Supporters rally across country for president

Associated Press

From Colorado’s state Capitol to Trump Tower in New York and the Washington Monument, groups of hundreds of people rallied for President Trump on Saturday, waving “Deplorables for Trump” signs and even carrying a life-size cutout of the president.

Chelsea Thomas, an accountant from Thornton, Colo., brought her family – and the life-size cardboard cutout of Trump – to the March 4 Trump rally in Denver. She said the family has taken it with them on camping trips, boat rides and a country music festival.

“It’s nice to be surrounded by people who share your morals and opinions,” said Thomas, as her son walked back and forth across the grass with a Trump flag.

Supporters at the rallies clashed with generally smaller groups of counter protesters.

Six people protesting the rally in St. Paul, Minn., were arrested on felony riot charges after they lit fireworks inside the Minnesota State Capitol and fled, police said. About 400 people attended the St. Paul event, and about 50 showed up to protest it.

In Nashville, two people were arrested as protesters clashed with Trump supporters at the Tennessee Capitol. In Olympia, Wash., the state patrol said four demonstrators were arrested Saturday at a rally in support of Trump, KOMO-TV reported. Authorities did not say if the people arrested were pro-Trump or anti-Trump. The station reported that the demonstrators are accused of assaulting a police officer. In Berkeley, Calif., people wearing goggles, motorcycle helmets, gas masks or with their faces half-covered with bandannas pushed each other, threw punches and hit each other with the sticks holding their signs or American flags.

Near Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach Post reported that people on both sides exchanged profanity. Trump’s motorcade briefly stopped so he could wave at supporters.

In Ohio, Trump supporter Margaret Howe, 57, of Pataskala, said she increasingly fears civil war.

“We did not want to have something like this happen,” she said, adding, “We came out today because Trump deserves to see he still has people for him. It’s just all sad.”

In northwestern Pennsylvania, the Erie Times-News reported that about 100 people gathered at a square in downtown Erie for a demonstration.