Trump’s Been On Trial A Month Now. So Far, The World Has Not Ended.

NEW YORK — As significant as the events inside a lower Manhattan courtroom this past month have been, with the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president, perhaps more significant is what has been happening on the streets outside: nothing.

No rioting. No violence. Not even the hint of civil war.

Despite dire warnings from Donald Trump and some of his allies that prosecutors in New York and elsewhere would trigger mayhem if they dared charge him with a crime, so far at least, his trial has taken place with virtually no protest at all.

Early Monday in the park across from the courthouse, there were no pro-Trump protesters. A single anti-Trump protester walked back and forth holding a sign: “TRUMP 2 TERRIFIED 2 TESTIFY.”

“People are now aware that there is a cost for showing up for him,” said Heather Cox Richardson, a historian at Boston College who in recent years has been warning about a Trump-centered autocratic movement. “They’re not willing to put themselves on the line for him.”

In the blocks surrounding the courthouse itself, local business owners seemed unaware that Trump had called for protests on his behalf. “Didn’t know anything about it,” said one jewelry store owner, who asked that his name not be used.

Salim Chowdhury, owner of the Kabob Town two blocks up the road, said he has seen plenty of large protests come up Canal Street, from Black Lives Matter to recent ones for Gaza. He has not seen much of anything regarding Trump. “We’re not worried,” he said.

Trump has made it clear from his daily tirades to the reporters in the corridor outside his 15th floor courtroom that he has noticed the lack of major demonstrations on his behalf despite his repeated calls for one, including one on social media the day