No trip to the USA is complete without MAGA fanatics - especially when Trump is found guilty

31 May 2024, 22:39

Magnolias. Cherry collection. Rose court and… criminal court? LBC’s Anousha Gledhill reflects on the scenes outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York, where Trump was convicted.

I peer down at the map of the New York Botanical Garden. It’s gone 5pm - less than an hour until closing and I feel I’ve ticked off most of the sights.

Though one thing I was yet to tick off the bucket list for my holiday across the pond was meeting any crazy Trump supporters.

That was until a Whatsapp message from a colleague popped up on my phone: “Anousha. Are you in New York!?”

I check the news. To the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse it is.

After about an hour’s ride on the subway, I walk up the steps at Canal Street station hoping I’d made it to the right place.

As I get closer, I no longer need to use Google Maps to be sure.

I hear snatches of conversations - a woman on the phone excitedly telling someone on the other end of the line - “Trump has been found guilty on all counts”.

“He was convicted at least, thank god,” a man says.

Turning the corner into the square directly opposite the court building, I see large cameras focused on rows of journalists standing in front of metal barricades that block off some of the road.

Amongst the crowd is a man who looks alarmingly like Donald Trump himself. One of a small handful of people dressed up as the former president - now convicted felon - wearing an orange prisoner-style jumpsuit and equally orange mask with a blonde wig attached.

Unlike the serene quietness of the botanical garden, there was plenty to listen to as well as look at.

I see a gaggle of people holding banners, cheering so loudly it’s difficult to make out their chants.

The sound of victory is not what I’m hoping to find. Not everybody here agrees with the jury’s verdict, surely? Where is the shock, outrage and delusion?

On the other side of the square, past many a metal barricade and many a NYPD officer, apparently.

I spot a man sporting a ‘Gays for Trump’ t-shirt. I don’t hesitate to ask him for an interview.

Speaking later to an anti-Trump protester who was part of the gaggle I saw initially, she mentioned the word democracy - and that the verdict is a sign of this.

Democracy was also a word that came into my mind. I felt relieved that both sides were able to be in the same place and speak openly about what they believed was right.