Organizers of a pro-Trump, anti-vaccine religious rally in Utah saw just a small fraction of their expected 10,000 people show up on Friday, the event’s first day, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
Although organizers of the Western Conservative Action Network, or WeCANact event, hoped to sell 10,000 tickets, less than 1,000 people showed up on the first day.
From The Salt Lake Tribune:
The headline speaker was former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired just a few weeks after being appointed to the position by former President Donald Trump. Flynn was a central figure in the postelection efforts to overturn the 2020 vote, suggesting that Trump impose martial law in several states to force a revote. More recently Flynn suggested a coup should take place in the U.S.
Speakers at the rally slammed Covid-mitigation efforts, such as mask and vaccine mandates. One speaker, right-wing commentator Doug Billings, said that “masks are the new swastikas.”
“You wear a mask to signal you’ll give into fear,” he said.
Other speakers pushed unproven Covid cures.
There was also more than one reference to the QAnon conspiracy theory, according to the Tribune’s report. The rally’s opening prayer asked for God’s protection from a “Satanic cabal.” The opening prayer also referred to rally attendees and speakers as part of “the great awakening,” which a known QAnon refrain.
Also among the speakers were retired Army Lt. Gen. and former Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne.
