Arise, you young Republicans! You have nothing to lose but your salt shakers!
That thought occurred to me last week when Donald Trump urged his supporters to descend on the Manhattan courthouse to protest, protest, protest his impending arrest on Tuesday on a charge of having paid hush money to a porn star.
That arrest hadnt happened by weeks end. Good thing for the Donald. Only about 50 pro-Trump protestors showed up outside the courthouse. The most prominent was a contingent from the New York Young Republican Club.
As it happens, I somehow got on the NYYRC mailing list and I receive invitations to all their events.
On April 17 is The Return of Margarita Monday. For a mere $15, the members can avail themselves of complimentary cocktails from south of the border.
It all sounds quite civilized. These are not the sort of people who storm barricades. Someone should tell The Donald hes in the wrong political party, even the wrong country.
In France, the people take to the streets to protest any policy they dont like. The other day the protestors set fire to a police station, which is their equivalent of winning a referendum. More than 150 police were injured.
This is all over a proposed rise in the retirement age from 62 to 64.
Its common for the French government to capitulate to such mobs.
Thats not so in America and particularly among Republicans.
The motto of conservatives is, We do not march, said Mike Carroll, the former Republican assemblyman from Morris who has perhaps the longest pedigree among New Jersey conservatives.
Liberals love to march. Its a social thing for them, he added. Thats how they interact.
A good example was the Womens March of 2017, he said. It was held the day after Trump was inaugurated. Trumps crowd barely filled up the lawn area directly in front of the Capitol. But the Womens March filled the city with protesters for as far as the eye could see.
As for conservatives, they do not resort to taking to the streets to get their will, Carroll said. I have never carried a sign, I dont know any conservative who has.
No, they dont. Trump attracted a lot of populists to the party who liked to turn out by the tens of thousands. But theyre not turning out to protest his prosecution.
Trump found that out last week when his call to arms failed to attract big crowds in New York. In Florida, there were a handful of pickup trucks with Trump banners parked on the causeway that leads to Mar-a-Lago. But it was a beautiful day, perfect for enjoying the view over Lake Worth toward Trumps compound.
Earlier in the week there was chatter among the MAGA crowd about erecting a patriot moat around Mar-a-Lago to keep the cops at bay. But by weeks end Trump was saying he actually wanted to be hauled off in handcuffs. Apparently he figures the visual would make a great fund-raising tool.
I suspect hes about to find out. Late last week he put up a post showing him aiming a baseball bat in the direction of a photo of prosecutor Alvin Bragg. (Trump later deleted the post.)
Legal experts cited several statutes making it a crime to threaten a prosecutor. For good measure, Trump predicted death and destruction if hes arrested.
Heres my prediction: There wont be any death or destruction in Manhattan. Thats a liberal haven and last week the anti-Trumpers outnumbered the pro-Trumpers.
And in Manhattan, even the Republicans are not Trumps brand of Republican. A good example is Ann Coulter, a purebred WASP who grew up in Connecticut before moving to the Upper East Side.
Coulter was a big pro-Trumper when he first emerged on the scene. But after his botched leadership in the midterm elections of 2018, Manhattanite Coulter turned on the rube from Queens, calling him, a complete moron and a blithering idiot among other choice insults. (The New York Post turned on him as well.)
Trump proved her correct last week. He began the week accused of a crime that arguably should have been a misdemeanor. But instead of making that argument in court, he seems to have committed a felony by weeks end.
Trump still seems to be working on the theory that this and the three other prosecutions he faces will cause Republicans to make the streets run with rivers of blood.
In Manhattan, Republicans are more likely to encounter rivers of tequila.
Dont forget the shakers of salt.
BELOW - ITS THE DEMOCRATS WHO LOVE MARCHES AND PROTESTS:
I shot this video at the Womens March in Washington the day after Trumps inauguration in 2017. The crowd was said to have reached a million but there were so many people that they couldnt even march. It might have made them feel good, but it didnt reverse Hillary Clintons loss to the Donald.
More: Recent Paul Mulshine columns.
Paul Mulshine may be reached at pmulshine@starledger.com.
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What if they gave a riot and nobody came? Conservatives arent marching to Trumps tune | Mulshine - NJ.com