On Saturday, Trump fans across the country took part in planned demonstrations to express support for the president and fight back against a "seditious fringe [that] has resolved to sabotage this restored purpose," per the official March 4 Trump website.

In New York, the pro-Trump crowd gathered outside Trump Tower just before noon — only a few hours after the president accused Barack Obama of wiretapping the building's phones during the election. As their American flags and Trump streamers flapped in the blistering wind, about a dozen people locked arms to sing "God Bless America" and the national anthem. By noon, a few hundred Trump supporters had arrived, and a smaller group of counter-protesters had convened across the street.

At times, the demonstration mirrored the raucous atmosphere of Trump's campaign rallies, with many in the group directing their chants at the media, undocumented immigrants, and protesters. As revelers chanted "build that wall" and "screw CNN," some Trump supporters clashed with the handful of protesters who'd crossed Fifth Avenue. According to the NYPD, no arrests were made on either side.





tense moment at March 4 Trump rally. "You're a scumbag and you deserve to go to fucking North Korea" pic.twitter.com/oIjbiwwEdd — Jake Offenhartz (@jangelooff) March 4, 2017



For many in the crowd, the rally offered a rare opportunity to show collective support for a president widely despised in his hometown. "It's been very tough because my own family and friends have cut me off," said Bronx-resident Henry Grullon, a non-attorney representative for clients with disabilities and one of the lead organizers of the event. Grullon, who initially backed Ted Cruz, told Gothamist that he expected more people to see the appeal in Trump once his economic policies were implemented. "Here in New York City, if the jobs come back, I really think that folks can actually take advantage of that."

"It's very hard to be a Trump supporter in New York," echoed Tim Rosen, a professor at Queens College. "I don't hide it, but I don't wear [the MAGA hat] at work." Rosen also said that he would've preferred many of the other Republican candidates over Trump, but felt that it was his duty as an American to support the president. "There was an election, President Trump won, and these people seem almost mentally incapable of accepting the outcome of an election. I wonder if they're having a mental breakdown or something."



Pro-Trump supporters outside Trump Tower (Gretchen Robinette / Gothamist)

On the west side of the street, Harlem-resident Brian Wagner, 30, held a double-sided sign that said Not My President and Fascism Equal Freedom. "Honestly I was just heading home from a different protest, saw them here, and just held my sign up," Wagner said. "They were just so angry at me. I want them to calm down enough to come together with us. It's unrealistic for either us to go all the way or them to go all the way — we have to meet in the middle." Asked if he thought there was a realistic chance of that happening, Wagner shook his head.

Some on the Trump side, like Donna Cancassi, 59, also spoke about the need for reconciliation. A retired paralegal who spent much of the campaign door knocking for Trump, Cancassi said that she "was able to help a lot of protesters have a different point of view." She recalled one specific interaction at a campaign rally in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, where she convinced a protester that Trump's mocking of a disabled reporter was just "fake news in the media."

Since then, she and her son Douglas, 23, have attended more than a dozen Trump rallies across the Northeast, including his post-election "Thank You Tour" in Hershey, Pennsylvania. "I can tell you that once you go to one Donald Trump rally, you want to go to them all," Cancassi said. "But of course no one can afford them all."

At 3 p.m., a march against the Dakota Access Pipeline — one of several resistance events planned for the weekend — passed by Trump Tower. Most of the pro-Trump crowd had departed by then, though Rosen and a few others remained in the pen, debating whether they should move to address the marchers. After a bit of discussion, they decided to stay on their side of the street.

"As long as they're peaceful, they have a right to free speech," Rosen said. "But I just object to what they're saying. I think they're sore losers."