Hundreds of fanatical Donald Trump supporters gave Washington, D.C., a preview Tuesday of the “March for Trump” protest against his election defeat today in the nation’s capital, following a formula established at previous post-election protests: rally with speeches during the day followed by an evening filled with right-wing street violence.
As always, Tuesday’s “pre-rally” at Freedom Plaza featured an array of nutty conspiracists using anti-Semitic dog whistles and threatening, often violent rhetoric. But unlike previous events, there were very few counterprotesters out when the protesters took to the city’s streets in the evening—so instead, they clashed violently with Washington police.
The Tuesday violence, however, is likely just a mild foreshadowing of what the MAGA forces have in mind today. Thousands more are expected to be at the official event, scheduled for the Ellipse in front of the White House at around noon, then later shifting to the Capitol, where Congress will be voting to certify the election results giving Joe Biden the presidency.
Trump himself tweeted his enthusiastic endorsement of the rally: “I will be there. Historic day!”
The flood of threatening rhetoric used by Trump supporters online leading up to the event suggests that it will not be a peaceful march for very long—and the hysterical anger used by Tuesday’s marchers made that clear as well.
The pre-rally at Freedom Plaza attracted a smallish crowd, but the levels of craziness from the speakers were at their peak.
“Patriots! Socialists, Marxists, and communists are attempting to steal our American dream,” said a speaker who identified himself as a “III Percent” militiaman. “Patriots! We say no!”
Another speaker claimed that Chief Justice John Roberts was “owned” by George Soros. Later, event co-organizer Ari Alexander led the crowd in a chant: “Victory or death!”
The formula established by previous post-election protests continued into the evening as MAGA fanatics began roaming the streets of Washington, looking for counterprotesters to assault. Proud Boys, as promised beforehand, did not wear their Fred Perry polo uniforms this time, instead donning black garb, often adorned with American flags. Red MAGA hats remained common in the crowd.
There was a more significant difference this time, however: There were very few antifascists or other protesters on the streets to counter them. So the pro-Trump crowd assembled to march toward a site featuring memorials to Black people slain by police, dubbed “Black Lives Matter Plaza,” so that they could replicate their attacks on BLM at the Dec. 12 protest when a crowd of Proud Boys vandalized African American churches and burned banners in the street.
However, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) forces were prepared for the onslaught and formed a phalanx around the plaza to prevent the MAGA crowd from vandalizing it. At that point, marchers began clashing violently with police. Police dispersed the crowd with pepper spray.
MPD officials said five people were arrested. However, it became clear that Washington police are enforcing neither the city’s mask mandate—none of the marchers appeared to be wearing masks—nor its prohibition against open carry of firearms, as video showed a number of the marchers carrying guns.
Afterwards, marchers voiced their anger at police. “We had your back, but we don’t got your back no more!” one protester shouted at police.
Afterwards, the marchers discussed the day ahead with each other. White nationalist Tim “Baked Alaska” Gionet was seen on video interviewing a fellow marcher who told him: “In fact, tomorrow—I don’t even like to say it because I’ll be arrested—we need to go into the Capitol.”
That kind of threatening rhetoric became extraordinarily common online in the days leading up to the march. On the right-wing site Parler, for instance, a number of Trump supporters who said they intended to attend also advocated for people to bring their guns and carry them openly: “Yes, it’s illegal, but this is war and we’re clearly in a post-legal phase of our society,” one wrote. “LIVE AS A FREE AMERICAN AND BRING YOUR ARMS!” chimed in another.
They even strategized about how to do so without being arrested. One Parler post urged protesters to travel in groups that should “not let [anyone] disarm someone without stacking bodies.” Marchers, it said, should be “ARMED WITH RIFLE, HANDGUN, 2 KNIVES AND AS MUCH AMMO AS YOU CAN CARRY.”
Their fury against police forces—a relatively new phenomenon for a faction that had adamantly promoted a “Back the Blue” campaign during the summer’s anti-police-brutality forces—was apparently amplified by the arrest Monday of Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio when he arrived in Washington, charged with property destruction for his admitted role in the burning of the BLM banners.
“Time to burn down dc police precinct,” read one post on Parler. “Fuck those treasonous pig bastards.” A well-known Proud Boys member claimed on Parler that Washington, D.C. police and the National Guard were part of a conspiracy with antifascists: “Don’t trust the police or NG to protect you, they have been compromised,” wrote Jeremy Bertino. “The enemy is showing their hand. The police will be arresting patriots who participate in civil disobedience.”
“WE THE PEOPLE … are through with you,” said a post on Parler. “To all our enemies high and low you want a war? Well your asking for one. … To the American people on the ground in DC today and all over this great nation, be prepared for anything. … Now we are here. Now they get what they want.”
“Are cops just antifa and BLM in taxpayer provided uniform?” another asked on TheDonald, a pro-Trump online hub. “In Dem cities, yes,” someone replied.
“The threats are coming from what seems like every direction, so it’s hard to triangulate and evaluate everything,” Megan Squire, a researcher based at Elon University, told NBC News. “I’m getting a strong ‘last stand’ vibe from some of these groups. I hope they go quietly, but it seems like that is not what they want to do.”