The crowd Saturday was energized by visits from recently pardoned national security adviser Michael Flynn, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and around midday, a flyover from what appeared to be Marine One.

“There he is! There is our guy!” a woman exclaimed, reaching toward the sky.

A few hours earlier, Trump had indicated on Twitter he was surprised to learn people were gathering in his honor once again.

“Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them! #MAGA,” he wrote.

His encouragement was echoed by Flynn, who appeared on the steps of the Supreme Court to encourage the crowds to keep hope, despite the justices’s Friday dismissal of Trump’s long-shot bid to overturn election results.

“Don’t get bent out of shape,” Flynn said. “There are still avenues … We’re fighting with faith and we’re fighting with courage.”

After Flynn finished speaking, he was chased by shouting admirers who cheered, “We love you, general!” Bodyguards tried to keep the fans at bay as Flynn kept smiling.

In the crowds at the Supreme Court, Washington Monument and Freedom Plaza, there were few masks — and so far, few counterprotesters.

Police are hoping to keep the two sides apart after a meeting between two small groups turned into a chaotic brawl just before midnight Friday at 15th and K streets NW, two blocks from the White House. With about a dozen people on each side, angry taunts escalated into shoving, tackling, punching and kicking.

D.C. police officers tried to separate the sides, but were shoved by people from both groups who seemed intent on a fight. In the skirmish, one anti-Trump supporter was wrestled to the ground and kicked repeatedly. Five people were arrested on charges that included assaulting officers, disorderly conduct, inciting violence and resisting arrest.

Policing protests: Demonstrators say officers are taking sides as D.C. hosts pro-Trump rallies Saturday

The melee happened just outside of Black Lives Matter Plaza, which police have blocked off this weekend. Previously the site of tension among law enforcement, protesters and pro-Trump ralliers, the area Saturday was inaccessible to either side, although some gathered on its fringes.

But most of Trump’s fan base descended on Freedom Plaza, the site of a November rally that attracted thousands and brought the president out to drive by and wave at his admirers.

In the weeks since, much of America has turned its attention to Biden’s transition, rising coronavirus cases and the holidays, largely tuning out Trump’s attempts to maintain power. But to his most dedicated supporters, his megaphone is as loud as ever. He has continued to falsely claim the election was stolen from him, and so his faithful have returned to the nation’s capital, with red hats, MAGA flags and at least two buses bearing the president’s smiling face.

Election results under attack: Here are the facts

By midday Saturday, multiple groups were spread out across the city. The majority-White crowds ranged from gray-haired men and women in red hats to children in wagons, one of whom chanted “100 more years!”

Two maskless women blew into shofar horns as they passed by a sign in front of the United Methodist Building with the message, “Love Thy Neighbor. Wear A Mask.”

Jones, a conspiracy theorist known for his denial of the Sandy Hook massacre, led followers on a march toward the Mall with a bullhorn.

Among the crowd at Freedom Plaza were members of extremist groups, including the Three Percenters milita and the Proud Boys, a male-chauvinist organization with ties to white nationalism. Hundreds of black-and-yellow-clad members of the group marched down Pennsylvania Avenue chanting expletive-laced taunts.

The presence of the Proud Boys at November’s “Stop the Steal” rally intensified the tension between pro-Trump supporters and counterprotesters, and by nightfall, multiple violent skirmishes broke out. One man was hospitalized with multiple stab wounds and two dozen people were arrested, according to officials.

Activists are bracing for more clashes this weekend, after months of protesting police brutality and racial injustice following the death of George Floyd. They planned anti-Trump and anti-fascist demonstrations in Black Lives Matter Plaza to coincide with the Trump supporters’ rallies, and say they will march through the city in the evening.

But their plans were disrupted early Friday, when police blocked off access to the plaza “to ensure public safety is maintained.” They evicted demonstrators who have for months been sitting vigil at the fence surrounding the White House — a frequent target of pro-Trump agitators.

A gallery of pain and protest: Demonstrators turn White House fence into gallery of signs

The District’s police force was criticized after the November rally for not intervening quickly enough during clashes, allowing signs along the fence to be vandalized and doing nothing to enforce the city’s mandate that masks be worn outside. District officials contend police did what was necessary to minimize violence, and will do so again this weekend.

But officers are not enforcing mask rules or issuing fines to those who ignore social distancing guidelines, even as the region faces an unprecedented spike in coronavirus cases. Dozens of D.C. police officers have tested positive in the weeks since the November rally. As of Thursday, 74 remained in quarantine. Police have declined to draw a direct link between demonstrations and the spike in infections among officers.

D.C. residents have expressed concern that the influx of protesters who are less likely to wear masks puts the entire city at risk, especially workers in restaurants and hotels. Activists flooded the inboxes of city officials, asking them to shut down businesses that allow people to congregate without masks. They called hotels to ask that they refuse to host those planning to attend Saturday’s rallies.

By Friday night, buses and trucks emblazoned with the words “Trump Train” on them were parked at one of those hotels, the Willard InterContinental. A woman in a Trump 2020 Santa hat posed for a selfie outside. Two police cars idled nearby. And in the lobby, an employee handed out plastic-wrapped surgical masks.

Washington’s hotels took in Trump supporters from across the country. David Dumiter, 33, and his niece Monica Stanciu drove eight hours from Dearborn, Mich., with Trump flags in their trunk to be at the Washington Monument on Saturday.

Dumiter, an airplane mechanic who said he has been unemployed since the coronavirus pandemic decimated air travel, said he knew the Supreme Court had blocked any legal path to reverse the results the election. But that didn’t change his mind about showing up Saturday. The president was still pushing, so he would, too.

“We’re not going to cave in,” Dumiter said. He walked down the mall in his Trump hat, Trump sunglasses and Trump jumpsuit, still gripping his flag.

Marissa J. Lang, Rachel Weiner, Meagan Flynn, Joe Heim and Peter Hermann contributed to this report.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trump-dc-rally-maga/2020/12/11/8b5af818-3bdb-11eb-bc68-96af0daae728_story.html