Small group protests against Biden as Air Force One touches down at Sacramento airport
A contingent of a few dozen Trump supporters gathered Monday outside the fences of Mather Airport, jeering President Joe Biden and repeating false claims about the 2020 election during his first visit to California as president.
About 30 people — some of them children, most of them clad in red, white and blue — hung Trump flags, “Recall Newsom” banners and several other signs facing the tarmac on the northern side of the Sacramento-area airport, a former Air Force Base.
Much of the chatter among protesters centered around the false claim that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election. Linda Martinez-Hanna, an activist from El Dorado Hills, shouted, “Get out of our president’s plane,” then called Biden a “fake president,” as Air Force One touched down just after 2 p.m.
Demonstrators also expressed anger at Biden for his administration’s handling of the military withdrawal from Afghanistan last month. One of the signs read, “Biden lied, 13 died,” referring to the 13 U.S. service members killed in an Aug. 26 suicide bombing in Kabul, including Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, a 23-year-old Roseville native.
Others shared outrage about COVID-19 policies, including vaccination mandates. Biden last Thursday announced sweeping new mandates, including one which would require all employers with more than 100 employees to require proof of vaccination or weekly tests for workers. California Democrats are reportedly considering even stricter mandates.
“No mask, no vaccine and no ventilator for me,” said Martinez-Hanna, who said she has already had the coronavirus.
The group spent more than an hour assembled near the airport fence, while Biden was briefed on California wildfires at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services headquarters about a mile away.
Biden earlier in the day visited the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, where a much larger, louder crowd of protesters gathered.
This story was originally published September 13, 2021 at 4:35 PM.
