Donald Trump at a campaign rally on November 4, 2024Evan Vucci/AP
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 👇 pic.twitter.com/ea5j2NSiXV
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) November 5, 2024
