Images from Trump’s historic day tell a surprising story

(Trends Wide) — Media helicopters hovered as a line of SUVs sped down Manhattan’s FDR Drive. Crowds of journalists, supporters and onlookers waited at Manhattan Criminal Court, surrounded by police officers. Everyone awaited the arrival of the defendant.

The atmosphere may have been unusual—the thousands of New Yorkers who pass through the courthouse each year rarely attract much attention—but what transpired inside was ordinary proceedings: a defendant turned himself in, was arrested, and was fingerprinted. and appeared before a judge to hear the charges and enter a guilty plea.

The outside spectacle – and one that is sure to evolve as former President Donald Trump tries to gain control of his impeachment story – could tempt observers to view Trump’s arrest as an extraordinary event. And it is historic: no former president has ever been impeached. But the story told in the footage of Trump walking through the worn corridors of the courthouse is a story of accountability, extraordinary only because of his coarseness.

The first photos of Trump in the courtroom underscore that message: He was sitting at a courtroom table, flanked by lawyers and four uniformed police officers, restrained and constrained as he has seldom been since he entered electoral politics eight years ago.

As he entered the court, he saluted first a wave and then a raised fist to his supporters. But any sign of defiance had disappeared by the time of his arraignment and his not guilty plea.

Beneath her dyed blonde hair and heavy makeup, her expression was somber and reserved. At the moment, he was just another defendant, up to a judge to determine his next move. And although Trump will do his best in the coming hours and days to offer a different reading of those images – and the media will be tempted to help him by focusing on the spectacle – they do not describe a break with the usual order, but rather the return of he.

Former US President Donald Trump arrives before his arraignment in Manhattan Federal Court in New York City on April 4, 2023.

Trump’s tenure has been marked by impunity. The man who once bragged that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it seemed to have grasped the truth of his status long before most Americans. As reporters and analysts explained how Trump flouted laws like the Emoluments Clause and the Presidential Records Act, Trump simply went along, sensing that as a resident of the White House, he was someone the law couldn’t touch. And he didn’t.

Instead, efforts to hold Trump accountable went through political processes such as impeachment and congressional hearings, processes that could reveal wrongdoing but not repair it, least of all so long as Republicans in Congress refused to play a role.

The first and second impeachments involved the requisite debate and public exposure, but each began with a foregone conclusion: that the vast majority of Republicans would never turn on Trump. The January 6 committee played out in a similar fashion, with Republican leaders refusing from the outset to participate in a process that could end with the former president being charged.

Trump worked hard in each of those cases to degrade and invalidate the process, to treat them as illegitimate in order to blunt the conclusions. He is now doing the same with his accusation, arguing that it is a witch hunt and political persecution aimed at denying him a second term.

At his campaign rally in Waco, Texas, last week — a legendary venue on the far right as a symbol of deadly government overreach — Trump lashed out at the impeachment. “The thugs and criminals who are corrupting our judicial system will be defeated, discredited and totally disgraced,” he said, vowing to destroy the “deep state” if he is re-elected.

Since the allegations broke, he has been working with his team to decide how best to present himself, according to the New York Times. Should you greet those gathered or remain silent? Should you smile or remain solemn? Should you avoid a mugshot or ask for one?

They were questions for lawyers and campaign aides alike, as Trump clearly plans to leverage the images as part of his 2024 presidential bid. His campaign is already promoting T-shirts with digitally created punch photos, and his campaign emails they are replete with warnings that after “they” come for the president, they will come for their voters.

“They can try to stop me all they want with threats, accusations and even arrests,” he wrote in an April 1 email, “but they can never crush the spirit of 74 million patriots who want to make our country great again.” !”

That rhetorical escalation, coupled with the unprecedented nature of Trump’s arrest, creates the perfect conditions for observers to indulge in hype, focus on the show and all that goes with it. But what is extraordinary is the emergence of an accountability process, with all its paperwork, rules and routines repeated hundreds of times a day in places like Manhattan Criminal Court. As the images that show this ultimately mundane process unfold, it’s worth paying attention to how extraordinarily everyday they are, and how necessary the opportunity for a small dose of justice really is.