Media show without arrest
Trump calls and hardly anyone comes
By Christopher Wittich, New York
3/22/2023 7:32 am
Ex-President Trump himself is spreading the rumor that he will be arrested on Tuesday. He calls on his followers to protest. Come – are the media. However, he was not arrested.
Robert Smith is American but has lived in Germany for years. He is currently visiting his son in New York. “I like coming to America – but only as a guest,” says the 66-year-old. He admits it’s a sentence that hurts, but there are so many crazy developments in this country. Astonished, the former employee of a construction company stated on this Tuesday afternoon: “I would have thought that more demonstrators would come today.”
But some have come. They wear flags around their bodies that say Trump in capital letters. One is wrapped in fur, his face painted in the US colors of blue, red and white, and a hat with horns on his head. The man does laps in front of the courthouse on a penny-farthing. He shouts slogans like: “We are ready to take America back. Are you ready to fight for it?” His make-up is becoming increasingly smudged as he sweats in the sun while he willingly gives an interview to anyone who even remotely points a microphone or cellphone in his direction.
Only a few Trump supporters came, but they committed themselves unconditionally to the ex-president. Since the storming of the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021, everyone knows what the Make America Great Again crowd can be up for. If there are many, they heat each other up and sometimes go to extremes. Washington was preparing for it this Tuesday, as was New York City. Whenever new protesters appear in front of the Manhattan courthouse, police officers hastily set up new barriers.
Will Trump be arrested on Wednesday?
So far, Trump’s call has not been able to mobilize the masses – except: on the part of the media. Collect Pond Park in New York is packed with OB vans, cameras, reporters and photographers. Everyone pounces on the shrill figures that pass by that day. But journalists are also divided in their reporting and ask themselves: should these people be given the platform? Who do they speak for? If they yell “Fuck Biden” and then laugh at themselves, what is that? Silly acting? Offensive rabble?
With his call for protests, Trump received media attention that he hadn’t had for a long time. And only because he himself claimed that he would be arrested on Tuesday. In fact, that day – nothing happened. Only in the afternoon did new rumors surface that it could be this Wednesday when the jury will reach a verdict on an indictment. Before that, they wanted to hear a witness – who that should be remains unclear.
Trump would appear in court next week at the earliest, according to some. The New York Times quotes friends and acquaintances who spoke to Trump behind closed doors. It was about the so-called “perp walk”: a practice by US law enforcement agencies, particularly in New York City, in which the accused are publicly led past reporters and photographers into the courthouse. The term “perp” stands as
Abbreviation for perpetrator (“criminal”).
A media-effective spectacle that Trump would like to have, but may not get. The Secret Service, which is still protecting the ex-president, is probably currently consulting with the New York police on how to ensure safe arrival and departure – without a media show.
During a recent campaign appearance in Iowa in mid-March, he said: “2024 is the final battle”. It’s reassuring to see that Truth Social’s crude call to “take back your country” isn’t enough to add a chapter to the battle in the blink of an eye.