The armed rally that never was

Guy Page

The FBI made the unprecedented claim last week that extremists were planning armed protests for all 50 statehouses ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration. Here’s how that turned out in Vermont.

By Guy Page

Vermont State troopers carrying semi-automatic firearms were joined by Capitol police and other law enforcement Sunday, Jan. 17 at the Vermont State House in Montpelier in anticipation of a rally of armed Trump supporters much-publicized by the FBI.

Guy Page

Protesters in masks

Plenty of press appeared, too. But the protesters were a no-show. No one knows why. Dissuaded by the weekend’s heavy snowfall? Discouraged by the heavy police presence and a united message of “we’re not going and you shouldn’t either” from Vermont Republicans and Second Amendment advocates? Anything’s possible. And maybe the rally was never seriously planned, anyway — just publicized by police “in an abundance of caution.”

A few quiet counter-protesters — including this fellow in the gas mask — remained on site to monitor, but most of the counter-protesters were outside the Montpelier police station and city hall, eating pancakes, drinking hot drinks, and staying out of the way of police at the State House.

RELATED: Safety commissioner warns lawmakers of ‘right wing groups’ while admitting no present threats in Vermont

Image courtesy of Guy Page

11 thoughts on “The armed rally that never was

  1. I concur with other comments that the Biden clan suddenly realized that they could be horribly embarrassed when only a few people show up for his long awaited inauguration. Remember his last event had only 79 people show up. Soooo… restrict the event, call it virtual, put thousands of flags where people would normally stand…. try to mitigate the embarrassment!

    Remember on the 6th, some estimates said there were 200,000 people in D.C. to support Trump.

    Tonight when Trump was giving his closing speech, I checked MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, etc. and not one carried his talk. Nothing new there as they have given him no coverage for years.

    What a bunch of #%^&*&(*

  2. According to Digger, there was a pro-Trump protester at the State Capitol.

    “By 1:30 p.m. there were still no signs of pro-Trump protesters outside the Statehouse, at least not any that idenfified themselves as one.

    About 30 minutes later, that changed a little — a protester marched through with a sign held high in the air. It read, Canadians for Trump!”

    Let the madness continue.

  3. The protest is next month – thousands will be there. The police better cancel all leave, build barricades and prepare for mass civil unrest.

  4. The false fear of insider attacks along with massive DC lockdown protection will be the media’s excuse for the very low biden inauguration turnout numbers, which was going to be the case anyway.

  5. Oh, but those “dangerous right-wing extremists” wanted to show up. They just couldn’t get there from here.

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