Trump's protest demand flops as ragtag group of demonstrators at Trump Tower fizzles in confusion

Ahead of the expected indictment for his $130,000 hush payment to an adult film star, former President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to demand nationwide protests on his behalf — sparking fears among some security experts that the U.S. could be looking at another January 6 situation.

But so far, there is no indication of that happening, reported Mother Jones on Tuesday. In fact, the handful of Trump supporters who took to the streets outside Trump Tower found themselves in a small, confusing scene.

" at Trump Tower on Tuesday afternoon, a man was heckling one of the only Trump supporters who’d shown up to protest a potential indictment of the former president — who had posted on his platform Truth Social to 'PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK' after warning he would be arrested in connection with an investigation of hush money he paid to a porn star," reported Noah Lanard. "The Trump supporter was an Asian woman; the heckler’s face was obscured by a bandanna. 'Yo, you from Wuhan,' he shouted. 'You brought the virus over.' Another man told him to cut it out with the racism. Then the small crowd’s attention snapped to a stranger spectacle: a counter-demonstrator with a Trump mask, a fake diaper, red tape over her nipples, and black tennis shoes. She stuck her tongue out, posing for photos."

"Despite Trump’s calls for 'PROTEST,' there was no real protest to speak of outside Trump Tower, or seemingly anywhere else," said the report. "Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg appears to be on the verge of reviving a years-old scandal as he tests a novel legal theory against a former president who tried to steal an election. It is the type of thing that Trump’s supporters could be reasonably expected to get in the streets about. But at least so far, they’ve mostly stayed at their keyboards.

In one of the most awkward moments of the New York City demonstration earlier in the day, some Trump supporters actually accused one another of being feds, worried they were about to be "set up" to commit another January 6-style insurrection, which is a common narrative in the Trump universe about how that attack happened.

While there are few street demonstrators so far, authorities have reported a surge in violent rhetoric online in some quarters, and the NYPD has received hoax bomb threats.