Trump supporters and alt-right groups convened near the White House on November 14 for the “Million MAGA March,” a rally to protest the 2020 presidential election results, BBC.com reports.
Thousands of the president’s supporters gathered with Blue Lives Matter and Confederate flags, alleging that the election had been “stolen” due to rampant voter fraud—a claim that has continuously been disproven. On Saturday, President Trump’s motorcade passed the rally without addressing the protesters. He later retweeted a video of the large, unmasked crowd with the caption, “We will WIN!”
Congressman-elect Ritchie Torres detailed his experiences while walking near the crowd of protestors. “About an hour ago, I was traveling from the Capitol to the Hyatt hotel when a MAGA demonstrator, screaming from a microphone, called me ‘homeboy in a suit,'” he tweeted on Saturday. “Sorry MAGA but the name is Congressman-elect Ritchie Torres.”
Torres also spoke later spoke about feeling “threatened” by the presence of demonstrators.
Far-right groups like the Proud Boys, which the president told to “stand back and stand by” during a presidential debate, clashed with counter-demonstrators later that night, resulting in a stabbing and the arrests of at least 20 people.
Twitter is one social media platform that has been diligent in flagging false or contested tweets about the election, as the president and his supporters continue to claim President-elect Joe Biden “stole” it. A number of tweets from Trump’s personal account have a warning that reads, “This claim about election fraud is disputed.”
On Sunday, the president tweeted that President-elect Biden won “because the election was rigged” and that “no voter watchers or observers [were] allowed” to stop alleged voter fraud. Trump has yet to concede or call off rallies backing his continued claims, meanwhile his team is promising “a smooth transition to a second Trump Administration.”