Daily Archives: March 20, 2023

Indictment Watch, Day 3

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This is why I love New York City. NY Attorney General Letitia James hosted a drag queen story hour at a Manhattan LGBTQ center to show that New York supports drag queens. It was advertised as a family friendly event. Proud Boys showed up — I assume from out of town — to protest. They were not supported.

“There was at least one community member that was hit in the face,” the witness, who gave her name as LK, said of the attack.

“It was joyful, there was music, noisemakers, lots of sparkles and a really positive turnout,” added LK, who regularly comes to drag story hours to show support. “There were still protesters showing up and screaming rofanities and obscenities at the families.”

Allegedly the wingnuts hate drag queen story hours for not being morally wholesome. So they protest by showing up and screaming profanities at children. Yes, this does not make sense.

What the Proud Boys didn’t count on was being outnumbered by counterprotesters, who were pissed.

NYPD arrested one protester, I understand. More videos here. See also DRAGGED: Proud Boys get beat up at NYC drag queen story hour.

Speaking of protests — my impression is that there’s as yet more talk than action regarding protests of Trump’s pending indictment. There is a lot of chest thumping and promises to surround Mar-a-Lago so that law enforcement can’t get in to arrest Trump. But I seriously doubt the Manhattan prosecutor is planning to send anyone to Florida to arrest Trump. He will ask Trump to come to NYC and surrender. Trump’s lawyers have said Trump will comply. We’ll see.

I assume New York City authorities can’t arrest anyone in Florida without cooperation from Florida. I’m not sure the righties understand that.

Trump may want another January 6, but I doubt it will come to that. I appreciate I could be wrong. But on January 6 the protesters had a “higher” purpose. But now?

See also Some Trump supporters ambivalent on calls for protests.

Former President Donald Trump’s calls for protests ahead of his anticipated indictment in New York have generated mostly muted reactions from supporters, with even some of his most ardent loyalists dismissing the idea as a waste of time or a law enforcement trap.

The ambivalence raises questions about whether Trump, though a leading Republican contender in the 2024 presidential race who retains a devoted following, still has the power to mobilize far-right supporters the way he did more than two years ago before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. It also suggests that the hundreds of arrests that followed the Capitol riot, not to mention the convictions and long prison sentences, may have dampened the desire for repeat mass unrest.

The NYPD is really good at crowd control, as I have witnessed with my own tired eyes. If a large number of people show up for unauthorized protests in the streets of Manhattan, they will likely find themselves corralled within a relatively small area and unable to get away. Demonstrators are supposed to get a permit and coordinate with the city so that they don’t cause too much gridlock, and I doubt the MAGAts are planning for that. The cops will likely leave small, peaceful demonstrations alone, permit or no permit, but New Yorkers may not.

I haven’t heard any new news about the Manhattan grand jury today. However, House Republicans appear to be getting ready to investigate D.A. Alvin Bragg.