Trump Enthusiasts Respectfully Await Final Election Returns

In an historic display of good citizenship and patriotism, armed supporters of defeated candidate Donald Trump gathered at vote processing centers to dispute arithmetic and threaten election workers. God Save the Republic.

More:

“Faced with defeat, armed protesters in Arizona insist election stolen,” Mimi Dwyer, David Shepardson, Reuters

“Election officials worried by threats and protesters,” Nomaan Merchant and Tim Sullivan, Associated Press

“Philadelphia police arrest armed men allegedly heading to vote-counting center,” Cameron Jenkins, The Hill

“Increasingly normal: Guns seen outside vote-counting centers,” Tim Sullivan and Adam Geller, Associated Press

“‘It’s not over’: Trump supporters flock to state capitols after Biden victory is announced,” Susan Miller and Jordan Culver, USA Today

“The Next 2020 Election Fight? Convincing Trump’s Supporters That He Lost,” Miles Parks, NPR News

Updates:

“Philly Vote-Counters Getting Death Threats Because of Trump’s ‘Deranged’ Theories: Republican Commissioner,” Jamie Ross, Daily Beast

“Arkansas police chief resigns after calling for violence against Democrats,” Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, CNN

“Republican Philadelphia official responsible for vote counting says office getting death threats,”Dominick Mastrangelo, The Hill

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Image (“Trump Enthusiasts, after James Whale“) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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COVID-19: President Trump Urges Insurrection

Last week President Trump told governors to “call the shots” on reopening their states’ economies, then called on mobs of his followers to “liberate” states with Democratic governors, specifically the battleground states of Michigan, Minnesota, and Virginia. His rabid supporters turned out at state capitals, and some of them were armed.

A photo of the Ohio protesters banging on the statehouse windows looked familiar:

“One wears a Guy Fawkes mask. Two men wear Trump-branded baseball caps. Two women, the closest to the windows, shape their mouths into the same elongated howl as Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream.’ American flags obscure some of the protesters in the back.”

“It looked awfully familiar to Michael Satrazemis, the director of photography for ‘The Walking Dead’ and director of ‘Fear the Walking Dead,’ two shows that seem a little scarier these days, since they’re about a zombie apocalypse that begins with an uncontrollable pathogen.

The visual trope is ‘classic horror,’ says Satrazemis. It plays on the common fear of claustrophobia, making the audience “\’feel the walls are closing in and the world is shrinking around you. And there’s no way out.’”

— “That Ohio protest photo looked like a zombie movie. Zombie movie directors think so, too.”Maura Judkis, Washington Post

Mr. Trump must be nostalgic for his MAGA zombie rallies, and uneasy about the likelihood that he won’t be having any rallies before November’s election.

This Is How It Happens

This is how it happens.

It’s election season and you’re a candidate. You mobilize armed supporters and tell them to watch polling places in minority neighborhoods because ethnic minorities are rigging the election against you. That’s how it works in the Third World, where elections are violent. In the U.S., voter intimidation is against the law, but one presidential candidate thinks that’s the way to “Make America Great.”

“You’ve gotta go out, and you’ve gotta get your friends, and you’ve gotta get everyone you know and you’ve gotta watch your polling booths, because I hear too many stories about Pennsylvania, certain areas. I hear too many bad stories, and we can’t lose an election because of you know what I’m talking about. So, go and vote and then go check out areas because a lot of bad things happen, and we don’t want to lose for that reason. We don’t wanna lose, but we especially don’t wanna lose for that reason. So go over and watch, and watch carefully. Because we’re gonna win the state of Pennsylvania, and if we win Pennsylvania, we take back the White House.”
— Donald Trump, Manheim PA, October 1, 2016

“So important that you get out and vote. So important that you watch other communities, because we don’t want this election stolen from us.”
— Donald Trump, Ambridge PA, October 10, 2016

More:

“Militia group calls on members to patrol polls on Election Day,” Kevin Sullivan, Washington Post

“Oath Keepers Founder Rallies Members To Watch Polls On Election Day,” Allegra Kirkland, TPM Livewire

“Specter of election day violence looms as Trump spurs vigilante poll watchers,” Lois Beckett and Oliver Laughland, The Guardian

“Roger Stone Group Planned To Send Out Poll Watchers With Fake Credentials,” Allegra Kirkland, TPM Livewire

“What Causes Some Elections to Go Violent?” Olga Khazan, The Atlantic

“Voting under the gun: elections and conflict around the world,” Thomas Flores, SIPRI