Police, reporters, but few New Yorkers to welcome Trump
They were only a handful to have made the trip to attend the arrival, Monday, of former President Donald Trump, at the Trump Tower, surrounded by police and journalists.
Published
A person dressed as Donald Trump poses in front of Trump Tower in New York on April 3, 2023.
AFP
“Trump or death,” said a banner displayed on the sidewalk facing the tower of the former head of state, in the middle of about twenty of his supporters. Donald Trump is expected in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday for his formal indictment.
“I’m here to support Donald Trump, the former and future president of the United States,” said Vito Dichiara, a 71-year-old retiree who presents himself as a former Fox News cameraman. Around, some wore the now famous red cap that has become emblematic of candidate Trump in the campaign.
“Let’s Go Brandon,” said another banner, a reference to the coded anti-Biden slogan, which became popular in the fall of 2021. “Chinese-Americans for Trump,” read another.
Most of those supporters didn’t even see their hero enter Trump Tower through the entrance to the “45” restaurant, located on 56th Street, set back from Fifth Avenue, a little after 8:00 p.m. GMT (22 h 00 in Switzerland).
At the time of the arrival of the owner of the premises, who waved his hand as he got out of his vehicle, access to the building as well as to the sidewalk had been prohibited by the police, present by the dozens in the neighborhood.
A few minutes earlier, learning that the resident of Mar-a-Lago was about to reach Midtown, midtown Manhattan, the small crowd of Trumpists had gotten a little louder, intoning “We Love Trump! We Love Trump!” But even raising their voices, this handful of mostly middle-aged supporters were easily drowned out by the din of the street, amid the incessant ballet of buses, cars, and two helicopters hovering overhead. of Trump Tower.
“Lock him up”
The scene made passers-by react, amused or upset. “It’s the best show in town,” slipped one of them, who did not want to reveal his identity. “Even Shakespeare can’t do that.”
The opponents who came especially for the occasion were even fewer in number than the pro-Trump, scattered here and there, without forming a real group. “It’s time to go where you know!” (Time To Go You Know Where), said the sign held up by Marni Halasa, dressed in a tight red top, covered with fake 100 dollar bills, and fake devil horns. “Lock him up” and “throw away the key,” said the two signs made by Robert Hoatson, another opponent.
An almost ordinary day near Trump Tower, which has become a magnet for a whole gallery of pro and anti-Trump demonstrators, often colorful, since the billionaire’s election more than six years ago. It will have been memorable, however, for the students of Jennifer Massey, a music teacher from Algoma, Wisconsin.
His young singers, whose arrival had been planned for a year, sang in a hall of the Trump Tower, an event unrelated to the arrival of Donald Trump, whom they will not have crossed. “We come from a small town,” explained the teacher, “so having the opportunity to be part of something of this magnitude is very important for children.”
(AFP)
