A pre-planned gathering of thousands of Christians on the National Mall could run headlong into angry protesters opposing President Trump’s Supreme Court appointment on Saturday night.
Mr. Trump is expected to make his Supreme Court pick public around 5 p.m. on Saturday. Evangelical Christians will simultaneously be gathering for “The Return,” a day of prayer and repentance for people and the country, and plan to hold worship services from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Anti-Trump protesters opposing Mr. Trump’s decision to fill the high court’s vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are also expected to turn out in full force. In recent days, protesters jeered Mr. Trump as he paid his respects to Justice Ginsburg’s flag-draped casket at the Supreme Court and swarmed the home of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Organizers of Saturday’s evangelical Christian gathering list featured guests during the day’s events as including Vice President Mike Pence, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, and Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, among many others.
“’The Return’ is set for 40 days before the presidential election, and on the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower, in the days of America’s founding and dedication to God,” said organizers of The Return in a statement on Friday. “Surrounding the ’The Day of Return’ on Sept. 26 at the Washington Mall will be 10 days, known from ancient times as the Days of Awe, to be set as a special time of prayer and repentance from Sept. 18-28.”
Anti-Trump protesters, meanwhile, have geared up to oppose Mr. Trump’s Saturday night decision. Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden’s campaign held a “national training on resilience” with failed 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Alexis McGill Johnson on Thursday evening to discuss best strategies to resist Mr. Trump.
Planned Parenthood is preparing to oppose Mr. Trump’s yet-to-be named nominee over what they describe as the unknown nominee’s hostility toward abortion rights.
“While there has been endless speculation on who Trump will name as his Supreme Court nominee on Saturday, we know one thing for certain: the nominee, no matter who she is, will be selected because Trump expects her to be a deciding vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and gut access to safe, legal abortion across the country,” said Planned Parenthood in a statement on Friday. “How do we know this? Because everyone from Trump, to Mitch McConnell, to leading anti-abortion organizations have told us.”
Precisely how many Christians and protesters plan to gather in D.C. on Saturday night is difficult to determine. Organizers for The Return have said it will draw tens of thousands of people in-person and online.
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