NBC's Mockery of Manhattan Trump Crowd Backfires Badly When Obvious Truth Is Pointed Out
In the circus that surrounded the Manhattan criminal courthouse for former President Donald Trump’s arraignment on Tuesday, the establishment media turned out to be the biggest clowns of all.
Amid the breathless hype and O.J.’s-white-Bronco atmosphere, the nation’s news networks tried their best to convince the country there was something going on beyond a blatantly political attempt to kneecap the current leader for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
NBC News’ Ben Collins took it a step further, though, trying to turn the size of the pro-Trump crowd into a measure of the president’s public support — but it backfired badly.
In a Twitter post, Collins described the scene at a park across the street from the courthouse, where throngs of Trump opponents dwarfed the size of the pro-Trump contingent.
“Just a ton more anti-Trump [protesters] outside the park,” Collins wrote. “Despite an all-caps call for his supporters to protest before his arrest, Trump supporters are getting deeply outnumbered by people in support of his arrest in lower Manhattan today.”
Just a ton more anti-Trump protestors outside the park. Despite an all-caps call for his supporters to protest before his arrest, Trump supporters are getting deeply outnumbered by people in support of his arrest in lower Manhattan today. pic.twitter.com/z8BQ5ynaBV
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) April 4, 2023
That might sound like a reasonably neutral report, but the “despite an all-caps call” clause is the clue that this is more than just a statement of fact — it’s a mockery of the men and women who did turn out for Trump and, of course, of the former president himself.
(A glance at Collins’ Twitter account and other comments he’s made make his political sympathies clear — he’s such a card-carrying member of the liberal media in the Rachel Maddow mold he probably thinks that’s a compliment.)
Unfortunately for Collins, but fortunately for the sake of the republic, there were plenty of mocking responses to his post.
See, liberals generally don’t have a problem turning out riffraff to mob-of-the-moment events. Leftist activists tend to have a good deal more free time on their hands than Americans who actually work for a living.
And on Tuesday, it showed.
“They are working Ben,” one Twitter user wrote. “Like at real jobs.”
They are working Ben. Like at real jobs.
— Lexusboy (@Brady5008) April 4, 2023
There was plenty more in that vein.
Apparently more republicans work
— Mike Anderson (@MikeSmalltalk) April 4, 2023
Currently 1:38 on a TUESDAY… These people took a sick day, vacation day, or they just don’t have to work..?
— Mark (@MrRightJr23) April 4, 2023
That is because conservatives have jobs and responsibilities!
— MN Vikings Rock! (@VikesRock23) April 4, 2023
We’re too busy working, paying our bills, raising our families. You’ll see us on Election Day.
— CM (@njoyzgrl81) April 4, 2023
It’s not just the fact that the Trump arraignment took place during business hours, of course.
The venue mattered a great deal, too. There aren’t many places in the country that are more dogmatically Democratic than Manhattan.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg got elected in part because of his bragging about previous legal battles with the Trump Foundation, as The Washington Times reported Friday.
“I have investigated Trump and his children and held them accountable for their misconduct with the Trump Foundation,” he said during a December 2020 debate with other DA candidates, according to the Times. “I know how to follow the facts and hold people in power accountable.”
Manhattanites knew which “people in power” he was talking about, and what “accountable” meant. They elected Bragg for the very purpose of seeing a circus like Tuesday’s play out.
This isn’t democracy or justice. Even Trump’s opponents can see that.
It’s a mobocracy played for the TV cameras. (Considering Collins’ Twitter account identifies his beat as “dystopia,” the “Hunger Games” vibe is oddly appropriate.)
Is it any wonder a leftist crowd in that jurisdiction would outnumber Trump supporters?
It’s New York City. A solid 98 percent Democrat stranglehold.
— edgiesversion 24ElectionMatters (@edgiesversion) April 4, 2023
In Manhattan, I don’t think you should’ve expected anything else!
— Lori (@Lori9101) April 5, 2023
And then there’s the sure knowledge that the country is in such a state that justice isn’t served out equally. Some of the leftist rioters who ravaged New York City in 2020 are actually being paid for their trouble by the taxpayers of New York.
Not only do conservatives know they can’t expect the same kind of kid-glove treatment, but they also know there’s a good chance that half the “Trump supporters” in the crowd were probably undercover FBI agents looking for some “domestic terrorists” to put behind bars.
But the biggest reason is what the majority of Collins’ respondents said.
Conservatives, as a rule, have jobs, are productive members of society, and have other things to do besides stand in a park being shouted at by the perennially outraged parasites that make up so much of the Democratic base.
If Collins’ intent was to show public support for the Trump political prosecution outweighs support for the former president, then his tweet was a sad joke — even for a media circus clown.
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