Saturday’s March for Trump in Washington, D.C. and concomitant events in states around the country, including in Salem, OR, are being promoted as an effort “to ensure the integrity of this election for the good of the nation.” 

Trump tweeted today he might even show up.

“Heartwarming to see all of the tremendous support out there, especially the organic Rallies that are springing up all over the Country, including a big one on Saturday in D.C. I may even try to stop by and say hello,” he wrote.

 It’s part of the whole denialism movement determined to undermine determinations that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.  

Who’s behind this campaign, which is also seeking donations of $25 – $5000 and up from supporters?

The group organizing and promoting the events is Women for America First. It describes itself as “a not for profit social welfare organization formed under Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations to Women for America First are not tax-deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.” 

Women for America First just registered an a non-profit this year, so it hasn’t filed with the Internal Revenue Service a required annual Form 990 that spells out non-profits’ income, expenditures and officers. That means the organization is pretty opaque at this point. In other words, contributors don’t know where their money is going, who’s making decisions on its distribution and how it is expected to be used. 

The group’s website says:

“There are millions of women who support the America First Agenda and we’re not standing in the shadows anymore! We won’t be pushed around by bullies who tell us who we are “supposed” to like. And we’re not going to keep quiet just because the Washington, D.C. power elites and mainstream media want us to!

One of the reasons we started Women for America First was because liberal feminists and their cohorts have spent BILLIONS of dollars to defeat conservative principles and values. We continue to produce video, ads and social media that support the America First agenda to fight their continuing attacks and lies.”

Research reveals that Women for America First was formed in 2019 by Amy Kremer, a political activist associated with the Tea Party movement since 2009, and her daughter. She is now the group’s Executive Director.  The organization has an Alexandria, VA address, which is the same as political.law, a campaign finance and political law firm providing legal guidance to PACs, campaigns, and political organizations.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Kremer co-founded two political action committees supporting Donald Trump. In 2017, she ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House of Representatives in a special election in Georgia’s 6^th congressional district, which earlier had produced former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Kremer won just 351 of 192,569 votes.

Women for America First opposed Trump’s impeachment and has organized protests against stay-at-home orders implemented in response to Covid-19. In July 2020, the group sought permission from New York City to paint “Engaging, Inspiring and Empowering Women to Make a Difference!” on the street outside Gracie Mansion or in Times Square, citing the “Black Lives Matter” painted in yellow by Trump Tower.

According to Mother Jones, a progressive magazine, a “Stop the Steal” Facebook group promoting the Nov. 14 March for Trump, appeared to be linked to Women for America First. Facebook displayed a header on the “Stop the Steal” Facebook page showing that it was created by the “Women for America First” Facebook page. 

The Stop the Steal domain was registered to a firm that works on Republican projects. The Facebook page prompted new users to its page to navigate to a website off of Facebook to sign up for email updates.  That website, StolenElection.us, is registered to the Liberty Lab, a firm that offers digital services to conservative clients.

On Thursday, Nov. 12, Facebook shut down the page, which had more than 348,000 members, on the grounds that it was spreading misinformation about voter fraud. 

Then, in a Nov. 13 interview on OAN, the  conservative One America News Network, Kremer said “MailChimp (an email marketing service) went in and disabled our account for Women for America First that we’ve had for years and they won’t allow us access to the data.”

It’s hard to tell precisely what’s motivating the protesters. Perhaps, as author Charles Baxter has written, they are simply “tired of realism and its wanton monotony” and embracing Trump’s cause jolts their lives.

Despite reputable news organizations disputing allegations by Trump supporters that the presidential election was manipulated against him, his refusal to concede is likely to continue spurring protests unless the Republican Party challenges him and declares his claims baseless.

Don’t hold your breath.