Still reeling from President-elect Joe Biden’s decisive victory against President Donald Trump one week ago, tens of thousands of Trump supporters from across the country flooded the streets along our nation’s capital to proclaim their steadfast support for the man they believe was “cheated” out of what the Department of Homeland Security has defined as “the most secure election in American history”.

During yesterday’s unmasked afternoon-march which culminated at Freedom Plaza, a radical hodgepodge of Proud Boys, QAnon fanatics, militia groups, and white supremacists proudly showcased their support for the President, with signs and chants declaring “STOP THE STEAL!”, and “TRUMP IS OUR PRESIDENT!”. The thousands of attendees did not hold back when it came to their racist and misogynistic disdain pertaining to Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, as they frequently referred to her as a “hoe” and cited numerous false-claims relating to the validity of her American citizenship.

Once the crowd made their way through Freedom Plaza, they were greeted by a slew of right-wing talking-heads. The most notable among them was none other than Alex Jones, the infamous founder of the online “news” outlet InfoWars, who was previously ordered last December to pay $100,000 in court costs and legal fees stemming from a lawsuit over his vile and traumatizing claim that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a “hoax.”

Jones took to the podium to deliver an impassioned speech, successfully riling up the crowd by spewing his typical bile of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories pertaining to the threat of globalism, and a fabricated new world order propagated by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. At the height of his speech, Jones continued to propagate the falsehood that “President Trump won by an even bigger margin and the evidence is flooding out” in key battleground states which President-Elect Joe Biden clenched such as Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada.

While our on-site coverage of the event concluded after Jones’ remarks, The Washington Post reports that into the evening, Trump supporters were met with ongoing resistance from roughly 300 counter-protesters which culminated in several acts of violence and the arrests of nearly a dozen people, four of which pertained to gun charges. President Trump, while on the way to his Virginia golf course, also made a surprise appearance later this afternoon as his motorcade passed the crowd, proclaiming his immense support for the gathering, tweeting: “Hundreds of thousands of people showing their support in D.C. They will not stand for a Rigged and Corrupt Election!”

With Trump’s unprecedented refusal to concede the election to President-Elect Joe Biden, and the COVID-19 Pandemic continuing to make waves going into 2021, America is poised for one of it’s darkest winters in modern political history. Trump’s failure to lead our nation through this crisis not only cost him the election but the lives of over 245,000 Americans due to his failure to rally his base around the resounding scientific consensus pertaining to mitigation espoused by his own NIAID Director, Dr. Anthony Fauci. President Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud have been soundly repudiated by every major news outlet and national intelligence agency throughout the country, yet his supporters remain unphased. If today’s super-spreader rally was any indication, the period between now and January 20th will continue to push our democracy to its very limits.

While President-elect Joe Biden is set to be sworn in after the new year, Donald Trump will undoubtedly remain the de-facto leader of the Republican party for years to come, already hinting at a potential run in 2024 to save face with his base. Yesterday, once again, Trump’s sycophants have proven their undying allegiance to the man they revere, and their ever-growing disdain for American democracy. For four devastating years, a vocal minority comprised of white supremacists, xenophobes, climate deniers, and conspiracy theorists have held an unduly amount of political power within the White House; one aided and abetted by a Republican Senate majority that refuses to place “country over party” at every turn. 

The fate of our democracy rests in securing two U.S. Senate seats slated for runoff elections in Georgia so we can embolden a future President Biden with the Senate majority needed to begin the exhaustive process of getting our nation back on its feet, and rooting out the deadly stench of Trumpism within the halls of Congress.