[ad_1]
Even as prominent Republicans, including Mitch McConnell, reluctantly began to recognize that Joe Biden will be the next president, a loud grassroots movement devoted to keeping Donald Trump in power appeared to be moving closer to taking power in what would amount to a coup. ‘state.
The day after a group led by a local Ohio Tea Party leader ran a full-page ad in the Washington Times calling on Trump to declare martial law and ask the military to oversee the overhaul presidential election using only paper ballots – a call echoed in a tweet from General Michael Flynn –A noisy “Stop the Steal” rally in suburban Atlanta urged Trump supporters to descend on State House on Thursday and demand the resignation of Georgia’s governor and secretary of state. In a press release announcing the announcement made by We the People Convention on Tuesday, the group’s chairman, Tom Zawistowski, said: “We wanted to express our concerns to the President, lawmakers, courts and Congress that we the people , will NOT cede our exclusive constitutional right to elect our representatives to judges, lawyers, courts, governors, Secretary of State, Congress, corrupt election officials and local politicians, corrupt media – or threats of violence from the left! “
“I’ll see you at the State Capitol tomorrow,” lawyer and Trump ally L. Lin Wood told the crowd that had gathered to hear him and the former Trump campaign lawyer, Sidney Powell, speak Wednesday in Alpharetta, Ga. “Stay crazy as hell! We are not going to take it anymore!
Although billed as a press conference, the event had the energy of a Trump rally, with crowded crowds of Presidential supporters – sporting many more MAGA hats than masks – waving flags and singing chants of ” USA!” and “Lock him up!”
The slogan was addressed to Republican Governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, who was endorsed by Trump in 2018 and has been a staunch supporter of the president, but declined to intervene in the compilation of his state’s election results. Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, also the butt of Wood and Powell’s derision, argued that the state’s election was fair and fair.
But Wood – a personal injury and defamation lawyer who has never held an elected office – urged the crowd to say maybe it was “time to look beyond Republicans and Democrats.” He does not represent Trump or his campaign in court, and Powell, who was on the campaign’s legal team, no longer does. Wood insisted he was not trying to profit from his efforts for Trump, but an inadvertent clue to his plans might have escaped when he solicited contributions to his “foundation,” an organization of far-right who helps defend Kyle Rittenhouse, who is accused of killing two protesters during a demonstration in Kenosha, Wis., in August.
“You don’t have to vote for me,” Wood said, before correcting himself, “You don’t have to give me money.
The announcement published by We the People Convention in the Washington Times on Tuesday highlights some of the extreme executive measures used by Abraham Lincoln at the start of the Civil War and suggests that Trump must take equally drastic action, arguing that “today” hui, the current threat to the United States from the international and national socialist / communist left is far more serious than anything Lincoln or our nation has known in its history – including the Civil War.
The letter later returns to the division on election results and cites recent reports of record arms sales to the United States, stating that “without a fair vote, we are rightly concerned that the threat of a deadly civil war is imminent. . “
Although Wood and Powell also promoted the call for martial law on their social media feeds, neither of them directly mentioned it during Wednesday’s rally. Still, they took the opportunity to regurgitate a host of unfounded election conspiracy theories and have issued several less than subtle calls to action against a variety of figures they believe are standing in the way of Trump’s second term. , from state officials like Kemp and Raffensperger to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General William Barr, who a day earlier became the last (and highest ranking) in the administration to challenge the Trump’s baseless allegations of electoral fraud. George Soros and the Chinese government also came for some Nativist ritual abuse.
“It’s 1776 again in America, and you’re not going to take our freedom. We will fight for our freedom, ”said Wood.
At around the same time, the White House released a 46-minute video of what Trump called “perhaps the most important speech I have ever given,” in which he rephrased all of his unproven theories. or refuted on electoral fraud. He did not, however, echo the call for martial law. He said he would step down on January 20 if he was the loser after all “legal” votes were counted.
More than anything, Wednesday’s event drew attention to the chasm between Americans, including a growing number of Republican officials who agreed to Biden winning the November 3 presidential election, and those who, after Trump , cling to another version of reality. .
While not explicitly mentioned, the QAnon conspiracy theory was also part of the background.
Wood, whose Twitter bio includes QAnon’s mantra of “# WWG1WGA” or “Where we go one, we all go,” espoused the kind of rhetoric often used by supporters of the pro-Trump conspiracy movement.
“This is the battle between good and evil,” he said.
Throughout the rally, Wood made several references to Flynn, a retired general who briefly served Trump as a national security adviser and whose own acceptance of Q-related content made him a hero among the QAnon followers.
At one point, he even appeared to tease the crowd by suggesting that Flynn might be about to take the stage (although he never seems to), and then elicited cheers and applause as he passed the idea of “Sidney Powell and Mike Flynn in 2024.” Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in overlapping investigations into Russian influence over the 2016 election, but he was pardoned in November by Trump.
“We’re going to fight like Flynn and make America great again,” proclaimed Wood, a thought echoed by another speaker, Georgia State Representative Vernon Jones, a black Democrat who endorsed the re-election of Trump. “Georgia has a history of combat,” Jones said, perhaps inadvertently reminding the public that its military history includes participation in the Civil War.
Powell, who first emerged on the far-right scene on Flynn’s legal defense team, also used his platform to promote content related to QAnon. In the aftermath of the election, she became a full-fledged QAnon savior, as one of the more public faces behind the pipe-dreaming legal battle to overturn the presidential election results.
Although Wood said, “We are not here for violence,” even comparing the movement to Martin Luther King Jr.’s message of civil disobedience, as election officials in Georgia have reportedly already been the target of violent threats from him. Trump supporters. In a press conference on Tuesday, Gabriel Sterling, head of the implementation of the state and Republican voting system, berated the president for refusing to concede the election, arguing that the promotion continues to make false claims electoral fraud would likely lead to violence.
“Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get shot, someone is going to get killed,” Sterling said. “It must stop.”
_____
Learn more about Yahoo News:
[ad_2]
Source link