Donald Trump’s efforts to get his supporters into the streets of Detroit on election day was dissected by The Washington Post on Wednesday.
At 2:28 p.m. eastern, Trump took to his Truth Social microblogging website to complain about voting in Michigan.
“The absentee ballot situation in Detroit is really bad,” Trump posted. “People are showing up to vote only to be told, ‘sorry, you have already voted.’ This is happening in large numbers, elsewhere as well. Protest, Protest, Protest!”
Trump’s call was not answered by his MAGA base.
“Unlike in 2020, when similar cries from the then-president drew thousands of supporters into the streets — including to a tabulating facility in Detroit and later to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — this time, no one showed up,” the newspaper reported. “After two years of promises from Trump and his supporters that they would flood polls and counting stations with partisan watchers to spot alleged fraud, after unprecedented threats lodged against election workers, after calls to ditch machines in favor of hand counting and after postings on internet chat groups called for violent action to stop supposed cheating, a peaceful Election Day drew high turnout and only scattered reports of problems.”
While the election went smoothly, the outcome was not good news for Trump, who received brutal headlines while appearing politically vulnerable.
“The 45th president no longer held the megaphone of the White House, or even Twitter, to carry his message to supporters in real time. And the election results suggest the number of people inclined to respond to Trump’s exhortations has continued to fall since he lost the 2020 election,” the newspaper reported. “Election officials said nationally that fewer partisan challengers showed up than they had thought likely, given pre-election rhetoric from figures like former Trump adviser and popular podcaster Stephen K. Bannon, who boasted of a massive new network of ‘election integrity’ activists.”