“Hordes of Trump supporters rallied across Washington on Wednesday morning in a doomed effort to somehow negate Joe Biden’s victory, hours before Congress was set to certify the results and make Biden’s win even more fully irreversible. The rally marked the most desperate effort yet from disappointed and enraged Trump supporters, who have been leading a months-long campaign of disinformation and violence in tandem with a president who refuses to concede to reality. Thousands of Trump supporters headed to a park near the White House in the early morning for a chance to see the president himself speak, with hundreds lining up as early as 5:30 a.m.”

“Long Island Trump supporter Carmelo Prochilo said he came to Washington because he was ‘fed up with the bullshit,’ explaining he had become convinced that the election was stolen by reading the far-right Epoch Times and other websites. ‘They better start worrying about the 80 million people who voted for Trump and are armed,” Prochilo, who was draped in a flag promoting the Second Amendment, told The Daily Beast. ‘This will be a second American revolution.’ Trump was scheduled to speak to his supporters around 11 a.m., while other protesters planned to rally outside Congress at as lawmakers tallied the electoral vote, which has already been certified in each state. The prospect of violence hung over Wednesday’s rally, especially after four people were stabbed following a pro-Trump rally in Washington in December. Posters on pro-Trump forums like ‘The Donald’ have frequently discussed violating Washington’s gun laws and even attacking police, while early-arriving protesters on Tuesday walked around the city in body armor” – Daily Beast.

Add Daily Beast reporter Will Sommer in a tweet: “So far, every protester I’ve talked to has raised the prospect of violence / another civil war if Trump doesn’t win today.”