Michael Moore just won’t let it go.
The filmmaker who last made news when he pushed for a national campaign to overturn the Electoral College vote (and failed), is now calling for large protests at Donald Trump’s inauguration and “100 days of protest” during the president-elect’s first 100 days in office.
Speaking on MSNBC’s Last Word, Moore said that “Trump gets upset if there’s 10 people outside Trump Tower…. What’s he going to think if there’s 100,000 or 500,000 (at inauguration). It’s important that everybody go there. This will have an effect. We have to throw everything at this. This man is slightly unhinged, if I can say that, and he’s a malignant narcissist. He’s going to be very upset if there’s a lot of people there.”
Moore added that he is going to be “busy busy busy” fighting Trump and leading “100 days of resistance” against the president-elect.
Moore said he would be in D.C. there for the women’s march, which is expected to be the largest demonstration around Trump’s inauguration. The march will start at Independence Avenue and Third Street NW in front of the U.S. Capitol. He described the march as a way to send a “bold message” to the Trump administration that “women’s rights are human rights.” Numerous other groups have planned protests at the inauguration and following the event.
Moore is not the only one calling for protests on inauguration day. According to Reuters, anarchist groups have threatened to shut down Trump’s swearing-in as U.S. president as dozens of activist groups plan to protest the Jan. 20 inauguration of the New York real estate developer. Police expect some 900,000 people to flood Washington for the inauguration ceremony, which includes a parade from the U.S. Capitol to the White House along streets thronged with onlookers.
Many of the nearly 1 million onlookers will not be celebrating Trump’s presidency: interim Police Chief Peter Newsham told reporters on Friday that in addition to the more than two dozen activist groups that have sought permits for peaceful demonstrations, Washington police were aware of anarchist groups vowing online to interrupt the proceedings.
“The fact that you have some folks that are indicating on social media that they’re coming to shut down the inauguration events is something that we will be prepared for,” Newsham said. “We’ve experienced that type of thing before in the city and we’ll be able to handle it.” Asked about the prospect of mass arrests, Newsham said: “That’s one of the things that we have to prepare for, but we don’t anticipate that will be the case.”
Protests are planned before, during and after the inauguration, with the biggest event the Women’s March on Washington on Jan. 21. The National Park Service said Thursday it would start issuing permits for protest sites after civil rights lawyers threatened to sue, saying the agency was quashing dissent.
Meanwhile, in preparation for protests and/or violence, the head of the Secret Service’s District field office, Brian Ebert, said that about 3,000 police officers from outside the District, 5,000 National Guard troops and federal agents will staff buffer crowd-control barriers and bag checks. Additionally, barriers will be in place to prevent any possible truck attack, such as the attacks in Berlin last month and in Nice, France, in July.
And in what may be a new inaugural twist, a pro-pot lobbying group has vowed to distribute 4,200 joints and light up near the inaugural site to show support for legalization of marijuana nationwide. Marijuana is legal in the District of Columbia but can only be consumed in private. Asked if police would bust smokers, Mayor Muriel Bowser said, “That wouldn’t be our first priority.”
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