WASHINGTON – Thousands of die-hard Donald Trump supporters yesterday rallied for a last stand here, chanting “four more years” and blaming fraud for an election defeat that will force the president to vacate the White House after just one term.
Trump himself made a drive-past in his armoured motorcade, on his way to play golf, smiling through his limousine window to wild cheers and signs saying “Best prez ever” and “Trump 2020: Keep America Great”.
The Republican is sticking to discredited allegations of mass fraud and claiming he defeated president-elect Joe Biden in the November 3 vote, marking another unprecedented challenge to US democratic norms as his time in office runs down.
At least 10,000 people – few wearing masks – massed on the city’s Freedom Plaza before marching towards the Supreme Court, brandishing flags in a raucous atmosphere reminiscent of a Trump campaign rally.
“President Trump deserves to see who’s behind him, he deserves to feel the love,” marcher Kris Napolitana, from Baltimore, told AFP.
“I believe that he’s going to win when all the fraud and cheating is found out.”
With right-wing militia group the Proud Boys also among those attending, a large security presence was deployed to prevent clashes with anti-Trump events outside the court building.
The latest tallies give Democrat Biden a clear win in the state-by-state Electoral College that decides the presidency, with 306 votes against Trump’s 232. The magic number for election is 270.
But Margarita Urtubey, a 49-year-old horse breeder who flew in from Miami with her sister, said the election was “so corrupt”, adding that “Trump won by a landslide. We are here to march for the ‘stop the steal’ of this election, to make our voice heard”.
Trump is impeding Biden’s transition ahead of the January 20 inauguration, and has filed numerous suits – unsuccessfully – to challenge vote counts around the country.
Despite his own intelligence officials’ declaration this week that the election was “the most secure in American history”, the president and his right-wing media allies have shown no sign of giving up their quest to get the results overturned.
After driving past the marchers here, Trump headed to his golf club outside the capital for his regular weekend routine. – AFP, November 15, 2020
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