Getty How many were at the Million MAGA March?
Thousands attended the Million MAGA March in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, November 14, in support of President Donald Trump. Two days before the event, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that she expected the turnout to be “quite large.” The turnout didn’t end up being millions of people, but it still numbered in the tens of thousands.
Here’s a look at just how many attended, along with crowd size photos:
Tens of Thousands Attended the Million MAGA March in D.C.
Shomari Stone of NBC DC shared this photo, showing a sizeable turnout for the event:
Freedom Plaza. Washington, D.C. #MillionMAGAMarch #StopTheSteaI
Stone reported that there were “thousands” at the event about 45 minutes before it started, and the number grew after that tweet. USA Today reported that there were “tens of thousands” at the event who came from different parts of the country, including Texas, Indiana, Wisconsin, New York, and more.
GettySupporters of U.S. President Donald Trump rally in Washington, D.C., on November 14, 2020.
The event was expected to include groups marching from different locations, The Hill reported. One group was going to begin marching at the Freedom Plaza at 12 p.m. Eastern time, heading to the Supreme Court by 2 p.m. Eastern time. The marches were commonly labeled under the uniform term Million MAGA March, but some others were also called the March for Trump or Stop the Steal. One of the groups involved in the event was Women for America First.
Wow! NOON ET – The #MAGAMarchDC has filled a whole city block and then some. #MAGAMillionMarch
The National Park Service issued a permit to Women for America First for 10,000 people in Freedom Plaza, DCist reported. Freedom Plaza’s maximum capacity is 13,900, DCist noted.
The march’s route can be seen here.
Counterprotests were also planned. One expected protest, by All Out DC, was called “F*** MAGA,” The Hill reported. Others included a Refuse Fascism counterprotest and an All Out DC counterprotest.
Heavy is aware of the number circulating on social media that is said to be a crowd estimate from the National Park Service (NPS) and has reached out to NPS about whether the number is accurate or not.
In 2017, AP reported that The National Park Service no longer provides official crowd estimates of events that take place. They stopped releasing public estimates ever since a dispute about how many attended a Million Man March in 1995. The Park Service was threatened with a lawsuit when they estimated 400,000 showed up to the Million Man March, while organizers believed that one million were there. After that, they stopped publicly releasing estimates.
The Washington Post noted the same in 2017, reporting that Thomas Crosson, NPS spokesman, said that it’s against NPS policy to estimate crowd sizes from events. Crosson said in an email: “While we make internal estimates for staffing, security and emergency response purposes, it is left to the discretion of event organizers to make a determination of the event attendance.”
GettyPeople participate in the “Million MAGA March” from Freedom Plaza to the Supreme Court on November 14, 2020.
Mike Valerio of WUSA confirmed that officials did not provide official crowd estimates, but several thousand were in attendance.
1:10PM: MAGA March continues to leave Freedom Plaza. Demonstrators walking towards Supreme Court and US Capitol.
Authorities are *not* providing a crowd estimate. But it’s several thousand.
#MillionMAGAMarch @WUSA9 @CBSNews
Later in the day, after the major event was over, about 20 people were arrested, USA Today reported, and there were some skirmishes and fights between protesters and counter-protesters.
Tweets Shared Early Prematurely Indicated a Very Low Turnout
Some photos were shared two hours or so before the event and are now going viral on social media, misleadingly indicating that there was a low turnout. For example, this tweet was shared early in the morning, a couple of hours before the event.
#MarchForTrump in Freedom Plaza!
I didn’t do an exact count but ummm, I feel y’all might be a little under your goal of a million people 😂 maybe I’m wrong, will someone do a hand recount?
#MillionMAGAMarch #StopTheSteaI #MillionsMAGAMarch #MillionMAGAMarch2020
This video below also showed a low turnout, but it was also from a couple of hours before the event was scheduled to begin.
Latest from Freedom Plaza:
Another Circulating Photo Is from the Women’s March in 2017
Another photo that’s circulating is from the Women’s March in 2017. Some are saying this is from the Trump event on November 14, but it’s not. The tweets below compare the two. The photo at the top is taken from NBC DC’s coverage of the Million MAGA March, and the photo below it is from the Women’s March.
@GregoryEck If that inspires you take a look at this!!! #WomensMarch #MAGAMillionMarch
Another circulating photo (below) is from the March for Our Lives event for gun safety and is not from the Million MAGA March.
So if you see these photos below, they are from the Women’s March in 2017.
“I have never seen something [Million Maga March crowd] like this in Washington except for looting and rioting” @DarrellIssa on Fox News.
I hate to remind you of Jan 21, 2017’s peaceful @womensmarch on Washington. Estimated attendance; 500k+ in DC & 3.2 – 5.2 million in the US.
Who Was Endorsing & Leading the Million MAGA March?
The March for Trump details were originally shared by a Facebook page called Women for America First, DCist reported. Alex Jones had also mentioned that he might bring a Stop the Steal caravan to the rally.
The Oath Keepers listed the event on their website and said they would be attending. Politico reported that Three Percenters, Infowars, Groypers and Proud Boys would also be there.
According to the March for Trump website, the event was going to have scheduled speakers including:
— Mike Kelly
— Louie Gohmert
— Marjorie Taylor Greene
— Amy Kremer
— Dr. Sbastian Gorka
— Paris Dennard
— Penny Nance
— Matt Schlapp
— Rose Tennent
— Ryan Fournier
What Is the March About?
The Million MAGA March is protesting President-elect Joe Biden and claiming election fraud, DCist reported. Some Trump supporters have been advocating this claim about the election. For example, an Arizona man’s “recount or revote” petition on Change.org has gathered more than 2.5 million signatures.
The New York Times reported that after contacting top election officials in every state, 45 responded and none reported any evidence of fraud or irregularities that could have changed the outcome of the election. The Times also spoke to state officials or found public comments for four out of the other five states, which also did not reveal any irregularities that could have changed the outcome. Texas officials didn’t respond, but Harris County officials said there were only minor issues.
The New York Times noted that some states listed small problems, such as a small number of double votes or technical glitches, but nothing that would have been outcome-changing. Officials are all conducting a standard certification process that reviews the voting.
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