WASHINGTON — Incensed by a Supreme Court ruling that further dashed President Donald Trump’s hopes of invalidating his November electoral defeat, thousands of his supporters marched in Washington and several state capitals Saturday to protest what they falsely claim was a stolen election.
Trump flags dotted the air above Freedom Plaza in Washington, where demonstrators — including many members of the far-right Proud Boys group — chanted “four more years!” and vowed not to recognize Joe Biden as the president-elect.
State and federal courts have rejected dozens of lawsuits by Trump’s allies seeking to challenge the election results, but the pointed refusal by the Supreme Court on Friday to hear a case filed by the attorney general of Texas loomed the largest yet. By foreclosing one of the last legal avenues Trump had to potentially block Biden from succeeding him on Inauguration Day, it left his partisans casting about for answers.
Stephanie Lalich, 55, who traveled from Baltimore to join the protest in Washington, said voting machines had been used for widespread electoral fraud — a claim that has been proved false — and that judges have not sided with Trump because they did not want to take on the issue.
“They don’t want to deal with this,” Lalich said. “It’s going to have to go nuclear, using the Insurrection Act and bringing out the military.”
The protesters in Washington appeared jubilant at times, despite the dwindling time before Jan. 20, when Biden is due to be sworn in. They repurposed the refrain of Van Halen’s song “Jump” to say, “Might as well Trump!” Others sold Trump-themed T-shirts and other items advertising his false claims of electoral fraud.
Some demonstrators were more confident than others about how Trump could secure a second term despite losing the election.
Phyllis Monson, 61, who drove for several days from Tonopah, Arizona, to attend the rally, said she was not sure what steps remained available to overturn the election, but she said she was convinced that it had been unfair.
“This election was such a fraud,” Monson said. “There needs to be a revote.”
