May 10

May 10 Normalized

After spending the better part of five hours last night watching non-stop cable coverage of the Trump-Comey story, I expected hundreds if not thousands of people to attend a demonstration today at the intersection of Wabash and Wacker immediately across the Chicago River from the Trump Tower--that being the unofficial site for anti-Trump demonstrations. As the photographs show, it was fewer than 15. So sparse was the crowd that at first, there was a lone police officer in a yellow rain slicker maintaining order. After 15 or so minutes, the police bicycle brigade showed up, but kept some distance. There obviously was no need to block the path across the bridge to Trump Tower with the metal racks that are now a staple stacked off to the side when not in use. After about an hour, a police bicycle escort cleared the path through Loop rush hour traffic so that the marchers could make it safely to Federal Plaza, where they met another 20 or 30 demonstrators. Granted there was some rain, but not much. Getting wet seems like a small sacrifice when you are saving the Republic.

I suspect that far more people are upset about the Comey firing than this pitiful demonstration suggests. Maybe some afternoon commuters would have joined in had the skies been sunny, but most just walked on by. As I told a photographer from the Chicago Tribune, the poor turnout is the story. I also noted that the demonstrations are stories that are driven by visuals. If the organizers don't turn out the numbers, there is no point in the holding the demonstration. Indeed, low numbers undercut the cause, suggesting that the public doesn't care. The proof is in the pudding: The Tribune hasn't even bothered to run its photographer's still images or video.

I had a very nice conversation with a member of the Chicago Police Department. I kidded him that he drew the right straw today. He was a bit puzzled why people were protesting the firing of James Comey. After all, Comey, according to the officer, had cost Hillary Clinton the presidency. It is hard to blame his logic if you believe the widespread reporting today that members of the Trump Administration shared the officer's logic until cable coverage went wall-to-wall last night.