A collection of right-wing groups supporting President Donald Trump’s false claims that the presidential election was stolen from him kicked off a two-week bus tour near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Sunday. The bus tour, according to the announced itinerary, will weave through the Southeast and Midwest before arriving in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 12, two days before the electoral college vote that will make Joe Biden’s presidential victory official.
“We’ve got to take to the streets and DEMAND ELECTION INTEGRITY,” says the tour’s website. “If they can steal this election from President Trump, we’ll never get our freedom back.”
The road trip is being billed as a follow-up to the Nov. 14 March for Trump (also referred to as the “Million MAGA March” and “Stop the Steal March”) that brought thousands of the president’s supporters to Washington, D.C., to wallow in “stolen election” conspiracy theories and claims.
At the tour’s second stop on Sunday in Ormond Beach, Florida, Tea Party activist Amy Kremer claimed that the Nov. 14 march in Washington had attracted “approximately 1.4 million people”—a wild exaggeration. Kremer, who leads Women for Trump and Women for America First, said she had a message for Trump: “Mr. President, do not give up. Do not give in. The cavalry is coming. We have your back, and we want you to keep fighting for we the American people.”
The tour’s sponsors include Right Side Broadcasting Network, Steve Bannon’s “War Room,” Women for America First, the digital consulting firm Liberty Lab, My Pillow, and My Pillow founder Mike Lindell’s addiction recovery network—though it’s not clear what the bus tour’s goals “to demand transparency and protect election integrity” have to do with addiction recovery.
As with other events broadcast by RSBN and sponsored by Lindell, My Pillow’s sponsorship was rewarded with on-camera endorsements from RSBN hosts as well as traditional ads.
Dec.12 appears to be shaping up as a busy day in D.C. for right-wing activists. A group of Trump-supporting religious-right leaders—including organizers of the Sept. 26 “The Return” rally—are planning a national “Jericho March” that same day. The Washington Post noted that the Proud Boys—whose members were involved in street violence in D.C. after the Nov. 14 march—“seemed to confirm on social media that they would also be attending.”
