'It's not over': Trump supporters protest Biden victory in swing states
Trump supporters at the Michigan state capitol in Lansing
Photograph: Jim West/Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock
As word came on Saturday that the election had been called for Joe Biden, hundreds of supporters of the defeated president began amassing at Pennsylvania’s state capitol building in Harrisburg to protest.
It was a split-screen simulcast of America’s intensified political division, as Donald Trump’s defeat was jubilantly celebrated 130 miles east in Philadelphia, and in cities around the country.
And just as Trump has refused to accept the outcome, so too have many of the around 75m people who voted for him, claiming instead that his loss was the result of ballot fraud – a baseless assertion promoted by the White House – and media manipulation.
“We need to make sure every legal vote is found and to make sure this election is fair,” the Yorktown state representative Mike Jones told a cheering crowd. “If we allow this country to succumb to socialism, it will not because the left overpowered us, it will be because good men and women did nothing.”
It was a split-screen simulcast of America’s intensified political division, as Donald Trump’s defeat was jubilantly celebrated 130 miles east in Philadelphia, and in cities around the country.
And just as Trump has refused to accept the outcome, so too have many of the around 75m people who voted for him, claiming instead that his loss was the result of ballot fraud – a baseless assertion promoted by the White House – and media manipulation.
“We need to make sure every legal vote is found and to make sure this election is fair,” the Yorktown state representative Mike Jones told a cheering crowd. “If we allow this country to succumb to socialism, it will not because the left overpowered us, it will be because good men and women did nothing.”
Many here repeated a belief that the media and big tech had been against Trump since the start, with Biden as something of a ride-along.
“The election has been called by the media. The government has not certified the votes, so anything could still happen,” said Mary Wallace, a Harrisburg resident, adding: “I want nothing more than for Donald Trump to have four more years.”
Wallace’s words echoed those of the president on Saturday morning, when he said his opponent “has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor.”
“The election has been called by the media. The government has not certified the votes, so anything could still happen,” said Mary Wallace, a Harrisburg resident, adding: “I want nothing more than for Donald Trump to have four more years.”
Wallace’s words echoed those of the president on Saturday morning, when he said his opponent “has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor.”
Alysia McMillan. Illustration: Edward Helmore/The Guardian
Contrary to presumptions of Trump’s base as a white monolith, the Pennsylvania protest attracted a diverse crowd, with many describing themselves as Hispanic, Asian, and African American.
Many blamed the media, again, for portraying them inaccurately, and said that Democrats had made political assumptions about them based on race.
“I’m just an American,” said Alysia McMillan, who ran unsuccessfully as a Republican candidate for the Arizona house of representatives in August. Her politics, she said, was frequently misconstrued by her ethnicity, which she described as Black, White and Korean.
“White liberals are always trying to apologize to us, but they’re just protecting their own privilege. Malcolm X warned us about that. The Black Lives Matter protests are another scam. It’s full of white people who want Black people to fight their battles. The white guys turn up at BLM protests, burn down some building, and then blame Black guys.”
Interspersed among the crowd were members of militia groups, including Angry White Patriots of America and the Three Percenters. “I fully expect this to go to the supreme court,” said Dylan Stevens, who goes by the moniker the Angry Viking.
“This isn’t about conspiracy theories, it’s about common sense … I fully expect Trump to challenge this and he should.”
Stevens, who has lost privileges to use social media, including Facebook, did not dismiss the potential for violent clashes in the weeks to come.
“Sure there are fanatics and extremists but we’re a well-regulated militia,” Stevens said. In an address to the crowd, he added: “Somehow the word patriot has become a four-letter word. Somehow, the media painted us – you! – as the bad guys.”
In Michigan, another swing state that flipped for Biden after Trump’s win in 2016, hundreds of Trump supporters gathered at the state capitol to chant “four more years” and “we won”, even after major media outlets, including Fox News, had called the election.
Many blamed the media, again, for portraying them inaccurately, and said that Democrats had made political assumptions about them based on race.
“I’m just an American,” said Alysia McMillan, who ran unsuccessfully as a Republican candidate for the Arizona house of representatives in August. Her politics, she said, was frequently misconstrued by her ethnicity, which she described as Black, White and Korean.
“White liberals are always trying to apologize to us, but they’re just protecting their own privilege. Malcolm X warned us about that. The Black Lives Matter protests are another scam. It’s full of white people who want Black people to fight their battles. The white guys turn up at BLM protests, burn down some building, and then blame Black guys.”
Interspersed among the crowd were members of militia groups, including Angry White Patriots of America and the Three Percenters. “I fully expect this to go to the supreme court,” said Dylan Stevens, who goes by the moniker the Angry Viking.
“This isn’t about conspiracy theories, it’s about common sense … I fully expect Trump to challenge this and he should.”
Stevens, who has lost privileges to use social media, including Facebook, did not dismiss the potential for violent clashes in the weeks to come.
“Sure there are fanatics and extremists but we’re a well-regulated militia,” Stevens said. In an address to the crowd, he added: “Somehow the word patriot has become a four-letter word. Somehow, the media painted us – you! – as the bad guys.”
In Michigan, another swing state that flipped for Biden after Trump’s win in 2016, hundreds of Trump supporters gathered at the state capitol to chant “four more years” and “we won”, even after major media outlets, including Fox News, had called the election.
On the steps of the capitol building, a local activist involved in multiple anti-lockdown protests this year shouted conspiracy theories about “globalists” through a megaphone and said that Trump wanted veterans and retired police officers to volunteer and help keep the election results from being certified.
Armed Trump supporters in Harrisburg. Photograph: Mark Pynes/AP
“Tyranny is knocking on our door. It has kicked our door in. It is in our threshold and we must push it back,” said Kevin Skinner, 34, one of the founders of an anti-lockdown group Stand Up Michigan.
“The media called it for Biden today. Big whoop, guys. We knew they were going to do that,” Skinner said. “The media is the false prophet of Revelations 13. The media is part of the kingdom of darkness and we are exposing them right now!”
Many people in the crowd repeated stories about malfeasance in the ballot-counting process that had already been debunked by local news outlets and by election officials, including a well-respected Republican election official.
“The media called it for Biden today. Big whoop, guys. We knew they were going to do that,” Skinner said. “The media is the false prophet of Revelations 13. The media is part of the kingdom of darkness and we are exposing them right now!”
Many people in the crowd repeated stories about malfeasance in the ballot-counting process that had already been debunked by local news outlets and by election officials, including a well-respected Republican election official.
Josephine Kolomov. Photograph: Edward Helmore/The Guardian
Some Trump supporters said they were simply not sure whom they would actually trust to tell them the legitimate results of the election. “I don’t know,” said one 55-year-old man from Ionia, there with his wife and two sons. “That’s a good question.”
Trump will open up a Confederate White House in Mar-A-Lago, Florida and run a parallel government from there, ha ha ha.....
ReplyDeletehilarious clinton oso said not over what.
ReplyDeleteHundreds of thousands of mail ballots miraculously appear in all the key states AFTER polling day.......just enough to flip Michigan and Wisconsin blue, then some more appear in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada.....again just enough to give Biden the wins, better check all the postmarks.....and were any of the postal votes redirected from other states....?
ReplyDeletedemocrats steal n copy our intellectual property? must get our ag to sue them sampai pawn seluar dalam.
DeleteHehehe...so typical of these BananaBondUnited gang to parrot the extreme right wingers propaganda and fake charges...Trumpers in the States should take heart that even in a shit-hole country 2000 miles away, there are Bananas aplenty that would take up their cause so stoutly, hehe
DeleteEven before Election Day, all their media reported that more than 100 millions, so unprecedented, had voted via mail-in ballots. And for the counting process, all the SOP were meticulously followed, with pre-agreed equal numbers of both Democrats and Republicans allowed to watch and monitor the whole proceeding. And watched closely with hawk-eyes too, hehe, so not a single vote slip pass their scrutiny.
Even the Republican Election lawyer and senior Republican members have confirmed that such allegations of voting fraud are baseless and unsubstantiated.
Pordah la this gang of Bananas...resorting to the same tactics to smear, exactly like their well-worn tactics to bash China kau kau. Fuck off la.
Now this...if these losers are unable to overturn Biden's win through the courts, their Plan B is to have Trump to make a run for the same post in 2024, hehehe LMAO
ReplyDeleteWithout the immunity afforded to that Buffoon when he was POTUS, he will have to battle thousands, literally 1000s of lawsuits, not least from that prostitute he had paid off using party's fund. Prison cell a-calling ! Good times are here again...let's get our popcorns ready, hehe
Bye bye 2024 dream of being in the White House again. In his dreams la...'you need to be asleep to dream'.
Let’s all prostate and worship before the altar of CNN....ha ha ha....
ReplyDeleteCNN and Fox News..he says po tae toe, she says po tah toh, hehehe. Same-same. George Carlin, RIP, says, there is this illusion of choice..Pepsi or Cola, LOL
DeleteBy the by, your Fox News was the first one to call for Biden to win in the 2 crucial swing states, much to the furious outrage from the Trump's team, hehe. Baca baik2 OK...your admiration for the Orange Buffoon's shit is over flowing, hehe