On the eve of Election Day, our DC bureau chief, David Corn, traveled to Reading, Pennsylvania, to speak with diehard Donald Trump supporters at what might be one of the final campaign rallies of his political career.
Held in a half-filled Santander Arena, this rally marked one of Trump’s last stops in his campaign blitz on Monday. For his dedicated followers, this was a final chance to catch a glimpse of the man himself and sway together, phone lights aloft, to familiar campaign anthems (while they waited for well over an hour for him to appear). And it was another opportunity for his most loyal supporters to revel in Trump’s apparent political invincibility. With the vote approaching, David wanted to know: If they don’t accept a potential loss as legitimate, what comes next? Could Trump’s Big Lie, first pushed in the lead-up to the 2020 election and still a core tenet for his base, extend beyond this election, igniting another January 6?
In nearly a dozen interviews inside the arena, it became clear that many Trump supporters would continue to see him as the ultimate wronged figure, defeated by a corrupt system fixed by Democrats. Among them was Hector Vargas, convicted on four misdemeanor counts for his role in the January 6 Capitol breach. Despite spending five months behind bars, Vargas openly admitted he’d struggle to accept a Trump loss. “I think people would be upset with it, especially if they believe there was some sort of fraud,” he said. When asked if they might repeat January 6, Vargas replied, “It probably could be worse. It probably could be 10 times worse.”
Watch David’s dispatch below:
WATCH: Trump’s most loyal fans say they’ll refuse to accept a loss—no matter what. At one of his final rallies, Trump supporters predict a civil war and an uprising “10 times worse” than January 6.@DavidCornDC reports on what could be Trump’s final rally
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) November 5, 2024pic.twitter.com/ea5j2NSiXV
What changes if more people showed up to vote?
One answer emerges by comparing Minnesota and Tennessee—two states with vastly different voter turnout rates. Minnesota leads the nation, with nearly 80 percent of eligible voters participating in the 2020 election. With that, Minnesotans have elected leaders who have advanced a popular agenda: universal school meals, free public college tuition, paid family and medical leave, and the restoration of voting rights for formerly incarcerated people. According to polling, each of these proposals is broadly popular across the entire country.
By contrast, in Tennessee, voter turnout in 2020 was only 59 percent—enabling a very unpopular Republican supermajority to ignore calls for stricter gun control, despite widespread support. Instead, they’ve focused on banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and enacting some of the country’s harshest abortion laws. Tennessee once had abortion protections, but a historically low-turnout election in 2014 paved the way for today’s restrictive policies.
In my new video, I run the numbers. Watch:
Free school meals. Childcare. Health care. The thing is, when voters show up, popular things happen. @garrison_hayes runs the numbers
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) November 3, 2024
The differences between Minnesota and Tennessee make it clear: Turnout has sweeping consequences. Go vote.
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