On March 4th, Virginia Won’t Back Down

One month into Donald Trump’s Presidency, and his approval rating is at a record low. His advocates seem to be scrambling to generate favorable discussion.

This past Monday, an offshoot of the Tea Party, the Main Street Patriots, organized a swath of pro-Trump “Spirit of America” rallies. Meanwhile, a Charlotte, NC man named “Vince” has spent the last month putting out a call for a “March 4 Trump.”  After gaining steam on Twitter, it was picked up by a couple of notable Trump operatives: Peter Boykin, president of Gays 4 Trump, and Scott Ryan Presler, a Republican field organizer who also works for ACT for America, a “hate group” classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Both Gays 4 Trump and ACT for America are clearly rooted in racist, particularly Islamophobic rhetoric. Scott Presler has made it a point to mention that he came out as gay in response to the Orlando Pulse massacre. Much like Milo Yiannopoulos, Boykin and Presler have wielded their identity as gay men to deflect criticism, and claim they are being “silenced.”

While trying to recuperate gay culture and identity into racist politics, these shining tokens of the party have also taken to belittling trans folks, a further dissonance to the LGBT identity they hide behind.

This is no more than a resonance of their deep misogyny.

The March 4 Trump call doesn’t speak to anything particularly concrete, with vague rallying calls such as “show your support for him, each other, and our country.” But what it does speak to is a “seditious fringe,” “traitors,” an “insidious propaganda apparatus”, “our lives being… given away.” This is an artistic way of carrying a divisive conversation under positive pretenses. These rallies are as much a PR gig as they are a chance to double down on white American fears, in the same vein as the propaganda of White Nationalist groups. With all of this, the main march will actually be in DC, a place that may seem highly undesirable to radicals at the moment, given the heavy policing of the inauguration.

Interestingly, Scott Presler, who spoke at CPAC last week, is also the lead organizer for the Virginia Beach event, as ACT is headquartered there. Presler is also involved in the Corey Stewart for Governor Campaign. Stewart, a Confederate sympathizer with a deep love affair for ICE, plans to rally on Saturday as well, protesting at the State Capitol over Richmond’s building grassroots pressure towards becoming a sanctuary city. Though the city and the incoming mayor actually haven’t changed any policies, like a true demagogue he invokes response to a false crisis in his followers.

Many appear intent on responding to both local events. While some intend to hold a peaceful presence, conflict is inevitable. After the recent Scott Taylor town hall debacle, where altercations and arrest were censored from media and police reports, Virginia Beach has seen that at least some of Trump’s base is ready and looking for a fight. We can expect retired police and military to be present. We can expect police aggression and favoritism to Trump’s ranks.

While everyone present will be exercising their right to assemble, any confrontation will be framed by the rally organizers as an assault on their “free speech.” This is the narrative dominating conservative talking points, as they reel to explain the actions against pundits in Berkeley, D.C., New York, and a growing number of other cities who have shown resistance.

There is nothing we can do to stop them from obsessing over this hypocrisy, but we can illustrate to the contrary.

We are not simply crashing their party. This is not a convention, a town hall meeting, nor a march through the streets. Mt. Trashmore is a public park, where there are no restrictions on assembly, or private property to be bounced off. Two opposing rallies will be held, with no one present beholden to either of them. We therefore expect a greater level of freedom in action, and a greater level of spontaneity. A mass of Virginians will show out in spite of this gross orgy of ignorance. The people who will be demonized to the Trump crowd will be there, their humanity a threat in itself. They will be telling a different story, with their own media to document. A story that does not bolster support for a dangerous leader.

Broadcasting a show of resistance, in all forms, has the potential to seriously undermine this Republican strategy. What happens in Virginia will echo nationally.

On March 4th, much like on November 9th, Virginia will be a part of setting a tone. On March 4th, Virginia will not back down.

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