Three days later, all hell did not break loose. NBC News reported on the developments in the park across the street from the New York City courthouse. Inside the building, the preliminary steps in the former president’s trial got underway, but outside, “peculiarity reigned over pedantry.”

A smattering of pro-Trump demonstrators — some wearing costumes, others carrying signs, one temporarily lowering the top of her dinosaur-themed one-piece before writhing on the ground in performative ecstasy — lent their support to Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee.

The Daily Beast published a related report under a headline that read, “Trump Wanted to See Crowd Outside Trial. He Got 50 Randos.”.....

As for why, exactly, these demonstrations have failed to materialize, there are plenty of competing explanations, starting with the fact that the Justice Department’s extensive prosecutions of Jan. 6 rioters have not gone unnoticed among the former president’s most ardent backers.

But I’m also reminded of an analysis my MSNBC colleague Zeeshan Aleem wrote last year.

“It may have to do with post-Jan. 6 wariness of getting in trouble if a pro-Trump protest spirals out of control,” A/bleem wrote. “Perhaps conspiracy theories about the government laying traps for peaceful protesters scared them out of showing up. Maybe Trump finally has exhausted his base with his constant hysteria. ... Whatever the reasons may be, Trump is looking weak.”