Saturday might turn out to be an unusually packed day for the capital as three different marches with three distinct agendas plan to descend on Washington, D.C. The "Mother of All Rallies," the Juggalo protest, and "The March To Protect American Democracy" have all planned to mark the capital as their main point for political convention and expression. But what exactly is "The March To Protect American Democracy"? Protestors are gathering to send a message to President Trump and Paul Ryan, demanding them to "defend our democracy from Russian interference." Organizers of the march declared that it would commence on Saturday morning from Lafayette Square.
The organizers of the rally claim that Russia had "hacked the Democratic National Convention and leaked information to help Trump win the White House." In addition to that, organizers say that the "United States has done nothing since the election to ensure this never happens again." The March To Protect American Democracy was put together by 4 DPAC, which is a federally registered political action committee.
On a broad scale, the group aims to bring more fervor in national attention toward the ongoing federal investigation of possible Russian interference during the 2016 presidential race. Its self-described objective is to bolster Congressional candidates who "believe in the value of progressive American leadership" and are willing to "defend America and its position in the world."
In addition to its decidedly singular objective — demanding Trump and Ryan sincerely look into possible Russian interference during the 2016 presidential race — the group shared an additional tab titled "Candidate Pledge" for attendees. "I pledge to protect America's democracy from interference by foreign governments. If any agent or representative of a foreign government offers to provide damaging information about my opponent, I commit to immediately reporting their activity to the Federal Bureau of Investigation," the pledge read.
The pledge could be a not-so-subtle reference to the reports that alleged Donald Trump Jr. had enthusiastically embraced an offer containing supposed damaging information about Hillary Clinton. The email correspondence was allegedly between Trump Jr. and music promoter Rob Goldstone.
In the email, Goldstone had reportedly said that the "crown prosecutor of Russia" was willing "to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father." Several minutes later, Trump Jr. had reportedly responded, "If it’s what you say, I love it, especially later in the summer." The president's son gave different explanations for his response but agreed that he should have handled the matter in a better manner.
While "The March To Protect American Democracy" was geared toward the ongoing federal query into potential collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia, the other two marches had distinctively different goals. The conservative "Mother of All Rallies" planned to "send a message to the Congress, the media, and the world we stand united to defend American culture and values" while Insane Clown Posse's fans otherwise known as Juggalos describe their march as an effort to protest the FBI's categorization of their group as a "loosely organized hybrid gang."
So far, it isn't clear how many attendees have flocked to the march for demanding Trump and Ryan's cooperation into determining Russian interference. But it seems as if the group may have been relegated to the sidelines due to the other two marches. The Facebook page for the event showed that a few hundred people were interested in the march but only 73 declared that they would be attending it.
In contrast, the Juggalo march alone presently boasts a thousand Facebook-confirmed attendees while the event page for the "Mother of All Rallies" currently shows 2,000 confirmed "going to" notices.
