BILLINGS — A crowd of people attended two different rallies supporting President Donald Trump in Billings Wednesday, urging Montana's congressional delegation to vote against certifying the 2020 presidential election results.
The rallies dubbed #StopTheSteal were organized by Peggy Miller, a Laurel woman who has been at the head of other pro-Trump rallies in the Billings area since April of last year.
“I’ve always been engaged and involved for over 30 years. This year has even been more of a magnitude with everything that was going on and just wanting to save America. Wanting to have fair integrity elections," Miller said.
Miller is the wife of former state Sen. Ken Miller and also helped organize several events dubbed, Freedom Drive, which comprised of a parade of patriotically decorated cars that snaked through Billings and Laurel several times last year.
In the first rally that began at 10 a.m., about 50 supporters of President Trump gathered in downtown Billings in front of Granite Tower, the location of the Billings office of U.S. Sen. Steve Daines.
"I’m thankful and I just feel so blessed that the people that heard about it could get down here this morning and show their love for the country, the state and just be able to be free to do what we’re doing," Miller said.
Miller had a message for Montana's Republican leadership in congress.
“The message would be that overwhelmingly Trump won in Montana, so you know where that stands. We are encouraging our Congressman Matt Rosendale, our Sen. Steve Daines to continue to take their stand that they’ve sworn to Montana right now that they will oppose the Electoral College vote when it is presented to them," Miller said.
At noon, the crowd moved to Billings West End at the intersection of King Avenue West and 24th Street West. The rally goers stretched for about a block on the sidewalk of King Avenue West from the intersection with 24th Street West to the pull-in to Walmart.
Dale Blom of Laurel was the first in line, holding an American flag and waving to passing cars that were honking their horns.
“I’m just really glad to see this many patriots out there and to hear so much honking and stuff from the people here in Billings. I think it shows their concern too," Blom said.
Blom said he does trust Montana's election results, but not the results in places like Michigan and Wisconsin, which the Trump campaign sued over and lost with judges finding no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
“I think they are being stolen. I’ve been watching that pretty closely. I’ve not had any faith in these voting machines for years and years because you can hack them, you can change things and stuff like that. To me, we’re doing the right thing (in Montana) with written ballots and stuff like that, you can still steal, but it makes it harder," Blom said.
In Washington, D.C., thousands of Trump supportersgathered near the Capitol to protest the election results. The protest later turned into a riot as demonstrators forced their way into the Capitol Building and raised havoc, including damaging the House chambers. The rallies in Billings remained peaceful during the time Q2 was in attendance.
The rallies are happening on the same day Congress votes to certify President-elect Joe Biden's victory.
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