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In the aftermath of a mob storming the Capitol violently, U.S. cities were ready to be ready for the January 20 inauguration on Sunday.
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A fierce security presence awaited protesters in cities like Madison, which saw major pro-Trump protests in 2020.
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Here’s how the day was in Madison.
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MADISON, Wis. In Wisconsin, where icy temperatures or clouds never deterred noisy political protests, and where rallies that attracted thousands of people took place with increasing frequency, Sunday’s expected pro-Trump rally was anything but an exhibition.
Police vehicles and military Humvees were at the entrances to the Capitol all day, a massive dome with four stately wings.
Windows on the ground floor were lined with plywood before the expected protests. Temporary concrete barriers and red anti-bumping devices were installed near the entrances. Police have temporarily cordoned off streets closest to the Capitol. But the morning came and went, as well as the afternoon, and not a Trump flag was in sight.
Only groups of news reporters and a few curious residents and students of the nearby University of Wisconsin-Madison walked around in light snow. On the park-like lawns between the Capitol wings, which teamed up with crowds on a cold day last April in protest of Democratic government Tony Evers’ homecoming and masked wear, and in February 2011 in protest – Republican Gov. Scott’s law Walker, Act 10, deprived most employees in the public sector of bargaining rights, as well as numerous other rallies, as only a few squirrels scurried around in the snow.
A pair of lonely young men, one with a plate jacket and the other one with a large sign folded under his arm, surrounded the Capitol, looking confused. One could hear on a cell phone complaining that the police were ‘prepared’ and asking why they were not so prepared for protests against Black Lives Matter.
Two men – on both sides of the political spectrum – waited patiently for hours, but each was surprised by the lack of attendance.
Jesse Ransom, 39, said he was there to counter Trump supporters. “They’re usually here by about noon,” Ransom said of the pro-Trump rallies he regularly attended. He said he was prepared with a “trauma kit” that he said was designed to treat shots or stab wounds.
“I usually show up for Black Lives Matter protests,” said Ransom, who is white. “A lot of what Trump says does not resonate with me. This rally supports fascism and racism for the next four years, and I’m not good at it.”
Ransom, who wore a dark blue jacket and a green knitted cap, said he was not armed but felt his ‘white privilege’ offered a sense of security. “I can get away with a lot and that’s one of the reasons I’m down here, ‘he said. ‘I know I have a privilege,’ he said, ‘compared to people of color. I do not mind driving around like Trumpers, and you know, telling them to pee because I can get away with it. ‘
Ransom, a mechanical engineer who grew up in Alaska but attended college and worked in Madison since the age of 18, said he thinks there is racism in Wisconsin, but says, “Madison is one of the most racist cities in the country. ‘
‘Years ago I worked at Dane County Detox, and we were here (near the Capitol) to feed homeless guys, and (then Mayor Paul) Soglin sent his police officers with full equipment and they started checking everyone’s credentials. What was the literal fuck? Why are you doing this, looking at everyone’s identity that just comes through the food lines? And many homeless guys are minorities. ‘
‘Here on State St. they especially like white college students, ‘says Ransom, pointing to a busy commercial corridor of shops and restaurants that connects Capitol Square with the university campus. “If you’re thinking of sending your kids here to school, walk up and down State St. If you have homeless people, that does not match the image they want to send.” Now there are metal statues and nails that prevent people from sitting on low walls, all designed to deter homeless people. “It’s pretty racist when you think about it,” he said.
But Ronald Faust, 70, who also drove around the Capitol on Sunday and waited for the protesters to arrive, had the opposite observation.
“I think people in Madison are very intolerant of conservative and conservative thinking,” he said. “I’m called a Nazi, I’m called a terrorist, I’m called a traitor, just by people passing by,” adds Faust, who wears a red MAGA hat that says “Make America Holy Again.” at the front and “I’m going in” at the back and whose car boasts a “Make Babies Great Again” poster, as a life statement.
He said the phrase ‘I’m going to go in’ is a reference to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting in Florida in 2018 where police apparently did not go in. “I go in” means I hurt myself to help people, “he explained.
Faust, an electronics engineer living in the suburb of Madison, Cross Plains, prayed and marched around the Capitol earlier Sunday as part of a group called Jericho March.
The group supported Trump, and Faust said he still believes the Trump election was “stolen.” “There were definitely irregularities,” he said. “I was hoping there would be something you could really hang your hat on to prove it,” he added. “There’s something very suspicious about this.” Nevertheless, Faust called the violence at the Capitol in Washington last week ‘regrettable’.
“It’s awful,” he said, adding quickly, “but we think the same of the riots and fires and shootings that have been going on all summer – it’s unfortunate, too.”
He said he did not think Trump had incited last week’s riots, and believed that people started breaking into the Capitol before the president finished speaking to the public that day.
Regarding the president’s previous calls to his supporters to “fight” and “stop the stealing”, Faust said: “Politicians have gathered crowds since ancient times. As every politician who gathers a crowd with a fiery speech “the Capitol banned, it would be empty.”
As for the accusations of racism among Trump supporters, Faust says he has “not seen a bit” in his group. However, he speculated that “the rhetoric about racism is now more inflammatory.”
Racism was “on the run” and “in its dying coals,” he said, referring to gains such as school choice initiatives and criminal law reform. “It was a great blessing for the Black community. Great progress has been made. I think the dying coals of racism are being ignited in a flame by those who see a way to benefit from it – it is power and they will use any means necessary to obtain it – it is sad, “he said.
At 4:30 p.m., when the snow disappeared into a rainy mixture and the sky darkened, three young men carrying rifles and an American flag with 13 stars arrived in a circle, but desperately walked away from the empty sidewalks in front of the Capitol. .
Police have already removed the street barriers. News staff were packing to leave.
The Humvees rolled away at 5 sharply.
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