Trump protests tame in Ocala, across Florida on Inauguration Day 

Robert Kohler of Ocala waves a President Donald Trump flag for passing motorists as the Trump Club of Marion County holds a Donald Trump rally on the Ocala downtown square on Wednesday. A small handful of Trump supporters gathered for the peaceful Trump rally. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette]

Robert Kohler of Ocala waves a President Donald Trump flag for passing motorists as the Trump Club of Marion County holds a Donald Trump rally on the Ocala downtown square on Wednesday. A small handful of Trump supporters gathered for the peaceful Trump rally. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette]

In Ocala, a Trump “thank you” rally was held on the downtown square on Wednesday. About a dozen people with the Trump Club of Marion County showed up. There were no incidents.  

On Saturday, the Marion County chapter of Trump Team 2020 Florida held a “thank you” caravan. They drove from Ocala to On Top of the World.  

In Tallahassee, with law-enforcement officers visible atop the Florida Capitol and the nearby Leon County Courthouse, the handful of Trump backers continued to claim election fraud in the 2020 election as motorists occasionally honked in agreement or shouted disparaging remarks.  

“We just feel there were a lot of improprieties during the election. We just don’t feel like our votes were heard,” said Earl Austin, who drove from Jacksonville with his wife, Suzanne, to hold signs outside the Capitol. “We just feel like, right now, we know it’s over probably, but it’s so these things do not occur ever again.”  

Despite the claims, no widespread election irregularities have come to light.   

Nearby a woman, clad in a red “MAGA” cap and a face mask featuring the word “Trump,” declined to discuss what drew her to the state Capitol, while she held a couple of signs, one stating: “Thank You President Trump! The World needed you.”  

Members of the media dominated the scene along Monroe Street.  

On Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis activated the Florida National Guard to assist state and local law enforcement following an FBI warning of potential violent protests in state capitals in the wake of the Jan. 6 attempted pro-Trump insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.