Donald Trump supporters today gathered outside his Manhattan tower vowing to continue backing the former president despite rumors he could be arrested Tuesday.
As the die-hard fans, mainly New Yorkers, stood in the sun waving flags and voicing support, small clashes erupted outside Trump Tower with other locals who want to see him indicted.
Trump faces criminal charges for $130,000 in payments his former lawyer sent to porn star Stormy Daniels toward the end of his 2016 campaign.
Prosecutors say the payment violated campaign finance laws, and was made to silence Daniels about an affair with the business titan.
On Sunday, Trump claimed that he would be arrested on the 21st and issued a rallying cry for his supporters to ‘Protest, protest, protest!’
A group of Trump loyalists gathered outside of Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan on Monday afternoon on the eve of the former president’s rumored indictment
Jeffrey Shinko (right), 64, and Tina Dudson (left), 62, clashed on the issue of whether Donald Trump should be arrested for alleged payments to porn star Stormy Daniels
Dion Cini, 54, founder of TrumpSwag.com, stood outside Trump Tower on Monday afternoon. He is pictured here eating what he described as a ‘Trump burger’
Dion Cini, 54, is the founder of TrumpSwag.com, a company that manufactures MAGA political swag.
Cini, a native of New York, said he thought the indictment of Trump was wrong but expected the move would only boost his ratings, referring to a ‘Trump bump’.
‘The good news is it’s a win win, no matter what happens tomorrow,’ said Dion. ‘I call it the Trump bump. No matter what happens tomorrow, there’s a 10-15 point bump in Trump’s ratings.’
‘If they if they arrest him, he gets a Trump bump. If they don’t arrest him, he gets a Trump bump’ he said.
Dion criticized the Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who is rumored to have orchestrated the indictment and who said on Saturday that his office would not be intimidated by Trump’s rhetoric.
‘The DA should be arresting criminals,’ said Dion. ‘Even subway, jumping the subway, that’s where the law in New York should start, and they’re trying to use Trump as a case for hush money.’
‘Hush money is legal. It’s severance pay,’ he said. ‘They won’t use the word bribery because they know hush money is legal,’ he said.
Cini also commented on the small turnout of protestors on the eve of the rumored indictment.
‘Today, it just another day. We get more cameras today, that’s it. The media scared the shit out of a lot of people that normally come here because they were told there’s gonna be a riot,’ he said.
Stephanie Lu, a 59-year-old Chinese-American woman, said she thought Trump’s arrest would either end in a landside victory for the former president in 2024, or civil war. ‘If there’s a civil war I am fighting. I will fight with my life,’ she said
Lu, who immigrated to New York from China more than 20 years ago, claimed Trump’ attitude towards on crime and immigration resonated with her
There was a small police presence, and steel barriers had been laid out, but it was a largely peaceful scene on Fifth Avenue outside Trump Tower
Also present was Stephanie Lu, a 59-year-old Chinese-American woman who moved to New York City more than 20 years ago.
She said she was in front of Trump Tower because Trump’s values align with Chinese Americans. She didn’t vote for him in 2016 but once he became president she came to realize she likes what he stands for.
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‘We value hard work, law abiding, the conservative value is what Chinese Americans treasure, we have the same conservative values,’ she said.
She also spoke ill of the Manhattan DA, who she said wasn’t doing a good job of fighting what she called real crime in the city.
‘This district attorney didn’t do nothing to those criminals. The real criminals,’ Lu said.
Her prediction was that if Trump is arrested it will result in either a landslide victory or a civil war.
‘If there’s a civil war I am fighting. I will fight with my life. And the Democrats, they should wake up. We are fighting for them too. They’re the next generation. If they become communist serfs their children will suffer. We are fighting for them, especially white people,’ said Lu.
‘If Chinese CCP take over America, they’re going to suffer. We came from there. We know how evil they are,’ she added.
Jeffrey Shinko, 64, says he grew up in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. When challenged by a woman with a college degree who wanted to see Trump arrested, he told her: ‘Street smart and common sense goes farther than book smart’
A Trump supporter outside Trump Tower on March 20 waves a banner reading: ‘Trump 24 or before’
As the Trump loyalists stood outside the building a woman, Tina Dudson, 62, walked past them on Fifth Avenue and told them they they had no place in New York City. ‘I am woke!’ she shouted at them.
‘This is New York. This is not Trump town,’ she told the Trump fans. Dudson said she thought Trump should be arrested and was looking forward to it.
‘He deserves it. He’s a crook,’ she said. ‘If he did something wrong, I think he should be arrested, but I’m on the fence about making a big deal about because this is what you get.’
But 64-year-old Jeffrey Shinko, who grew up in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, quipped back when she told him of her college education.
‘This woman talking about four years of college, “I know it all”. You know if you’re a New Yorker, street smart and common sense goes further than book smart. Believe me. I’m in my 60s right now,’ said Shinko.
He later said whether or not Trump is arrested doesn’t matter too much to him.
‘I really don’t want to see him arrested but I don’t really care because I know it’s not gonna hurt him at all,’ he said.
‘I’m 63-years-old now. I never voted at all in my life. This was the very first guy I ever voted for because when I was younger my father said politicians are nothing but liars and crooks,’ he said. ‘This guy wasn’t a politician. He was the very first guy ever voted for, and I made the right decision.’
Kalman Brudo, a 66-year-old from Brooklyn, said that if Trump is arrested it could work in his favor
Kalman Brudo, a 66-year-old from Brooklyn, also said getting arrested could work in his favor.
‘We’re in New York City, New York City is the belly of the beast of the liberal, but I think it’s going to help Trump tremendously because people are going to see its a scam,’ Brudo said.
‘I don’t want to see him arrested but if he is arrested, I think it’s gonna work for him. They just want to do a perp walk. They want him humiliated. They want to take that picture,’ he said.
‘I used to be a left. The leftists know to speak. We’re with the program. We’re smart. The right, except for exceptions are like idiots. They don’t know how to respond.’
