Street Scenes From Trump’s Arraignment

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/08/opinion/street-scenes-from-trumps-arraignment.html

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On Monday morning, I grabbed my camera and headed to Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan, where former President Donald Trump was expected to arrive in the afternoon, in advance of his arraignment the following day.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was hoping to capture the scene on the street and to get a sense of how New Yorkers were responding to the moment.

When I arrived, the streets around the building were cordoned off. A crowd had gathered, but the mood was fairly subdued.

I spent hours walking up and down the same few blocks, navigating around lines of reporters, spectators and fences, and taking pictures of the people I passed. Around me, kids snapped photos with their phones and passers-by stopped to take in the activity.

There was a buzz of anticipation in the air, as though everyone was waiting for something to happen, but nothing ever really did. When Mr. Trump finally arrived, people barely even seemed to notice. There was no crescendo, no roars of applause or anger from the crowd.

The scene outside the New York City criminal courthouse the following morning was considerably more intense. A fence running through the center of Collect Pond Park served to split the crowd into two distinct camps — with Trump protesters on one side and Trump supporters on the other.

Many people wore T-shirts proudly emblazoned with political slogans. Some carried signs or flags. On one side of the fence, a group of people chanted “Two genders!” while, across the aisle, another group responded with “Lock him up!”

Some were evidently celebrating the occasion — blatantly smoking weed and drinking.

Journalists and camera crews swarmed about the plaza, and the whole thing felt more like a circus than a protest.

I took hundreds of photographs, most of them of everyday New Yorkers — teenagers, college students, people on their way to or from work — who’d come to take part in the spectacle.

As the afternoon wore on, the crowd began to thin until, eventually, the city settled back into its usual rhythm.

Jason Nocito is a visual artist based in New York. His current book project, “Heavy Metal (EMOtionally),” is produced monthly out of his studio on Canal Street.

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