A leftist group is planning to “bring Washington DC to a standstill if Trump refuses to concede,” NATIONAL FILE has learned.
Shut Down DC, founded in 2019, states that “forcing Trump from office is the only way to protect ourselves and the people we love from Trump’s wrath, so we will act with the urgency that the situation requires” including with “disruptive direct action, mass mobilization, coordinated non-compliance, mutual aid, and other forms of civil resistance.” The group is led by Patrick Young, who is reportedly senior research analyst at International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Leftist groups Code Pink, Black Lives Matter DC and Democratic Socialists of America are listed by Influence Watch as supporting organizations for Shut Down DC. NATIONAL FILE received a tip on Young’s activities from citizen journalist Nate Linderman.
Here is some propaganda from Shut Down DC’s website explaining their plans for post-Election Day chaos:
“There is virtually no chance that the 2020 election will be decided on November 3rd or anywhere shortly thereafter…
And large numbers of votes will not have been counted on Election Day. In the 2020 election cycle, a record number of voters are expected to vote by mail because of the COVID-19 virus. In many states it will take days or even weeks for those votes to be counted. In fact, thirteen states and the District of Columbia accept mail-in ballots after Election Day if they are properly postmarked…
On January 6th, 2021 the newly-elected 117th Congress will meet to open the state Electoral College vote counts and certify the results of the 2020 Presidential Election. If one or more states sends two separate vote counts, the Congress will need to decide which vote count to accept (or to reject them both). If one candidate wins a majority of the votes from the electoral college (currently 270) that candidate becomes the next President of the United States.
If neither candidate reaches 270 votes, the House of Representatives chooses the next President and the Senate choses the next Vice President. Importantly, the House votes on a one-state one-vote basis, so the vote of the one member of the House of Representatives from Montana has the same weight as the entire House delegation from California. Although Democrats have firm majority of the House of Representatives, there are currently 26 states with Republican majorities in their House delegations and 23 states with Democratic majorities in their House delegations. But this vote will be taken by the newly elected 117th Congress, not the current 116th Congress, so if Democrats pick up seats in a handful of key states that balance could easily shift…
The election this November is likely to be more contentious and chaotic than any election the US has seen in recent memory. While the actual vote count is obviously a critical factor that will determine the outcome, more than ever, the very political questions of how and when the votes are counted and who decides when the results should be certified will likely be just as impactful.
In 2000 Democrats told their base to stay home while the lawyers figured things out in the back room. Republicans sent their staffers to Florida to riot and stop the vote counting.
Donald Trump is already working hard to sow chaos, suppress voter turnout, and call the results of the election into question. This time around we can’t afford to wait for the lawyers to work things out. Instead, those of us who are committed to seeing Donald Trump removed from office should start organizing now to fight back against the Trump administration’s systematic efforts at voter suppression, hit the streets in key states where election outcomes are likely to be contested, and be ready to take bold direct action to bring Washington, DC to a standstill if Trump refuses to concede…
But we also recognize that forcing Trump from office is the only way to protect ourselves and the people we love from Trump’s wrath, so we will act with the urgency that the situation requires…
While we respect everyone’s right to defend themselves and the people they love, we recognize that the police and military forces that may be mobilized to prop up the Trump regime have a far greater capacity for violence than we could ever imagine.
Without making value judgments about the tactical approaches other people and organizations may choose to embrace, we plan to use the tools and tactical approaches that we have the capacity and expertise to implement, including disruptive direct action, mass mobilization, coordinated non-compliance, mutual aid, and other forms of civil resistance…
Shut Down DC website passages end
Shut Down DC, which was founded in summer 2019 to agitate on climate change-related matters, has previously blocked traffic in Washington, D.C.
Patrick Young was identified by NBC 4 as a representative of the group “Shut Down DC” when Young led a protest outside the Postmaster General’s house in Washington, D.C. in August 2020 in a bid to expand vote-by-mail in the 2020 election, using the pretext of Coronavirus.
