"We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don't want the truth to be exposed," Trump stated in a comment after the race has been announced. "The simple fact is this election is far from over."
After an intense and stressful week and when news eventually came Saturday that Joe Biden would become the 46th U.S. president, neighborhoods across the country prepared for a darker side: potential conflict.
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As supported by a group named "Stop the Steal," some followers of President Donald Trump swarmed to state capitals in an attempt to delegitimize the election results that have been removed from Facebook for sharing false information and encourage unrest.
The subsequent protest movements have been largely peaceful in the hours after Biden's victory has been declared, despite several bursts of harsh exchanges. Yet followers of Trump remained defiant. In Lansing, Michigan, hundreds gathered outside the state Capitol, holding signs stating, "It's not over" and shouting, "We won!"
Nearby, several hundred Biden followers gathered, advising Trump's followers to recognize the outcome of the election.
Michael Elkins of Westland, clothed in an American flag outfit, stated that he had suspected electoral fraud after being pushed for absentee voting due to various COVID-19 safety issues.
"If Joe Biden won legitimately, I'm OK with that," he stated. "Election integrity is a cornerstone of society that is crumbling away."
The gathering was planned before the news of Biden's victory after three days of demonstrations at the Maricopa County Elections Center.
Upon President Trump's long-term campaign against mail voting, the supporters of the President became hesitant to vote in such a way whereby the followers of Biden supported the system due to the pandemic of coronavirus. Biden followers captured mail voting by a nationwide 2-to-1 margin.
This is why Trump looked leading in a number of swing states on the night of the election. However, the race moved to Biden as mail-in votes have been tallied.
Trump has been attempting for months to cast suspicion on the legitimacy of elections that heavily rely on vote-by-mail surveys. He argued that the election had been manipulated against him, and on Saturday, he proceeded to stoke the flames. Yet election observers claim that it is not a form of corruption to take the time to count votes.
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And yet U.S. officials had cause to worry about violence. Through the week, armed protesters, a few holding shotguns, a few other handguns, as well as other semi-automatic rifles, have gathered out the front of offices in which election workers counted ballots.
Several major metropolitan regions in the United States have had the disturbing presence of fortresses all week long as cafes, retail stores, and others have built up windows.
Joe Biden has become the declared president-elect, and Senator Kamala Harris is set to become the highest-ranking female in the country's 244-year history. Biden pledged to "be a president who seeks not to divide but unify, who doesn't see red states and blue states, only sees the United States," in his winning speech on Saturday night.
