“We love Trump”, the crowd chanted in front of the federal courthouse in Miami.
As the former president prepared to appear before a judge on Tuesday on 37 criminal charges, his followers descended on southern Florida to show support.
Interspersed among those backing Donald Trump, were a few individuals who would be more than happy to see him imprisoned.
Domenic Santana from Miami came dressed in a prisoner’s outfit of black and white stripes.
He told The Irish Times how some of his family members had been caught up in the “Trump cult”.
“He should have been convicted a long time ago. Come on. Let’s call a spade a spade.
“Hopefully he won’t get house arrest. And hopefully, it won’t be [house arrest] in the White House.
Gregg Donovan had been at the courthouse from early morning, wearing a top hat and a long formal red coat. He told The Irish Times that he studied at the Brendan Smith academy in Ireland and once lived in Drumcondra. He travelled from his home in Los Angeles to give Trump his backing at the court.
“I supported president Trump since day one. I’ve met him a few times, and I just had to come and show my support.
“It’s about what they’re doing. They don’t understand. People are going to want to vote for him more. They’re going to switch. It’s like putting out the fire with gasoline. That’s what it feels like.”
Donovan is concerned at the idea of the United States government prosecuting its political opponents.
“We don’t need that. This is America. People from around the world are watching and listening.”
By far the greater numbers in the plaza outside the courthouse were supporting Trump, even if the numbers came nowhere near the 50,000 city authorities had forecast could potentially be on the streets.
They stood in the 90-degree hear wearing red Maga (Make America Great Again) hats, waving blue “Trump” flags. Some wore T-shirts with the slogan “I’ll be back” below the likeness of the former president.
All agreed that Trump was being persecuted to prevent his return to the White House.
At some points it seemed more like performance art than a political protest. On the street adjacent to the court, a van drove by regularly pulling a trailer with an image of Joe Biden, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama behind bars with a smiling Trump outside.
A local radio station had a tent near the courthouse playing music, including some pro-Trump songs in Spanish.
The noise may have been loud but it was not threatening.
The most raucous argument of the morning seemed to be between Republicans supporting Trump and Republicans supporting the Florida governor Ron DeSantis – both of whom are in the contest for the party’s nomination to run for the White House.
Jay Paul came to Miami from the Dallas/Forth Worth area in Texas said he came to the court “because I love president Trump and I believe they have been attacking him from all directions for eight years.
“I am here to let him know I love him and I support him.”
“I think he is one of the first presidents in a long time who has been in this for us as Americans and not just for him as political office. He secured our border and strengthened our military. He believes in energy independence and he got our prices down. He believes in smaller government and he lowered our taxes. We just felt better about things. And I ask my liberal friends: What is wrong with that?”
At one point on Tuesday morning a group of African American men in white T-shirts bearing the slogan “Blacks for Trump” turned up. They had also been in New York in April when Trump faced state charges relating to the payment of alleged hush money to an adult film star before the 2016 election.
But many of those present in Miami were Hispanic.
Esperanza Quanz is originally from Nicaragua and is fearful of the political direction of the United States under the Democrats.
“I’m republican. I am Maga. More than anything. I am Maga. And I’m so scared to see what’s happening in this country. Nothing reminds me more of the Sandinistas that what the Democrats are doing. You know, all the candidates in Nicaragua in the last political sham, they were jail. All of them; left, right, conservatives, everyone was jail.
“So this is what’s going to happen here. If we allow it. We need to defend freedom here. I arrived here four decades ago, four decades ago escaping something like this, and I cannot believe that I’m reliving this again in the greatest country on Earth. So we need to save it. ”