Biden Win Draws Protesters, And A Few Supporters, To Tennessee State Capitol

With chants of “four more years” and “Fox News sucks,” hundreds of President Trump’s most devoted supporters gathered at the Tennessee capitol on Saturday afternoon.

They prayed for the president’s legal challenges to the election, shortly after it was called for former Vice President Joe Biden by multiple media outlets, including Fox News.

“I do not believe in Fox News anymore,” says Carolyn Harper of Tullahoma, who waved a Trump flag while wearing a “Stop the Steal” shirt she made. “I will accept the outcome of the election when all the states that are up in the air right now … when they do their recount.”

Carolyn Harper of Tullahoma says she won’t accept the outcome going for Biden until all contested states do a recount. pic.twitter.com/jiBM3yhwoZ

— Blake Farmer (@flakebarmer) November 7, 2020

Supporters in Tennessee are repeating Trump’s claims of election fraud, despite the lack of evidence. They say it’s far too soon to say the election is over.

But when the challenges are done, some say Trump will have to accept the loss and leave the White House for the good of the country.

“I have no idea what’s in his head, but for me personally, I think that would be the right thing to do if he doesn’t win,” says Sandy Davis of Thompson Station. “But I think it would be wrong for him to concede if we have all these issues out there.”

Some Biden supporters were out looking for a celebration at the state capitol but didn’t find much of one. Muriel Dinella of Nashville figured the capitol might be the place to find like-minded voters who backed Biden.

“I’m not a huge Biden fan. I wanted someone more progressive,” she says. “While he’s not my ideal pick, he’s better than Donald Trump, and it’s going to move in the direction that I want things to go in and is more beneficial, not just for me but for people in this country who are afraid and facing a lot of oppression and bigotry right now.”

Even some Trump supporters are sounding a more united tone than they’re hearing from the White House.

While backers hold out hope for a recount, Andrew Eastin of Columbia says he will support whoever wins.

“If we’re all on an airplane and I don’t like the pilot, I’m not going to throw him out the door,” Eastin says. “Whoever it is, that’s a very respected office of being the most powerful person in the world. If we don’t respect that, we’ve lost what this country was based off of.”