Dragon on Centre Street: New York vs. Donald J. Trump

New York Times reporter Bromwich debuts with a meticulous, fly-on-the-wall account of Donald Trump’s criminal trial for falsifying business records in order to conceal hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. Bromwich takes readers through nail-biting stakeouts waiting for grand jury indictments, the grueling monotony of jury selection, and the salacious testimony of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker. Along the way, the author makes a study of the bizarre personalities on display, from witnesses like Trump’s spurned former fixer Michael Cohen, who had to answer for calling his former boss “Dictator Douche Bag” on TikTok, to the elusive Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, whose discomfort “whenever there was a microphone or camera pointed his way” clashed with Trump’s media-driven persona. Bromwich also covers the MAGA protesters outside the courtroom, including Max Azzarello, a conspiracy theorist whose horrific self-immolation “cast a pall on the trial.” Bromwich cannily shows how all-consuming the “Trump attention economy” can be for everyone around him, including the author, who admits his video reportage made him feel “better-known because of Donald Trump.” He also astutely observes how the hush money trial, by barring cameras from the courtroom, “briefly interrupted” Trump’s “power.” The result is a unique time capsule of a moment when Trump was just another defendant in the criminal justice system. (May)