1,500 call for Trump’s impeachment at Colorado Capitol rally

On the eve of a U.S. House of Representatives vote to impeach Donald Trump, a crowd that Colorado State Patrol pegged as high as 1,500 deep flooded the area in front of the State Capitol Building in Denver to rally in support of the president’s ouster.

They waved signs and chanted — “Lock him up!” and “(Cory) Gardner must go!” and “Impeach and remove!” — as a diverse set of speakers called for accountability for Trump, and for sustained outrage from voters.

There were persistent audio issues during the rally, which speaker Tay Anderson, a new school board member in Denver, made the best of when he joked, “it’s Russia” undermining the speaker system, to big crowd laughs.

Anti-Russian sentiment was consistent throughout the rally, as the older, predominantly white crowd railed in unison about “Putin’s puppet” and “Moscow Mitch,” and chanted to send Trump “back to Russia.”

“Nobody is above the law, including the president,” Anderson told the crowd, before regaling them with his impeachment-themed cover of “Let it Snow.”

“Treason is the reason for the season,” Denver organizer Justine Sandoval said from the stage. “Keep resisting and together we are going to fight back against this corruption!”

Because of the audio issues, only those closest  to the stage could hear well what the speakers were saying, so for much of the event rally-goers chatted on the fringes.

One man wearing a Vladimir Putin mask and carrying an inflatable Trump doll walked through the crowd saying, “My little puppet! My little puppet!”

After the speakers wrapped, a funk band called Krewe de Groove laid down some instrumentals, and most of the crowd dispersed after a few minutes of rhythmic anti-Trump chanting.

“Orange is the new impeach,” one man remarked to his friend on the way out.