioned the legitimacy of the election, the HVAC technician contended that an election software company had rigged the vote for Biden. No such allegation has been substantiated.
About 1 p.m., John Lipp parked his small hatchback next to Dorffman’s truck. They were the only two Trump supporters at the corner, the site of loud Trump rallies throughout the campaign.
“Biden stole it,” Lipp said, calling the president-elect a racial epithet and reciting an unprintable oath.
Lipp, a snowbird who owns his own business and spends most of the year in Long Island, New York, said he didn’t trust the government.
“I’m gay and I’m with Trump. A lot of gays are for Trump,” Lipp said, fromthe driver’s seat of his car.
As he spoke, a car rounded the corner from Oakland Park Boulevard and onto Federal Highway, its windows lowered and its occupants’ middle fingers extended toward the two Trump partisans.
Dorffman said he had little confidence in Biden’s message of reuniting the country and governing for everyone.
“It’s a crock,” he said, adding that he held hope that the Supreme Court might still hand Trump an electoral victory.
“Donald Trump always has a plan,” Dorffman said.