Updated: November 15, 2020 4:40:43 pm
Supporters of President Donald Trump demonstrate in support of the president near Freedom Plaza in Washington on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020 (Kenny Holston / The New York Times).
(Written by Pranshu Verma, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Sabrina Tavernise, Zach Montague, Allyson Waller, and Maggie Haberman)
Thousands of President Donald Trump supporters protesting the election result rallied in Washington on Saturday, getting a brief visit from the president himself, on a day of orderly demonstrations that turned into violence as the night progressed.
Police made 20 arrests, including four on weapons charges, as counter-protesters and Trump supporters clashed on the streets throughout the night. One person was stabbed, but his condition is unknown on Saturday night.
For most of the day, however, the crowd was under control, albeit boisterous, and many greeted the president with applause and cheers as he passed in his caravan, waving through the window as he made his way to his private golf club in Sterling, Virginia. . By early afternoon, the protesters had spread out for several blocks around Freedom Plaza.
On Twitter, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany offered an exaggerated assessment of the event, called Million MAGA March, stating that 1 million followers had turned out.
Reports from the field suggested that his estimate was grossly overstated.
“It’s not like July 4 or anything like that,” said a police officer who was stationed near Freedom Plaza at 13th and G streets. He refused to give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media. “But yes,” he added, “there is a crowd there.”
Although numbers were scarce, the crowd was not lacking in enthusiasm for the president or outrage at the complaints he has raised over the past four years.
Zenaida Ochoa, 46, a Virginia resident from Arizona, said she had been “following Trump since she was a child.”
“It’s not perfect,” said Ochoa, adding that he supported Trump in part because of his immigration policies.
Trump’s brief visit on Saturday came a day after the last two states of the election were called. President-elect Joe Biden won Georgia to finish with a total of 306 electoral votes, the same amount that Trump won in 2016 and called overwhelming, and Trump won North Carolina, by a total of 232 electoral votes.
Trump has refused to award Biden the race and continues to falsely insist that he would have won if not for what he has claimed were widespread voter irregularities. (In fact, top election officials across the country have said there is no evidence that fraud or other wrongdoing influenced the outcome.)
In addition to the MAGA Million March, rallies by Trump worshipers in Washington on Saturday included a Stop the Steal rally and a Women for Trump event.
Supporters of the president traveled from across the country to participate.
“I’m in awe,” said Rachel Williams, a worker from Jasper County, Alabama, who got into a car with three friends at 5:30 am Friday to attend the march in Washington. “I am encouraged that the United States is not going to bed.”
Williams said there had been no fraud in his county (he registers voters as part of his job), but he expressed suspicion about the election results and suggested that there may have been fraud elsewhere. A group of federal, state and local election officials stated flatly this week that the election “was the safest in US history” and that there was “no evidence” that voting systems were compromised.
Around noon, protesters began marching toward the Capitol, flowing down Pennsylvania Avenue for over an hour, gathering again in the area around the Capitol building and outside the Supreme Court.
“We want Trump to know that we love everything he did, especially for Hispanics,” said Anthony Cabassa, 33, who held a flag that read “Defiant.”
“It woke us up,” said Cabassa, who had flown in from Los Angeles. “Whether you were to the left or to the right, it woke up a lot of people.”
Later that day, when many Trump supporters began to approach Union Station, more than 40 men who identified themselves as members of the Proud Boys, an extremist organization, began marching back to Freedom Plaza. The men, dressed in yellow and black, raised their fists in the air and chanted “Trump 2020.” Some wore ballistic vests.
As the night progressed, videos on social media showed fistfights, police trying to keep groups apart by barricading their bikes, and protesters gathering near Freedom Plaza, where people lit small fires.
At night, at PJ Clarke’s restaurant near the White House, counter-protesters threw bottles and fireworks at a group of Trump supporters, a USA Today reporter said.
Shortly before 9 p.m., a group of Trump supporters outside a hotel less than a mile from the White House said an altercation had broken out between Trump supporters and others whom they described as antifa. News reports indicated that a man had been stabbed and police officers at the scene shortly after the incident said they could not confirm the severity of the injuries.
Some Trump supporters, standing outside the Embassy Suites hotel, said the two groups had converged on the corner of 10th Street and New York Avenue in northwest Washington. They said the riot had quickly dissolved after police intervened.
“You could feel the intensity,” said Damien Courtney, 24, a Trump supporter from Tennessee. “It was stressful.”
A few blocks away, hundreds of Trump supporters carried a large banner that read “Blue Life Matters” with the words “Trump” and “Law and Order.” Moments of tension marked an otherwise peaceful demonstration.
Shortly before midnight, the group passed through Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House, while other Trump supporters tore several Black Lives Matter posters from a building before stomping on them. Police quickly dispersed the group, enraging several Trump supporters, who yelled at officers and called them “cowards.”
Tracey Gardner, 54, of upstate New York, said the evening rally was meant to send a message that Trump “is still our president.” She believes Trump will win re-election, she said, adding that any losses could be attributed to the media. “Fox News is sold out,” he said, referring to the network’s decision to call Arizona for Biden on election night.
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