Comment
Salahuddin Haider
United States of
America, which
claims a legitimate pride in its age-old values and traditions, seems confronted with a new kind of problem—loss of values, and perhaps a threat to democracy also now that attempts are to denounce the Nov 3 Presidential polls.
Sitting President Donald Trump has blatantly and without realizing that he is inflicting huge damage to his country’s values, is up in arms and refusing to accept polls results. What is even more tragic is a strong lobby in his favour. His supporters took to streets yesterday in large numbers, holding placards and chanting slogans against election results.
Also worth noticing is the comments from eminent professors, analysts, who apparently have either favoured Trump in the last four years, or have their axe to grind against President-Elect Joe Biden.
Agitation on Washington streets was really worth watching. Hundreds of thousands people from all over the country joined a peaceful rally on Nov. 14 in the capital to show their support for President Donald Trump and his calls for the election integrity, as part of a movement called “Stop the Steal.”
Supporters gathered at Freedom Plaza at noon and marched to the Supreme Court, protesting fraud allegations in the presidential election. People expressed concerns about election integrity and demanded every legal vote be counted. They also slammed mainstream media’s depiction of rally goers.
Dede Laugesen calls herself “a huge Trump supporter.” She joined the rally from Colorado.
“I really believe that this election is being stolen right out from underneath the Americans who voted for President Trump,” she said.
She launched a website everylegalvote.com to “tell Americans what the true story is, outside of the censorship of mainstream media and big tech.”
The website tracks election data and shares personally witnessed or publicly reported examples of fraud during the 2020 election.
Dede Laugesen from Colorado joins the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington on Nov. 14, 2020. (Emel Akan/Epoch Times)
“President Trump will be victorious at the end of
the day, we just need to have social patience, and let the process complete itself,” she said. “It’s wrong for the media to declare the president.”
“This is America. These are ordinary average Americans and for the media to label us as far right extremists is to denigrate just ordinary Americans. They are lying to America.”
More than 50 rallies have been organized across the country on the same day. The event organizers called for protests at state capitols at noon, local time in every state.
Roberto Joel Guttierez, 18, an African-American student said he came to Washington “all the way from Boston, not only just for my president, but to support the United States of America.”
He said he was concerned about evidence of voter fraud, computer glitches, and observers being denied to watch ballot counting.
He said that the media “likes to portray a false narrative that all Trump supporters are white supremacists. But as you can see here, there’s people of all races—black, Asian, Hispanic. There’s all types of people.”
Flor Cerrato, an accountant from Los Angeles, Calif. joined the rally in Washington to demand transparency.
“We are demanding transparency. That’s basically what we want. We want every single legal vote to be counted,” she said. Born to parents from Honduras, Cerrato also expressed her frustration about significant liberal bias in the mainstream media and social media. Trump supporters seem to have bought the story that counting was not done properly, and according to law.
The presence of luminaries like senators, Congressmen and commoners could not unnoticed. They included Republicans Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas and Representative-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia, plus several prominent Trump supporters and conservative leaders giving speeches to the supporters at Freedom Plaza, asking for fair elections and transparent counting. Mike Lindell, founder of My Pillow; Ali Alexander, one of the organizers of the rally; and Ryan Fournier, founder and co-chairman of Students for Trump were among the speakers.
“I’m confident that America will withstand the challenge of this distraction and corruption,” said Ed Martin, another organizer of the event and president of Eagle Forum, a conservative organization.
Martin estimated that nearly 500 thousand people joined the rally, though he said some media falsely claimed only hundreds of people took part. .
The contested presidential election still remains undecided, as most state results haven’t yet been certified and legal challenges and recounts are pending in key swing states.
