Protesters unfurl anti-Trump banner at Washington Nationals opener
A 4-2 victory wasn’t the only spectacle that the audience at the Washington Nationals’ season opener were treated to on Monday.
A huge banner styled like the Russian flag and reading “Impeach Trump #Resist” was unfurled by protestors from an observation deck just before the end of the game.
Jason Charter, a member of Americans Take Action—a self-declared populist group—tweeted that the group was responsible for the display and explained it to ABC7 news.
“Americans Take Action believes that Donald Trump is a traitor to our country and needs to be impeached,” Charter said. “His relationship with Russia needs to be investigated by a special committee.”
The group is also responsible for pranking the Conservative Political Action Conference last month, where they handed out small Russian flags bearing President Trump’s name to participants.
Charter told BuzzFeed that they revealed the banner as the crowds were getting ready to leave the stadium so that they could make their exit quickly to avoid potential arrests.
It’s been a tradition for over a century that presidents throw the first pitch at the Nationals’ opening day game, which is why the group convened there, Charter explained. They had planned to unfurl the banner when Mr. Trump made the pitch, but the president had to cancel due to a scheduling conflict, according to White House officials.
That didn’t stop the message from catching on. Photos of the banner with hashtags like “#ImpeachTrump”, “#resist”, and “#TheResistance” quickly took off on social media.