Crowds gather to protest President Joe Biden’s Idaho visit

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — More than 1,000 protesters gathered in Boise, Idaho, on Monday morning during a visit by President Joe Biden to express their displeasure about his coronavirus plan, the election and other issues.

Biden came to Boise as part of a swing through three Western states to promote his administration’s use of a wartime law to aid in wildfire preparedness, survey wildfire damage and push his economic agenda. He arrived at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise late Monday morning to meet with fire officials and Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican.

Lisa Mitchell, 65, of Middleton, Idaho, said she was protesting because she doesn’t believe the 2020 election was valid.

“I’m here to support Trump and stand for freedom,” said Mitchell, who was wearing a “Trump won 2020” sticker. “He is in there illegally.”

Though some of former President Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters believe his continued claims that the presidential election was stolen, there is no evidence of widespread fraud and Republican and Democratic election officials certified the election as valid. Courts have also repeatedly rejected lawsuits claiming the election was tainted.

About a half-dozen Boise police officers were stationed at the entrance to the National Interagency Fire Center, with other law enforcement officers patrolling the area on motorcycle. The National Interagency Fire Center is generally closed to the public and the protesters were gathered outside the NIFC complex entrance.

Many of the protesters carried expletive-laden signs or waved U.S. flags hung upside down as a signal of distress.

Biden also planned stops in Sacramento, California, and Denver during the two-day trip.

The administration activated the Defense Production Act last month to boost supplies from a U.S. Forest Service firefighting equipment supplier. Wildfire activity has been growing increasingly extreme across the West. Scientists say climate change has made the region much warmer and drier in recent decades and that it will continue to make wildfires and weather more extreme and destructive.

Chris Burns, a 62-year-old from Boise, said he attended the protest because, “I’m against everything Biden is for.”

Burns was especially displeased with the president’s sweeping new vaccine mandates for 100 million Americans announced on Thursday. The vaccine requirement says that all employers with more than 100 workers must require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly. Workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid will also have to be fully vaccinated, as well as employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government.

“He’s acting like a dictator,” Burns said.

Idaho has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the United States and the state’s health care system is in danger of buckling as the delta variant sends COVID-19 case numbers skyrocketing. One in every 210 Idaho…