The circus Trump wanted outside his trial hasn’t arrived

NEW YORK — Donald Trump was evidently not happy with what he saw out the window of his chauffeured SUV as he rode through lower Manhattan on Monday morning for the beginning of opening arguments in his first criminal trial.

The scene that confronted him as he approached the dingy courthouse at 100 Centre St. was underwhelming. Across the street, at Collect Pond Park, the designated site for protesters during the trial, only a handful of Trump supporters had gathered, and the number would not grow much throughout the morning.

Trump has portrayed his legal jeopardy as a threat to America itself, and he has suggested that the country would not put up with it. But the streets around the courthouse Monday were chaos-free — well-patrolled and relatively quiet. As his motorcade made its way to the courthouse, the few Trump supporters gathered in the park were outnumbered by Trump detractors, who waved signs about his alleged liaison with a porn actor.

Trump had tried to gin up something noisier. Shortly after 7 a.m., he posted on his social media website that “America Loving Protesters should be allowed to protest at the front steps of Courthouses” and he followed this lament with a call for his supporters to “GO OUT AND PEACEFULLY PROTEST. RALLY BEHIND MAGA. SAVE OUR COUNTRY!”

The narrow criminal courthouse steps in lower Manhattan are not routinely open for protest — and particularly not when a former president of the United States is inside, guarded by a phalanx of Secret Service agents who have worked with local officials on security measures.

Asked to comment on Trump’s frustrations about the lack of protest activity, a spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, tried to connect it to District Attorney Alvin Bragg and President Joe Biden, and insisted people were being prevented from being in lower Manhattan because of the barricades.

Later in the morning, Trump sought to cast the poor turnout as more evidence of a plot against him. In a post at 8:50 a.m., he implied that would-be MAGA protesters were being discriminated against for political reasons.

“Unlike at Columbia University where the Radical Left Palestinian Protesters sat on the Front Lawn, practically took over the School, and screamed, ‘Death to the Jews, Death to Israel, Death to America,’ and nothing happened to them, Lower Manhattan surrounding the Courthouse, where I am heading now, is completely CLOSED DOWN,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “SO UNFAIR!!!”

The area was not, in fact, completely closed down. The courthouse has remained open to the public, including spectators who want to attend the trial, pool cameras in the hallway — and even the sidewalk in front of the courthouse has remained open to pedestrian traffic. Twenty minutes later, Trump compared the courthouse to “an armed camp.”

Trump had made no secret of the fact that he wanted a circus to accompany his trial. He had told advisers he wanted as much media as possible to cover his daily jeremiads against the prosecutors and judge who — he claims without evidence — are conspiring against him at the direction of Biden. Trump publicly encouraged protests and several allies, including the New York Young Republican Club, tried to round up a crowd.

The demonstrations have so far been spotty at best.

One typical tableau: Andrew Giuliani, a regular, strutting presence on the periphery of the courthouse, posed for photos Monday inside Collect Pond Park. Grinning and wearing a Trump campaign jacket, he hugged supporters of Trump. From one, Giuliani borrowed a flag with Trump’s face on it that promotes him for president in 2024.

Giuliani, the son of Trump’s indicted former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who is struggling with his own legal costs incurred for representing the former president, was taunted by anti-Trump protesters.

“Two-thousand twenty-four years in prison!” one anti-Trump protester, Ricky Caballero, shouted. “He owes your dad money, why you out here supporting him?”

Caballero, 56, from Brooklyn, wore a tank top with a Puerto Rican flag. He said he remembers watching Trump lob paper towels at survivors of Hurricane Maria in 2017.

“I’m still pissed,” Caballero said.

Caballero’s remark to Giuliani was one of a number of loud exchanges between supporters and detractors of Trump that were noticeably monitored by police. On Friday, there were no police in the park. On Monday, there were six community affairs officers and six regular uniformed officers watching closely for any signs of trouble. Giuliani circulated like a celebrity among Trump’s few supporters and ignored Caballero.

Over the last week, demonstrators visibly identifying as supporting Trump — with red hats or clothing, or banners and flags — have never totaled more than a dozen. On most days, the number of people total in the portion of the park designated for protesters for or against Trump has never been more than two or three dozen. They have included tourists, locals coming to gawk, more than a few supporters of Biden, and proponents of conspiracy theories — including Max Azzarello, the man who, struggling with mental health issues, self-immolated Friday.

One of the women who showed up to support Trump in the last week, Alice Lu, 60, said the lack of company made her sad, but not surprised.

“We feel sorry for America, why are so many people such cowards?” she said. “I know a majority of people support him but they’re scared.”

The small park was closed off after Azzarello set himself on fire, but it was reopened Monday morning, a New York Police Department official confirmed.By lunchtime, Trump was still at it on social media. He suggested New York should send its police officers to protect Jewish students at Columbia University and be more lenient outside the courthouse.

“Republicans want the right to protest in front of the Courthouse, like everyone else!” Trump posted on Truth Social.