Some are still active within GOP politics. Rory Cooper picked up numerous roles within the Bush administration. Garry Malphrus became associate director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. Matt Schlapp went on to serve as White House political director under Bush. A number of participants were rewarded with jobs at the top levels of Republican politics. The Republicans, many of whom had been flown to Florida from Washington, had succeeded. The Miami-Dade county canvassing board shut down its hand recount of presidential election ballots, with at least one of the boardвЂ™s three members attributing his decision to stop to the Brooks Brothers riots, the New York Times reported. вЂњThese were brownshirt tactics,вЂќ the Miami-Dade Democratic chairman, Joe Geller, told Time magazine in the days following the riot. The mostly white, mostly male protesters punched and kicked those in their way, including some Democrats, as they fought to stop the recount in Miami-Dade. The вЂњBrooks BrothersвЂќ moniker for the 2000 agitators came from the sober clothing chain that has clad US presidents. вЂњYou can imagine them showing up at election sites or where votes are being counted in election districts in contested states in Michigan, or Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida or wherever else.вЂќ

вЂњThen after that many more of these vigilante far right groups, who are declaring themselves as pro-Trump groups, come out to confront and sometimes menace Black Lives Matter protesters and in a couple of cases kill them,вЂќ Lowndes said. вЂњYouвЂ™ve got thousands of armed vigilantes on the streets this summer, first around these reopen demands at state capitols.вЂќ Trump has encouraged supporters to go to voting places to act as вЂњpoll watchersвЂќ, and on Sunday a group of Trump supporters intimidated early voters at a polling location in Fairfax, Virginia. Trump supporters have been fed a вЂњsteady dietвЂќ of misinformation that the election is likely to be stolen by Democrats, Lowndes said. This puts us on entirely different grounds.вЂќ

вЂњIn terms of party polarizations, in terms of the Republican shift to the far right and in terms of the Republican partyвЂ™s open relationship with and courting of far-right groups. вЂњEverything is far more amplified or exaggerated than it was 20 years ago,вЂќ said Joe Lowndes, professor of political science at the University of Oregon and co-author of Producers, Parasites, Patriots, a book about the changing role of race in rightwing politics. In 2020, fears are growing that the US could see an unwanted sequel to the Brooks Brothers debacle вЂ“ but with more violent participants.ДЄfter a year in which armed Donald Trump supporters have besieged state houses across the country and shot and killed Black Lives Matter protesters вЂ“ and in which Trump has said he will only lose if the election is rigged вЂ“ a 2020 reboot of the Brooks Brothers stunt could be dangerous. What became known as the Brooks Brothers riot went down in infamy, and George W Bush became president after a supreme court decision. A recount of ballots in Florida was abandoned. The protesters, many of whom were paid Republican operatives, succeeded. Shouting, jostling, and punching, they demanded that a recount of ballots for the presidential election be stopped. I n late November 2000, hundreds of mostly middle-aged male protesters, dressed in off-the-peg suits and cautious ties, descended on the Miami-Dade polling headquarters in Florida.

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