South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Trump supporters converge onWashington with rallies
WASHINGTON — Thousands of supporters of PresidentDonaldTrump returned to Washington on Saturday for rallies to back his desperate efforts to subvert the election that he lost to Joe Biden. They cheered as Trump flew overhead on the Marine One helicopter on his way out of town for the ArmyNavy football game inWest Point, NewYork.
The gatherings ofmostly unmasked Trump loyalists were intended as a showof force two days before the Electoral College meets to formally elect Biden as the
46th president. Trump, whose term will end Jan.
20, refuses to concede, while clinging to baseless claims of fraud that have been rejected by state and federal courts, and Friday by the SupremeCourt.
Trump tweeted his apparent surprise Saturday morning at the rallies, publicly known for weeks: “Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them! #MAGA”
Trump left the White House around midday for the trip to the U.S. Military Academy, and as Marine One passed over a rally on theNationalMall, attendees cheered.
Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser recently pardoned by Trump, was speaking fromthe stage at the time.
“That’s pretty cool. Imagine just being able to jump in a helicopter and just go for a joy ride aroundWashington,” said Flynn, whose pardon wiped away his conviction for lying to the FBIduringtheRussiainvestigation.
At a pro-Trump demonstration in Washington a month ago, Trump thrilled supporterswhenhepassed byin hismotorcadeenroute
to hisVirginia golf club.
That demonstration, which drew 10,000 to
15,000 people to the capital, ended with scattered clashes between Trump’s loyalists and local activists near Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House.
On Saturday, police took more steps to keep the two sides apart, closing a wide swathof downtownto traffic and completely restricting Black Lives Matter Plaza. One block away, about 150 anti-Trump protesters rallied, determined to protect the space.
A group of about 50 men wearing the black and yellow of the far-right fascist group the Proud Boys circled the perimeter.
The Proud Boys chanted vulgar slogans and at one point started singing “Jingle Bells.” They were apparently under orders not to engage with hecklers.
A larger contingent of Proud Boys later gathered ontheNationalMall, within sight of the pro-Trumprally stage butkeepingadistance. The group had a more visible presence than during the demonstration on Nov.
14.
The assembly on the mall, called the “Jericho March,” was described on its website as a “prayer rally” with speakers “praying for thewalls of corruption and election fraud to fall down.”
A separate rally was held on Freedom Plaza downtown. The organizers seemed intenton avoiding confrontations, telling demonstrators ahead of time to avoid certain hotels and marking off large chunksofdowntownWashington as a “no-go zone.”
Sylvia Huff came from Gloucester, Virginia, to show her support for Trump. She said the legal defeats, even Friday’s Supreme Court decision, hadn’t shaken her belief that Trump won the election.
“I believe the courtswere on the take, too,” she said. TheSupremeCourt, where three of the nine justices were appointed by Trump, “was just afraid of apolitical backlash,” she said.
Among the speakerswas Sebastian Gorka, a former Trump adviser, who urged demonstrators not to give up even after Friday’s Supreme Court decision.