Trump envelops himself in adulation in return to Mar-a-Lago following New York arrest

Hours after he was fingerprinted as an accused felon at a New York courthouse, Donald Trump returned home to a hero’s welcome at his Palm Beach mansion.

Trump entered the Mar-a-Lago ballroom he named after himself to vigorous cheers and whoops at 8:23 p.m. Tuesday, walking under chandeliers and shaking hands with some of his 500 supporters who came to show their loyalty to the first former U.S. president to be charged with a crime. Trump’s signature song, “God Bless the U.S.A.” by country singer Lee Greenwood blasted from speakers as the crowd chanted “U-S-A!”

Trump took the stage and immediately denounced rivals and prosecutors who he said have “attacked” him in a political vendetta. His supporters booed and shook their fists.

“This is a persecution not an investigation,” Trump said. “They’ve put our family through hell. Every legal analyst and pundit has said there is no case. No case. The real criminal is the district attorney.”

A little less fiery than usual after a long and humbling day, Trump pivoted from victim to candidate and rallied the crowd with combative campaign rhetoric.

“The U.S.A. is a mess, the economy is crashing. Russia has joined with China and Saudi Arabia has joined with Iran. Can you believe it?” he said. “Take the five worst presidents in the history of the U.S. and add them up and they would not have done nearly the damage as Joe Biden and the Biden administration.”

The sharply-dressed, plentifully-jeweled and highly-coiffed audience was as ornate as the venue, with the exception of a group of tattooed bikers wearing leather vests inscribed with “Born to Ride For 45.” They responded enthusiastically as Trump presented his defense, and said they’d already dismissed the 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels so she would not tell the public about an alleged affair with Trump.

“I think it’s all political,” said Elaine Byers, a Mar-a-Lago club member. “We as Americans need to get our noses out of people’s bedrooms.”

Her ex-husband — they said they have a better relationship now than when they were married — concurred.

“When you see someone railroaded like this man, you have to stand up for him,” Jack Byers said. “I’ve never seen a man with so much gumption.”

Andrea Sikorski, wearing a bright red dress, said Trump’s predicament is a cautionary tale.

“He is amazing, he is the truth,” said Sikorski, a member of the Republican Executive Committee for Palm Beach County. ‘If this type of political prosecution can happen to a former president, it can happen to any of us. Wake up!”

Heather Atkins, who said she is a friend of Eric and Lara Trump, said Trump’s speech was powerful but also the end of “a bittersweet day for him, where they’ve dredged up an incident from seven years ago in a despicable attempt to defeat him.”

Supporter John Loudon, a former state senator in Missouri, said he knows what it’s like to hold office and become a target.

“They say he made a bookkeeping error and they’re going to prosecute it as a felony,” he said. “Every business person should be afraid.”

Also in attendance and posing for photos and offering commentary were Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, and Roger Stone, Trump’s longtime political consigliere.

Outside Mar-a-Lago a sparse and less glamorous crowd gathered. They weren’t invited to the speech but nothing was going to stop them from showing their allegiance to Trump.

The intrepid Maria Korynsel brought her paddleboard to the shoreline of the Intracoastal Waterway. She planned to paddle up to the backyard of Mar-a-Lago and display her “MAGA Country” and “Shut Up, Karen” flags.

“They can’t block the waterway so I’ll get as close as possible to tell our legit president that these trumped up — no pun intended — hush-money charges are a joke,” said Korynsel, wearing a pink Women for Trump T-shirt and a red Ultra MAGA hat. “If he’s not vindicated there will be no America left. Our children and grandchildren won’t be able to live in America as we know it.”

Korynsel was one of about a dozen Trump supporters who showed up on the Southern Boulevard causeway by late afternoon. They received sympathetic honks from drivers passing over the bridge.

“This bridge would be packed if not for the Jan. 6 prosecutions of innocent bystanders. People are scared of getting arrested,” said Angela Bennett, a real estate agent from Boca Raton holding up a homemade sign: “President Trump Stood For Us. Now We Stand For Him.”

Bennett and a friend vacationing from upstate New York said Trump was not milking the indictment for publicity. His desire to run for president again is born of altruism, they said.

“We have his back because he has ours,” she said. “Is he running because his own family has been attacked and harassed? Is he doing it because people hate his guts? No, it’s because he loves his country and is sick to see the direction it’s going in.”

Friends Kathy Clark and “MAGA Mary” Kelley have been posting themselves at the peak of the bridge since Thursday, when news of the impending indictment broke. They call the case against Trump “a farce” and “a waste of time and money.”

“Men can stray, but I don’t think it’s true he had sex with a porn actress because he’s a germaphobe, and he’s married to a beautiful woman,” said Clark, wearing a cowboy hat decorated with Trump campaign buttons. She’s from Lantana.

“Who cares about Stormy Daniels? We care about gas and food prices, insurance, China and Russia. What about the high crime rate in New York? Why aren’t the prosecutors going after that instead of Trump?” she said.

“Because they’re afraid he’s going to win and desperate to get him out of the race.”

A retired couple from Miami picked a spot on the bridge and waved their “Latinos For Trump” flag.

“We are fans of Trump because he fights for us,” said Susanna Rodriguez, a native of the Dominican Republic.

Added her husband, Jonas, a Cuban-American: “He’s not a communist and he will clean the swamp. He’s the best since Ronald Reagan.”

Korynsel has attended rallies for Trump before outside the gates of Mar-a-Lago. He sent water, cookies and red MAGA hats to the crowd, she said.

“Before he ran for president I didn’t like him. I thought he was arrogant on ‘The Apprentice,’” said. Korynsel, an internet salesperson and stay-at-home-mom from North Palm Beach. “But I learned he’s not a phony politician. He’s a billionaire who knows how to run this country like a business. The Democrats have been trying to nail him since 2016. It’s going to backfire on them again. We all know what happened with Bill Clinton in the Oval Office.”