Washington braced for trouble as Trump loyalists arrive to boost the morale of their defiant President
Washington is braced for a major pro-Trump demonstration later today, as the President continues to defy calls to concede the 2020 election. The organisers are optimistically calling it the Million MAGA march (MAGA, of course, is the acronym for the Trump slogan, ‘Make America Great Again’). Needless to say, there will not be a million people in the march today. But there may be a few thousand and that is enough to cause trouble.
Yesterday, we watched several of these pro-Trump activists rip down BLM posters that are attached to the security fence that encircles the White House. Many of the Trump supporters descending on Washington have peaceful intentions, wishing to protest at what they regard as a stolen election. They have that First Amendment right, of course, even if their premise is misplaced. There is no evidence of mass fraud in this election.
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But a few are white supremacists and provocateurs who are seeking to bait BLM activists and far-left forces into a fight. They feel violence and chaos will allow Trump to regain the political initiative after his defeat to Joe Biden. To add to the spice, the President has suggested he will emerge from his lonely bunker and week-long sulk to greet his supporters.
For all the noise and distraction of this protest, there is nothing Trump can do to stop Joe Biden’s ascent to the Presidency on January 20th. The certification process is well underway. The US networks have now put Arizona and Georgia into Joe Biden’s column, giving him a clear majority of the electoral college votes. Trump’s legal challenges are going nowhere. Despite that, Trump continues to promote wild conspiracy theories. The latest outlandish one is that a company that produced the software for the election count, Dominion, was manipulated by Democrats to give victory to Biden.
There is the sense of desperation around the White House. The Trump family is said to be split as to whether the President should fight on or admit defeat. There are rumours that Trump is aiming to sign a $100 million book and TV deal to cover his post-presidency legal costs. The most explosive political speculation is that Trump is already pondering entering the 2024 presidential race. So if you think that his defeat by Joe Biden last week has removed Trump from the political map, and allowed America to catch its breath, think again. The Trump drama may have years to run.