Miami, Florida is a colorful city in a colorful state. Given its rich tapestry, there’s little surprise that the scene outside the federal courthouse where former President Donald Trump arrived to be indicted on Tuesday was a microcosm of some of Florida’s best, worst, and weirdest.
As Miami Against Fascism described the crowd, it’s half media, half “a rogues gallery of D-list MAGA and far-right clout chasers & streamer types.” (Some participants may fall into both categories.)
First up, there’s a man with a pig’s head on a stick.
Naomi Feinstein of the Miami New Times reports that the man, who goes by Osmany, brought the real pig’s head as a reference to Lord of the Flies. It is unknown whether Osmany is referring to the character from the novel, Piggy, the scene where the boys abandon their signal fire to hunt for a wild boar, or where society devolves into utter chaos.
Osmany completed his look with an American flag fashioned into a muumu, sunglasses, and a red baseball hat that appears to have been decorated at home. As one does.
The Trump indictment also attracted a litany of MAGA types, ranging from Proud Boys to presidential candidates and Laura Loomer.
For her part, Loomer treated the crowd to a performance of “Happy Birthday.” Trump’s birthday is tomorrow.
When his microphone went out, Loomer loaned presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy the same megaphone she crooned the birthday song into.
Anthime Gionet, aka Baked Alaska, was also on hand, fresh from his stint in jail for the Capitol riot. True to form, Gionet livestreamed from outside the courthouse.
No Trump event, be it a rally or an arraignment, would be complete with someone impersonating him. Comedian Jason Scoop reportedly provided this service to the crowd.
Some who support Trump’s ally-turned-rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), were also in the crowd, including one man people simply refer to as DeSimp. Online reports indicate that the man, Chris Nelson, didn’t make many friends by screaming “MAGA is dead” into the crowd.
Contributing to the hoopla were people there to celebrate Trump being indicted on 37 federal charges associated with him keeping classified documents. As things grew rowdier and hotter, police separated opposing sides as conflicts broke out.
At one point police also moved the crowd away to investigate a television Feinstein of Miami New Times spotted two men hanging earlier in the day. At the time, the screen said, “Fuck the communist controlled news media.”
The man of the hour celebrated his upcoming second indictment in the fashion that is often his wont: by posting through it.
As the minutes ticked down to his arraignment, Trump pulled out some of his classic, all-caps missives on Truth Social. “WITCH HUNT,” “ELECTION INTERFERENCE,” and of course, “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”
Trump is expected to plead not guilty to the charges.
