Years ago, while covering the trial of a leader of the “Texas Syndicate,” a criminal organization with roots in the Lone Star State, I noticed half a dozen spectators who showed up every day. They dressed the same as the man on trial. They had the same tattoos, the same hairstyles and the same attitude. I took a chance and spoke with them one day and found they were members of the gang who showed up to pay their respects. They were cordial enough to me as I offered no immediate threat. But I was curious and asked them if they weren’t concerned they would be identified and targeted by law enforcement for showing up every day. One of them just laughed. “They know who we are,” he explained. “We dress this way to show our power and our respect.”
Seeing House Speaker Mike Johnson, Congressman Matt Gaetz and fish oil salesman Sebastian Gorka show up at the Trump felony trial in Manhattan recently reminded me a lot of that Texas trial from so long ago. In Trump’s case, he is surrounded by a small number of rabid supporters of a criminal cause who need the safety of numbers because they cannot stand alone. They have all the individual courage of the cowards they truly are. Or they remind me of the characters in “Freaks." You know, “One of us. One of us.”
