Trump supporters gather on the Arizona Senate lawn and watch the president speak in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. /Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy/ Arizona Mirror
By Madeline Ackley | Arizona Mirror
Two separate gatherings of Trump supporters at the Arizona Capitol showcased divergent views on the violence that gripped the nation’s capital on Wednesday when the president incited a mob to descend on the U.S. Capitol, where they stormed the building to stop Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s win in the November election.
In all, the roughly 1,000 mostly peaceful Trump supporters — many carrying firearms — gathered on Arizona’s Capitol Mall as Congress gathered to certify the electoral college votes. But while the few elected officials who addressed the crowd called for unity in responding to Biden’s win, many in the crowd rejected those ideas.
Stacy Gentile, who worked on Daniel McCarthy’s failed campaign for U.S. Senate, lambasted the mainstream “GOP dirtbags,” accusing them of sabotaging Trump. He labeled Vice President Mike Pence a “deep-state operative” for not using his ceremonial role presiding over the counting of the electoral college votes to overturn the election result and grant Trump a second term in office.
